No-Antelope Island

We took a little trip up to the Great Salt Lake the other day to a state park called Antelope Island just to check it out, because well, that’s what we do.  A man made road bridge takes you out to the lake’s largest island for some hiking trails and great scenery of the lake and the mountain ranges.  There were quite a lot of hiking trails up the steep slopes of the island, but on a cold day with a couple of small children, we didn’t brave any of them.  We did drive around to check out the buffalo that roam mostly free on the island, having been introduced there in the 1800’s.  We learned a lot about the lake at the visitor’s center and checked out an operational ranch on the island that’s been there since way back when.  The funny thing was, for an island named after the wild antelope, there weren’t any living on it.  Would have made more since to call it Buffalo Island, but hey, that’s why I don’t name islands I guess.  Anyway, not a bad day trip, and of course perfect for photo opportunities.  

Paul posing with a miniature buffalo.  Actually, we tried to get him to go stand by it or even try to ride it, but he opted to keep his distance.  Probably for the best.

Getting his cheeks, apparently.  

 Adam rode this wild stallion at the ranch.  Future rodeo star, I'm sure.

I practiced my roping skills, here catching a wild Polywog, a rare species in these parts, but easy to find due to their constant, annoying ability to never stop chattering, screaming, and otherwise bouncing off the walls.

 Adam was just a little worried by this.

We explored the rocky cliffs, looking over the great salty lake and distant snowy peaks.  Our Ute Indian Scout known as "Little Screaming Boy" led the way.

Pretty amazing views from on top of the island mountains.  We'll have to go back some other day when it's warmer and hike some of the other trails.

We think this is winter, maybe?

It’s been an interesting winter to say the least, with more days of sunshine than snow.  Other than a couple snowstorms that stuck around for a day or two at a time, it’s basically been an extension of fall/spring/something around here.  But we’ve been trying to get out and enjoy it nonetheless.  So here are just a few things we’ve been up to:

 When it did snow, Paul had to make some snow angels of course.  

A little snow trampoline action and quite a bit of shoveling.  He helped me shovel the drive one night, and we built a nice snowman for Uncle Josh, who abruptly plowed through it with his car when he came home. 

 Adam had to help, naturally.

But he enjoys the sunny days much better.  Paul took some soccer lessons at the rec center, so we went down to the local field and kicked it around a bit.  Adam preferred to throw the ball, but after a while he got the hang of kicking it too.  Now let's see if he can hit a fastball...

Paul has developed his mother's love of annoying me.

But it's been good, warm then cold, cold then warm, but all good.  Whether it's winter or not, we're still out loving it.  Hope it's sunny and bright, or snowy and cold wherever you are!

Dead battery, lost wallet... lucky!!

So a while ago we decided to go out to the Bonneville Salt Flats over on the Nevada border.  If you hadn’t noticed, we often go to random places we find on the map, so this was just another day in our lives.  But the day started out with me having to go to a doctor’s appointment, and then Becky and the boys going off to get breakfast while they waited.  Well, the car battery died, and we were extremely lucky that she was literally only a block away.  We had just happened to go to the wrong address beforehand, which had just happened to have a donut shop.  Otherwise she might have driven 65 miles away to find breakfast (all they have in that part of town are taco stands – but I guess they could have had breakfast burritos!).  So after I walked to find them and got a new battery fix, we went on our journey into nothingness.  Seriously, nothing is out there in Nevada, just an interstate highway and a lot of salt and sand.  The Salt Flats were pretty impressive though.  Apparently it’s one of the few places that you can see the curvature of the Earth on land.  If it weren’t for the mountains off to one side and the faint lines of car tracks, you could easily get lost out there and lose all sense of direction.  But the Salt Flats are famous for being the location where the land speed records of 600+ mph have been set.  We got the Trailblazer up to 85… oh yeah.  

The salt actually broke off in big flakes, with thick mud underneath.  We kept driving out into it until the car started to sink in a little... that's when we figured it might be a good idea to stop.

The landscape was almost like another planet out there.  Pretty surreal.  

Had a little fun with the car... not like you could run into anything.

Adam enjoys just about anything... even if it's just nothing.

So we took a few group photos with the camera on top of the car, set with the timer and balanced with my wallet.  I often do this with no issue.  That day, however, I decided to leave my wallet on top of the car when we drove off.  This time we did drive 65 miles away before I realized it wasn’t in my pocket.  It wasn’t warm in my pocket, it was cold and alone out in the middle of nowhere… with my driver’s license, debit card, and a whole lot of other stuff I didn’t want to replace.  Needless to say, I wasn’t too happy.  I may have shut the door to the car and screamed some things out of the boy’s hearing.  But, it was lost in one of the few places in the world where we could actually find it after flying off the car, since all that exists out there is white salt.  So we went back into the nothingness.  And we actually found it.

Two hours and 130 miles later.

Anyway, it would be great to go back in the summer and see the cars race, but I imagine the heat gets pretty intense out there.  It is the desert.  But for this trip, we got plenty of salt out of our tires… if anyone wants to borrow some.

It really snowed!!

We actually got some snowfall last night!  I know, it's been a pretty strange winter down here so far, and I was beginning to think we'd skipped it altogether.  The other day it was 50 degrees and raining, so it felt like March already.  But then the rain turned to a wet, wet snow perfect for snowballs and snowman making.  When the sun came out today, and Becky and I had all four kids to watch, we decided to take a little trip down to the park and the sledding hills.

Becky pointed out that after spending his first two years in tropical Florida, and the last two years in mostly flat Maryland, Paul had never in his life been sledding.  Seriously.  So this was his first trip down the snowy slopes!

The kids had a blast, and we "adults" even took a few trips down the hill too!  Then, after an epic snowball fight, we had some hot chocolate and just relaxed on another sunny winter Sunday.

Where the dinosaurs lived...

We took the kids down to Thanksgiving Point in Lehi, UT to see the Museum of Ancient Life.  Dinosaurs, of course.  It was very interesting how many dinosaur fossils come from this part of the world, Utah, Wyoming, South Dakota and Montana.  So many of the dinosaurs in the museum actually lived around these parts a few years ago, including Paul’s favorite, Tyrannosaurus Rex!  My favorite was the massive Supersaurus, a brontosaurus-type dinosaur that was over a hundred feet long and would have weighed 40 tons.  They had a couple that were pretty incredible.  The boys had fun, obviously.  And we had trouble keeping up with Adam, who decided he no longer needed us and would rather run the museum by himself.

 Wouldn't want to be stepped on by whatever this leg belonged to.

Here we are with the Utahraptor... a dinosaur found in, you guessed it, Utah.

The boys took this one for a ride.

Adam took a moment to hang out with Megaladon, the largest shark to ever live.  He ain't scared.

And Paul got to dig for dinosaur bones!  Too much fun, and a pretty cool museum that wasn't too far away, so it was all in all a good time.  And Paul would like to remind his Grandpa Bill that T-Rex would beat Triceratops every time!

Paul's Blog Post

So Paul got a digital camera for Christmas that he has been enjoying when we go out and about on our adventures.  When we went to the state capitol building, he brought it along and took a few shots, and he also got a few just around the house.  We picked out some of the best, a few portraits he captured.  It's only a matter of time before he's operating his own blog probably.  So here you go, here are the pics and the captions for each, in his own words...

"Mason making his crayons, drawing something with making his crayons."

"Izzy taking a picture of me, but I actually took a picture of her before she took a picture of me.  We were taking a picture of each other."

"Mason and Izzy... I don't know what they're doing in that one.  They're putting their heads together and I was taking a picture."

"Mason in the picture.  Just Mason."

"Dad took this one.  I have a mustache.  I like to pull people's mustaches."

 "Halo Legos.  They're guarding the door.  They're protecting the other Halo Legos."

"Mom taking a picture of me and I took a picture of her.  I don't know where my mom is."

"Adam and my dad, saying cheese."

"Adam, Dad, and my mom.  I'm taking a picture of you guys.  I don't know."

So there you go.  Paul's first very own blog post.  Hopefully he keeps taking photos and we'll have some more to share later. 

Salt Lake City 2012

So the New Year is here.  And it’s amazing how quickly time will pass you by.  We started this blog in 2008 just after Paul turned one, and this year, he’ll already be five.  This year could hold some big changes, but all along we’ll try to keep the memories posted here as we have these past few years.  So we start this year off in Salt Lake City, and there are a lot of cool places to go and see.  First off, we went up to see the capitol building, because, well… it’s here, I guess.  We’ve been to the US Capitol obviously, and the Missouri and Virginia capitol buildings recently, so why not check out the Utah capitol building?  Right?  Right.

Yep, looks like a capitol building.

The boys are ready to perform their public service.

 

Good view of the Wasatch Range and the Salt Lake Valley from up there.

 

Gotta love the beehives, as long as you don't get stung... it is the Beehive State they say.  

Happy as usual, well... if he knows you, cause if he doesn't know you, then he's not happy with you.

And Paul got this camera for Christmas, so stay tuned for a glimpse into this artist's mind as his work will soon be on display in world renowned galleries and magazines.  Or maybe at least on this blog in the next post...