Memorial Weekend 2012

Well it wouldn't be a Memorial weekend without a trip to ride Thomas on the Heber Valley Railroad.  Dad and mom always seem to surprise us - we knew Thomas was here.  We'd even seen an ad on TV on Friday morning and they told us we just didn't have time this weekend to go.  So when we packed up the car and started driving into the mountains, we thought we were just headed to Wyoming for our weekend trip.  Then we pulled in to the station and we started screaming - thanks dad and mom! 

We had a great time - a great ride, a visit with our favorite conductor, and looking at all of the cool trains.

Of course there were the fun activities and games.

And for the first time, we took the time to ride the little rail cars . . . 

And we took time to visit with Sir Topham Hat - there is always quite the line to meet him.  I was a little nervous at first, but Sam just walked right up and said hi.

After a great time at Day Out With Thomas, we really got going into the mountains for our trip.  We stopped at the cemetery where dad's relatives are buried and put out our flowers.

After our first night in Star Valley, we stopped at a couple of cemeteries to leave flowers for our relatives.

Mom had a great idea to let Sam and me drive at the cemeteries we went to.  We did this a couple of days while we were there.  Talk about fun and exciting!!!  Check out our smiles!  There were no wrecks or driving off into ditches.  Mom's car was no worse for the wear.

We ended up having a little rain and some chilly weather, but we snuck in a great hike to Periodic springs. 

This is really such a great hike - still some snow drifts out and about.

We loved shopping at the little market in Afton.  They had grocery carts just for us.  We only ran into mom's heels once and crashed into the shelves a few times.  

It really is just the simple things that make us happy!

We had a nice, relaxing weekend.  It rained all day Sunday so we didn't get in the golf and fishing we had planned.  But I could spend a whole evening playing on the iPad and hanging out . . . . oh wait, that's exactly what I did.

We woke up to just a little snow on Monday morning.  Here we are at the summit heading for home.



We stopped at Grandma June's grave on our way home to leave some flowers.  Cemeteries are soooo beautiful on Memorial weekend!

Happy Memorial Day everyone!

Sam Alert:  Hey y'all.  I had a great trip!  I love to travel, love to stay at hotels, and even more, I love to get home and sleep in my own bed. 

Here I am on the way home today.  We listened to Harry Potter the whole trip.  It's not my most favorite, yet . . . but I get outvoted by my other 3 travel companions.  I prefer a little Frog and Toad, or maybe some Mouse/Cookie books. 

And here I am leaving some "extra flowers" at the cemeteries we visited.  For some reason, I really enjoy visiting cemeteries and taking flowers to our relatives - always have.  Hopefully I always will! 

Have a great week everyone!

Wrapping Up

We've been doing some wrapping up this week. 

First wrap up:  Mason's spring program at school.  Not only was it a great program, but it was also our author's festival and art festival.  It was all fabulous!  Mommy's video camera isn't loading on to the computer tonight so you're only getting still pictures - if we can get the videos to upload later, we'll add them.

Here I am with my book (written and illustrated by yours truly) - The Fishes and the Whale.

Here I am reading books with my good friend Lucas after our program.

In other quick news - Sam and I both love to help mom in the kitchen.  We've been on the lookout for a play kitchen set for a really long time.  We happened upon one this weekend at a yard sale as we were out on errands.  It came home with us.  Who says kitchens are for girls only?  We love our kitchen!

And our other wrap up for this week: T-ball.  We finished out our season this week.  It was a warm season this year, which was a great change from last year.  We both had a lot of fun too.   

And just a few fun pictures of us from our games this week - me fielding a ball.

 And me running to home.

Here's Sam up at bat.  

And here he is catching a ball.  Great job Sambo!

 Have a great week everyone!

Golf, Parks, T-ball, and Sam's Spring Program

Sam's birthday celebrations continued into Monday of this last week.  We always get to choose a family activity for our birthday and Sam chose (of course) golfing.  So off we went for an evening of mini golfing. 

I consented to a short lesson on the good techniques of mini golf.  Who knew it wasn't just a race to get to the end as fast as you can.

And that lesson (along with actually slowing down a little bit) made for some great golfing!

Check out these two adorable boys as viewed from "the back side of water". 

Ah, golfing.  Love it!

Of course we had our t-ball games this week as well.  This season is sure going by quickly.  Here I am running for home base.

And here's Sam hitting pitched balls (rather than off the T).  It might look like his eyes are closed and it's just luck that he hit it but NO, he's a great ball-watcher.  He's hitting pitched balls almost every time this year.

It was also Sam's Spring Program at school this week.  Check the end of this post for more on that.  But here he is with his teachers - Miss JuLee and Miss Sahra.

We got to spend Friday night with Uncle Noley and Aunt Christy.  Talk about fun!!!  We were ultra-disappointed when dad and mom showed up on Saturday to pick us up.  One of the fun things we got to do was play at their neighborhood park - - it's a great one!  Here I am on the spider web.

And here's Sam climbing the web.

You can never go wrong with a great slide either!

And some great climbing rocks.  Really - a great park is worth its weight in gold!

And finally - as our loyal readers know, we have a love for (and a summer invasion of) garden gnomes - - - or as we lovingly refer to them - - - Naughty Gnomes.  Our gnomes haven't come out of hibernation yet this spring (we haven't finished our planting and they need the plants to hide among, just in case you were wondering).  But mommy found two new super giant gnomes to hang out in our yard.  These guys are definitely not our average garden/naughty gnomes - - but they are here to stay.  We've named them - Sam's green-shirted guy is "FlipFlop" and my red-shirted guy is "Blunkin".  We can't wait until the little gnomes see their new friends.

Sam Alert:  Hey everyone - for your viewing pleasure this week, I present three videos from my spring program at school.

First up - a dance: I See You 

Second - a drama: the Fuzzy Caterpillar

And finally - our two vowel song.  Listen carefully, it's a song about me!!!!   

I know - you don't even have to say it - - - I'm adorable!   See you next week.

Happy Birthday to Sam

 Sam here - and it's my birthday!  I have been waiting and wishing for this day for a very long time!  And it was as great a day as I could have ever hoped.  I'm finally 4 years old.  I wish that was old enough to drive and to be bigger than my brother.  But for now, it's good enough.

I wanted a pirate birthday cake - and dad delivered, as usual.  Isn't that a cool cake?

And in our house, when you turn 4, you get your very own pet.  I picked goldfish!  (Mommy is very happy with my selection - she was worried it would be a snake or a tarantula or something else creepy and crawly!)  I named my two fish Swish and Dive.  

 So many people love me - I'm so lucky.  I got wonderful presents this year.  Here are a few of them - a water table (from dad and mom).

 A great Thomas book from Uncle Carl & Aunt Fran, sidewalk chalk and some cash from Aunt Jen Jen and Uncle Michael, more cash from Grandpa and Grandma G., and a super cool rocket from Uncle Noley and Aunt Christy.

Mom and dad also gave me my very own iPod.  I'm in heaven! 

Grandpa and Grandma L. gave me a fun remote control car.  

Now I can race against Mason.  Yay!

And Mason got me a great ball and he drew me a picture.

I'm a very, very lucky boy!  Thanks to everyone! 

In other news this week, we're already half way through T-ball season.  We're having a great time.  And we have only 5 more weeks of school.  Wow - the year is flying right by.  Thanks again everyone!

 Mason Alert:  Howdy!  I'm loving T-ball this year.  It's helped that the weather has been good.  Things are good all the way around.  And after today, I can't wait for my birthday to come!  Ahh - it seems so far away.  Have a great week everybody!