Dog Days of Summer

My craft of the week: A rock that I took from Uncle Noley's Cabin. I painted it to look like a ladybug. Cool isn't it!

Here I am fishing with dad at Wasatch Mountain State Park. Don't we look cool in our shades? We are trying to look like big dragonflies so the fish won't think we are trying to catch them. Sam of course took his shades off and was throwing rocks in the pond . . . amateur. YAAAAH, I've got a fish and dad trusts me to reel it in all by myself. The fish was jumping and everything. Dad was afraid the fish would pull the pole out of my hands. Pole-shmole . . . grab ME if the fish pulls me in.

ANOTHER ONE, YAAAAH! What form I have. Bass Masters eat your heart out. I caught four fish in all - but this one was tiny. I threw him back in for next time.The boys waiting on the tackle box during slow times. Wow! Dad is really cleaning under the bed. Where are we going to hide our unwanted vegetables now? Life is so unfair!

Here we are helping dad out on laundry day. Yes, we would have already been done if Sam would stop messing up our piles. Quit laughing Sam - I want to go play. It's not fair being the oldest, parents can be slave drivers at times.

I talked dad into a slumber party in my room on Saturday night. It was GREAT! I just don't know why dad couldn't stand up straight the next day. He said it was something about being or feeling 102 . . . what ever that means.

Sam Alert: Hey everyone - finally I've been allowed to do what I want to do. Coloring is great fun! I don't why daddy didn't like me coloring the computer monitor. I thought it was an improvement! Artists are never understood.Wow - who knew daddy could cook? He even lets me eat on my own. I think daddy should cook more often! Granted we get the same thing every night when he cooks - that might get a little old! And that would mean mommy would go out of town more often - I don't think I like that idea either. Just give me my own fork and Copper and I will be happy!

Pancakes, Fishing, Weddings, and Cabins!

And so I'm sure you're wondering . . . . what do all these things have in common? They are some of the things we did this week.

First - mommy got a new pancake pan - - it makes animal pancakes. Here is a batch we made for breakfast the other morning.

Here are the boys enjoying their animal pancakes with some of mommy's yummy buttermilk syrup.While we didn't get to do some real fishing this week, I did take some time one afternoon to pretend fish off the back of my horse, Brownie. This is what my shirt says . . . we picked it up while we were on vacation last week. I don't mind shopping with mommy, but fishing is always better!We went to our cousin Josh's wedding dinner on Friday night. Of course, the (cup)cakes were a big hit with me!We wandered around the area after the dinner was over. Here we are by the pond with the ducks. Sam wanted to jump in and play with them.We spent Saturday up at the cabin. It was so nice to get away and the weather was perfect! Here I am with Uncle Noley and Aunt Christie having our traditional snack of apples and carmel dip.Sam is very mobile these days and loves to climb . . . here he is climbing up in the window at the cabin. He was very proud of himself.We went on a couple of hikes while we were there. I caught a ride on daddy's shoulders back down the hill on this hike.We found lots of interesting things to look at on our hike - - a red ant hill (which daddy played in until they were super mad - he reached in and grabbed out some ant eggs to feel. He said their bites are like little pinches), deer & elk & moose droppings, and the down from a baby bird.This is a picture of Sam doing what he loves . . . throwing rocks. We have the exact same picture of me when I was about this age doing the exact same thing in the exact same spot. We found an old Spirograph set and enjoyed ourselves making cool pictures. Mommy says the 70's were a great decade!Here we are at the end of a second hike. I ran all the way up the road up to the cabin. Let's just say I left the "old guys" in the dust! You can just barely see them way back down on the road behind me. Boy was I thirsty when I made it back to the cabin.Sam Alert: Oh the lazy days of summer! I love just laying around reading the newspaper (and no this isn't a posed picture).I LOVE being outside!I love doing "big boy" things . . . anything my big brother does . . . and I love using crayons and pens (even if I do hold them upside down once in awhile)!

Hope you all have a great week!

Sam out!

Summer Vacation 2009

So we just came back from a great summer vacation - we spent a week up in Jackson, Teton NP, and Yellowstone NP. These are some of our most favorite places! Mason did really well and only had one short relapse of pneumonia. He toughed it out and we had a great time.

We started with an important stop in Star Valley on our drive up to see Aunt Mary Isabell. She's one of our most favorite relatives. It was really good to see her!

She sent us across the road to the local dairy. Of course, being city boys, we thought the tractor was cool and had to take our pictures with it. I'm sure the local farmer thought we were silly!

We got to pet the calves. Mommy especilly liked this one on the left - he reminded us of our dalmatian dog, Copper (except that Copper is liver-spotted: brown and white instead of the typical black and white).Cousin Barton stopped by in his big semi and let us hop in to test out the driver's seat. I was just a bit nervous about the whole thing - it was sooo much louder up close and personal!We had our timeshare condo up in Jackson for the week. Grandpa and Grandma G. spent a few days with us before leaving for a reunion and then to head home. This is a picture of me and Sam out in front. We ate at all our favorite eating places and shopped at all mommy's favorite shopping places.We had to take the required picture under the Jackson Elkhorn Arch. See Aunt Jen Jen's blog for a quick story about catching us there on the local web cam. We took a spin around the town in a stagecoach too. We loved it! We also got away from town and spent some quality time in the Tetons. We tried to take Grandpa and Grandma on the tram to the top of the Tetons but we got rained out. Here are daddy, mommy, and the boys on a hike around Jenny Lake to Moose Ponds.

Even though we had the condo all week, we decided to spend a couple of nights up in Yellowstone NP so that we didn't have to make the long drive up and back each day to sight see. Yellowstone had lots to see and do.

Here is a picture of me on our hike at Pelican Point. It was so green and pretty. And yes, I actually hiked this whole hike - on my very own legs.We saw some of the great Yellowstone sights - we love the Canyon area. This is upper falls. Unfortunately this was my pneumonia relapse day so we didn't do some of the hikes we planned for this day. Just seeing the sights and taking a nice long drive up and back through the Lamar Valley was enough for my little body for this day.Here is a picture of me peeking over the edge of the Canyon of the Yellowstone. Mommy (who has a nasty fear of heights) barely let go of me - - just one small rock between me and the deep, deep canyon!Here is a picture that daddy snapped early one morning at our hotel in Yellowstone. Don't ask!

We drove up to Mammoth Hot Springs at the very north end of the park. Mommy and daddy said it wasn't nearly as active and colorful as it has been in the past, but it was still pretty cool to see. One lady we overheard as we walked around thought that this was all man-made! We saw hot pots! Crazy stuff if you ask me - definately not man-made! We took a great hike on our way back from Yellowstone NP to Jackson . . . it was to Ice Lake. It was in the middle of a burned area that had really come back nicely with new pines. Not all of the burned parts have been this lucky.Here's a picture of me and daddy balancing on a big fallen log. Daddy tried sooooo hard to catch a frog for me here. He said they were the fastest frogs he's ever seen. We did get to see some great animals on our trip. Moose . . .Big Horn Sheep - which are rare for us in these parks.Buffalo - definately plentiful this year. This guy liked to rest among the pretty purple flowers.We also saw some elk, antelope, and osprey. This coyote jumped out onto the road right in front of us as we were driving between Mammoth and Tower. He was spooked by something but we never did see what scared him out. We FINALLY saw our bear for this trip. Sadly it was a big wooden one near our condo in Jackson. We'll have to take it for this year.

And this is mommy's favorite view in all of the Tetons NP - - Oxbow Bend. It is a great place to see wildlife and just to experience peace and beauty!

Sam Alert: Hey there - what a great summer vacation! I could get used to these things! I love the wind in my hair and mosquito bites all over my head. Yes, mommy forgot to put bug spray on my head - it's hard to find good parents these days! And this is a picture of me in the cab of cousin Barton's truck. What's there to be scared of? I feel quite at home! If someone could just help me with the pedals! And a cup/bottle holder please.

Sam out!