oUR SuMmer...PART 2 - Utah

After weeks of fun in CT we took a 10 day hiatus back at home before growing restless for more summer adventures, so we hopped in the car and headed out to visit Bryce's family in the West. Our adventures in Utah included a camping trip to Bryce Canyon, a hike to Stewart falls, a day at Snowbird summer resort, swimming and canoeing at the rope swing, a day on the town with Grandma Dorothy, a joint birthday celebration for Grandma Lilon and the Snack, hanging out with family, visiting old friends, pool parties, BBQ's, picnics, museums, Ghost town exploring, rock climbing, eating out, eating in, eating too much!  And so much more. We spent lot's of time with Auntie Jessica and our newest cousin cute Baby J, and we even got to see Auntie Brynn & cousin Har, and Auntie Chrissy for a day or two on their trip out from the east. Grammy and Grampy took lots of time off work to party with us, even my sister Heather popped in now and then. So it was a full trip!  And it completed our "family fix" for a while...until we grow restless for more adventures.

Summer Adventures Part II - Utah

Thanks everyone for a 
super fantastic fun Summer!

oUR SuMmer...PART 1 - Connecticut

It's been a while since we've been able to get away on any Summer adventures - since Bryce is generally teaching Summer classes, but we fell through an unexpected window of freedom this Summer...so we took full advantage of it!

It's hard to sort through and select pictures from our many, many adventures, but for the sake of holding onto the memories I will try to briefly relive our some of those moments here.

Summer adventures Part I - Connecticut

We did it all; pool, parks, family get-togethers, hiking, boating, fireworks, a trip to The City, a night at the circus, a day in Newport, a weekend in Vermont.  The kids had more fun than they could dream of. We loved every minute with everyone, and we can't wait 'til next time!!

North of the Border

Did you know there are mountains in Texas? Neither did I. But Bryce knew it, and all he could talk about doing for Spring break (and his birthday) was going to Big Bend National Park. So we decided that as long as we're living in Texas, we better make the most of it, and see what beauties exist. But of course we didn't decide this until 4pm the night before we'd have to leave in order to make the 10 hours (each way) of driving worth our while! So we scrambled. Our camping gear was a little out of date for this growing family, so we had to purchase a larger tent, and some miscellaneous other gear, but we pulled it all together (this, by the way, is a great way to see if your emergency kits are up to par...ours were not) and were on the road before 7am the next morning. And we had a fabulous time! Big Bend is an oasis of beauty in our forlorn Texas landscape, and we thoroughly enjoyed our time there. As you can see in the pictures, our campsite was in the middle of the desert, they call this, "primitive camping" I call it, "where's the toilet!!??" Everywhere...and anywhere is the answer, so I enjoyed a couple of days urinating with the rattlesnakes and scorpions (fortunately we did NOT actually encounter any of these!). Baby O was thoroughly intrigued by cactuses, and determined that desert rocks and sand are some sort of delicious treat, so needless to say she never left our side. Snackie on the other hand could hardly be contained, he is truly an adventure man, rarely did he go anywhere without his backpack on....always begging Bryce to hike this hill or that one.

Our first day in the park we visited the hot springs, and splashed in the Rio Grande. Bryce took a little swim across to the Mexican side...only to find out later that this is strictly forbidden so technically he is now here illegally! The next day we hiked around the more mountainous side and saw some beautiful views. There was one hike we really would have liked to have gone on, but the sign at the start read "Mountain lion warning" and gave instructions to hike in large groups, try to appear big and scary, and keep children close. It doesn't take much more convincing than that to send us in another direction! So we headed out to Santa Elena Canyon, and hiked some switch backs (yikes....I'm slightly paranoid of ledges...especially with children!) into a beautiful sandy shaded area of the canyon with large boulders to climb and rest on. We unfortunately witnessed a teenage boy jump about 20 feet and land with a broken leg...and more unfortunately witnessed the inefficient rescue operation where several Rangers hiked all the way into the canyon carrying large heavy equipment to wheel the boy out on. I asked one of the men why they didn't boat up the river, and he responded "this is what we get paid to do." What ever happened to working smarter, not harder?

We saw our share of wildlife as well. The first night a mouse was scampering around our campsite, Bryce tossed a rock in it's direction, and it leapt 3feet in the air! Ever seen that before? Neither had we. We found out later they are appropriately named "Kangaroo Rats." From the safety of our car we saw a few Havalinas (wild pigs) a Coyote, some Deer, and on the last day we made friends with a couple of lizards (and sadly brought one home with us wrapped up with our tent...it now rests in peace on the door jam above our back porch).

We had a wonderful time camping as a family. Bryce took great care of us, making fire, food, shelter, and fun. He made sure we stayed warm enough at night, and cool enough in the day. He even was the one to get up and cuddle with Baby O when she would awaken, and drag Snackie back into his sleeping bag when he'd slither across the tent floor at night. We're looking forward to many more camping trips as a family, we probably won't be driving another 10hours to Big Bend again any time soon, but if you're up for it....do it - in our opinion, it's well worth it!

"Where am I?"

Shaka want's to know where I am...and so do I!!

It's so hard to get back into the swing of things after vacation (I think I left my brain in Utah). I look around my house and can't even figure out where everything goes in order to put it away! But despite the mess, the piles of mail, and the missing family & friends out west, it is nice to be back home.

We had a fabulous vacation. It seems there is never a shortage of things to do when we go to Utah. Bryce & The Snack can't get enough of the mountains etc. and I never tire of spending time with family. I was especially excited about being able to spend time with two of my sisters on this trip since they are in Utah & Idaho going to school. And it was nice to be able to make a short trip up to Idaho to see (and introduce Bryce and the kids to) some relatives I haven't seen in around 10 years! We covered a lot of ground on this vacation, had a lot of fun times (including two weddings), and took a TON of pictures! So I'll try to share a few (of the 562) with you....so check out the slide show...

A Vacation....from the Vacation

Oh yes...there was certainly snow!

I'm back. Golly it's been over a month since I last posted, I guess I needed a little break. We went back to Connecticut for 2 1/2 weeks over the Christmas holidays. It was a great trip...but as these things go, the real vacation was needed when we got back home! We departed for our trip thinking 2 1/2 weeks was a looooonnggg time, but the time passed too quickly, and the loooonnngg list of things we thought we'd have ample time to do while we were there quickly was forgotten! The best part of the trip was simply hanging out & playing games with the fam. I don't know why we try to plan so much when in the end there is nothing better than laughing our heads off playing Cranium or Scattergories etc! And the truth is, trying to get 26 some odd people (and believe me we're "odd")to go out to dinner etc. is quite a feat. Next time, guys, lets just go to a lodge where the best thing to do is simply relax and play games!

Some Favorite Photos:

Dad-n and The Snack huddle together to keep warm while we're waiting to see Santa Clause (fortunately for us this day it was slightly warmer than the single digit temps we experienced later in the week).

Some of the Grandkids help Grandma & Grampa tell the Nativity story.

Christmas morning Auntie Heather helps The Snack get excited to open Christmas presents.

My little Guitar Hero rocking out with Uncle Willie.

Grandma following The Snack through a tunnel at Mystic Aquarium (The Snack LOVED this place!).

Zions Canyon

Ok...so I've been a little busy, and I know you're all totally over my trip to Utah by now, but I still gotta share one of my favorite parts of the trip!

The one BIG thing the Dad-n really wanted to do while we were in Utah is visit Zions National Park. Now...I didn't really care one way or another if we did this or not, except that I did want him to have his fun (despite the hassle I thought it would be with hours of driving and finding a place to stay etc.) Well, the last weekend we were there we worked it into our schedule and boy I'm glad that we did! I loved it! We took auntie Jessica with us, and my friend Mary (not pictured...she's like SUPER hiker woman...every pic with her in it she's like 100yards away just waiting for us to get movin'!)

There were many spectacular views, but the best part was the River walk. It's like 2 miles up river and you walk through the water the whole time. It's all sand or smooth rocks, so I went it barefoot, but many people wore shoes. It was crazy but fun, and we even took a break to take a dip...fully clothed! Such a fun adventure and The Snack thought it was totally wild too!

The Family

Here we are picnicking and enjoying some kickball and Frisbee in Provo canyon.

It was great to have siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins, Great Gramma etc. all together. It's quite to feat gathering everyone from New York, Connecticut, Utah and California... but we were all there to celebrate with The Dad-n's mom who turned the big 50! It was the party of a lifetime. A fun-filled 10 days, starting with the BIG party, and moving on to hiking, canoeing, playing games etc.

The Snack especially enjoyed all the exploring and hanging out with the "big" kids he got to do. Some of his favorite adventures were longboarding with cousin Harley...

Climbing on rocks with Auntie Chrissy, and playing in the waterfall at the Grotto with Gramma.

Share, Dad-n, SHARE

We (and everyone on the plane) learned that The Snack knows all about sharing! Dad-n was opening some food and Snack decided he wanted some too, so he calmly at first, then rather loudly let us all know!

So I think I'll take The Snacks advice and do some sharing of my own. Here are some pics from our GREAT trip! It's hard to be back to real life, but at least the pictures will help us hold on to the memories .


The House

Talk about fabulous. The Dad-n's family just moved to Utah last summer, and they bought this great old house with all sorts of outdoor sitting area's, and beautiful trees and flower gardens. It's like being at a quaint Bed & Breakfast.



The Snack's favorite part of the house was this small apple tree in the backyard. If you ever couldn't find Snack...you knew exactly where to look! He eats these little apples core and all!!! Wow...but he still won't eat regular apples like that at home. Go figure. Well at least we know he could survive on his own outside.

(Auntie Jessica demonstrating how to eat an apple)

10 days of Vacation!

It's time for a little break. Off to visit the Dad-n's fam for a bit. Can't wait to see everyone! We've even trained The Snack to say "Utah" but we're still working on "Gramma & Grampa"...well, at least he knows where he's going...just in case he get's lost...!??

I'm hoping that because The Snack basically loves anything that drives, rumbles or beeps, he's gonna love flying...but y'all can still pray for my sanity still the same!