Water fun

It seems one of the most defining features of summertime is playing in water. Last year we were lucky to have swimming lessons for all of the kids at the Logan Aquatic Center. This year we don't live anywhere near a pool, but we've still have a lot of fun with H2O!

First off, the fish hatchery in Spearfish is finally completely functional! We got to watch the fish swimming around us, then we got to go out and feed them, along with the ducks.

 

Spearfish has become our monthly outing, since that is where my obgyn is located, and now we get to go every two weeks! It's been fun discovering new things to see. One week, we spent some time at this pretty little memorial park while daddy was at the dentist. It had a very pretty waterfall.

 

Jonah and Josh especially liked throwing rocks in the water, though I don't think they were supposed to.

 

At home we've discovered some new fun too. We bought our first hose, and daddy treated all the kids to a little shower one particularly hot day:

 Grandma also bought us a fun water toy, as sort of a late birthday present for Joshua. Our water presure doesn't seem to be strong enough for it to spray out and spin like it is supposed to, but that didn't stop everyone from having a great time!

 

And even though there is no pool here, we did get to have some fun visiting the new Aquatic Center at Grandma's house when we visited earlier this month! 

There was a ton of fun stuff there for kids. Elora even tried the big hydrotube with daddy and uncle Thain; they all had a blast!Too bad my camera couldn't capture them coming out of the tube...oh well.

 

trying the water for the first time.

Joshua loved all the contraptions for catching and directing water, as well as the built-in squirt guns. In fact, I had to wrestle him away more than once because he was about to start a fight with some other kids over it!

Jonah loved everything! He didn't even mind almost drowning like ten times.

 We had lots of fun!

tornado watch

 

Most of the time, the clouds here look like this. Bigger than life, unusually tall, but beautiful. I have never been one to be afraid of bad weather or natural disasters , though my husband definitely has that on his list of things to be worried about. Recently though, I  guess I have been a little more concerned than usual.

It started a week or so ago, when some neighbors were overly concerned about the possibility of tornadoes. If there is emergency weather, we're all supposed to go to the school building for shelter, and they were certain there was going to be a tornado. They wanted Joseph to go open the school to let them in, but he wouldn't for various reasons...mostly so he didn't get fired.

We had already looked on the NOAA weather site, and there was no kind of warning for our area, though he assured them if the weather looked worse, he'd be sure to go open the doors for everyone (even though it's not supposed to be his job!) They weren't happy with him.

After this incident occurred, I found myself watching the weather a little more closely than usual. I also was beset by some strange dreams about tornadoes.

 

In the most vivid dream, I found our house surrounded by stormy clouds. First, I looked to the west, where I saw four or five distant twisters touching the ground, at such a distance that they appeared about the width of my fingers.

West view from our kitchen

Then I ran to our north-facing kitchen windows, where I saw two giant funnel clouds that were much closer and bearing down on our community. These two monsters were close enough that they seemed about the width of a door from where I was, so they were at least big enough to swallow several houses at once, up close.

Northern view from our kitchen

At this point in the dream, I grabbed all my kids and we headed out the door to go to the school! It was supposedly a school day and Joseph was already there- as was the rest of the community- and I remember feeling angry that Joseph hadn't come home to get us, or called us to tell us to come over.

As we walked out the door, I looked to the East, the direction our front door opens upon. There I saw the most horrendous tornado of all. This one was so close I would have to stretch my arms out to encompass its width from my viewpoint; it was several miles wide, and much bigger than our little collection of houses and school buildings. 

Eastern view from our porch

The kids and I started running to the school, which is just to the south-east of our home. In real life, I don't know if we could really outrun such a monstrous tornado that was so close to our position!

South Eastern view, toward the school building

In the end, we made it inside the school in time, just as the mother tornado encompassed the area. We shut the doors and all ducked for cover on the ground, and darkness surrounded us. When we stood up afterwards, the ground was littered with dark ash...I think I was confusing tornadoes with volcanic eruptions, but in a dream it's almost the same thing, right?

Anyway, these pictures are from the morning after I had that dream. These storm clouds rolled in in just a matter of minutes, visibly roiling and churning as they spread across the sky! After my 'vision' of the night before, you bet I was a little concerned..especially when we saw that same family headed over to the school again. I turned on the weather report, and again there were no warnings for our area at all, not even for a severe thunderstorm...but I packed our bag with a few extra diapers and got out everyone's shoes and socks, just in case.

looking up to the North

I thought these views to the north-east were the most concerning. This first one is pretty dramatic, but the last one, below, is the scariest to me. See the clouds on the right-hand side of the photo? Those clouds were literally curling down to the earth as they advanced, almost right over our head!

looking up above our house to the North

The clouds covered us, rained violently but briefly, and had moved on in a matter of twenty minutes or so. While I wouldn't mind seeing a twister sometime while we're here, I just hope its from somewhere safe...when our house isn't directly in it's path! Hmm, maybe next year we can move to Kansas? Or not.

Over the river and through the woods

We had many adventures during the week we were at grandma's house in Utah! We got to celebrate my birthday with a barbecue, and Joseph make me a beautiful cake. I also got to see some of my friends I hadn't seen in years, thanks to some stealthy planning by my husband. Too bad I didn't have my camera for that surprise at the yogurt place Mmm. Frozen yogurt.

Grandpa cooked all the meat for the barbecue.

some of the fakest smiles I've ever seen! Oh well they're still cute.

Jonah got to eat at the table.

Uncle Thain kept taking Elora climbing into the front yard tree!

Uncles Thorin and Thain enjoying some good food and company.

Thain shows Jonah a swinging good time.

One of the big surprises of the trip was when we got Elora and Josh some new bikes! Elora still had the tricycle she got on her second birthday, so it was about time. Now if only there was a sidewalk in front of our South Dakota home on which they could practice riding. At least grandma helped everyone learn the basics!

There were various activities indoors as well, such as playing cards...

whoa, three aces! Oh wait.

playing with the uncles' old toys

playing Uncle Thorin's guitar, and impersonating Lisa Loeb

playing Uncle Thorin's video games..yeah, he wasn't there half the days we were..

reading with Uncle Thain

 

crafts with beads...Elora could literally spend hours making patterns with beads.

My parents even took us out to dinner (and Joseph and I to a movie!) one night. While I am generally an advocate of authentic ethnic foods, I have to admit I have been craving this so-not-authentic meal of taquitos with American cheese slices, dipped in fry sauce my whole pregnancy! I think it's a nostalgia thing, but my mouth is watering just looking at this creation from Brad's Food Hut. We've tried imitations using frozen taquitos from the store, but there is no substitute! Oh man, I want some right now!

I was happy that at least once we fit in the walk up the trail at Canyon park; it's such a beautiful little trail! I just wish we'd gone slightly earlier so it wasn't too dark to take pictures when we got to the bridge at the end.

 

aww, walking with grandma.

One day we also went to a cool water park! (to be seen in a future post.)
But all too soon, the fun came to an end, and it was time for us to say goodbye.

Grandma is always so sad when it's time for us to go!

At least for us, the trip wasn't quite over. We spent three days driving back, on the way seeing the Dinosaur museum in northern Utah, and spending a night at my aunt and uncle's house.
There we got to blow bubbles, ride in a dune buggy, and visit with our favorite dog, Buddy!

Look at those cute tongues!

We stopped in Wyoming to see the house my grandparents used to live in (my grandma is in Arizona now.) It's in a beautiful town called Lander, Wyoming...maybe Joseph could get a teaching job there next year! We also liked Casper, which is the same size as Logan, where we used to live, and Gillette, which is pretty close to South Dakota.

Red Canyon near Lander, Wyoming

Hi grandma's old house!

One quick note about Wyoming...I did NOT like Muddy Gap. I didn't really see the town at all, but on the freeway there is only ONE gas station where you can stop for any necessities. Elora and I both had to go to the restroom (picture big pregnant lady and cute little girl).When we walked in, the girl at the counter very forcefully announced, "The restrooms are for customers ONLY." and she looked at us expectantly.

I kept walking and said, "Okay," even though we'd just bought treats and gas at the town before, I wasn't going to NOT use the restroom! Do you know how far apart towns in Wyoming are?

When we came out, she raised her head and stared at us, just challenging us to not buy anything. I told her that my husband would be in to buy something momentarily. Sheesh!

He did, but ended up having to buy way more stuff than necessary, because they had one of those rules about not buying under $5 of merchandise on a credit card.

Anyway, my point is...NEVER GO THERE. This happened on our way toward Utah, and I intended to take a picture on the way home, but we ended up traveling a different way. However, here is a link to an online pic I found, if you want to see the place.

 At the end of all our traveling, my feet were a little swollen...not as bad as when we went on a road trip when I was pregnant with Elora though. But that time, we had no air conditioning and it was well in the hundreds! They're looking much better now, so I guess the trip was worth it.

Yay for vacations!

Joshua turns four!

June 12th was a big day at our house...it was the day Joshua turned four years old! What a big boy.
We had all the usual celebrations. First, there were balloons to play with when everyone woke up.
Joshua loves balloons!

YAY!

 

Then we usually have some blue berry muffins, with a candle for the birthday boy. Mmmmm. I think the candle was starting to melt, just a little.

Now it's time for the cake! Josh's birthday was on a Sunday, so we made the cake the day before. Josh picked chocolate cake with lemon frosting, and red and blue for the decorations. He even got to help put some frosting and sprinkles on! 

We were lucky there was a pot luck at church that day, so we all got to sing together for Joshua's birthday, and we shared his cake with everyone. (This was a good way to get rid of the cake too, since we were leaving on vacation the next day!)

  After we got home, it was time for the presents! The biggest thing Josh got were some roller skates, but he was happy with everything. He especially liked making faces for the camera.

 I'm pretty sure this face was unintentional; we have a photo of him making almost the same face on his second birthday when he was opening his presents! Silly boy.

One of Josh's favorite presents was this spinning top (also this cool pillow case from grandma). I'm glad that the simplest things make him happy.

Happy birthday, Joshua!