Bell Canyon Hike

 Today we  hiked the Bell Canyon Trail.  This was our first hike of the summer, only about 10 minutes from home.  There are so many day hikes along the Wasatch Front. Our plan is so go on 1or 2 hikes a week this summer.  

The majority of the trail was fairly steep and full of boulders, perfect for climbing on.

DC and I carried our camel-backs to keep hydrated, mine had a leak so my backside was wet the whole way. Good way to stay cool though.

We took several rest stops on the way up - this stop has a really nice shade tree for us.

At the top of the trail is this reservoir. The trail circles around the reservoir, but we decided to stay at this spot and cool our feet off for a bit.

Water in this reservoir is run off from the snow glaciers above. VERY COLD!

Frijoles brought up her notebook and worked on a story she's writing

T.T was looking for rocks when this huge ladybug decided her hat was a good resting spot.

Buba wanted to take pictures too, this one and the one below are one's that he took - not to shabby!

T.T. helping two worn out boys after a long day on the trail.

We had one scary moment on this hike. After our first stop at the water, we decided to hike half way around the lake to a waterfall we could see.  Frijoles, already tired, was grumpy, and started walking ahead of the group to get it over with sooner. I had stopped to help Buba take some photos, when I hollered up to Frijoles to stop and wait. What we didn't realize is that the trail forked slightly from where I had seen her.  She had sat down to wait, but as we walked to catch up to her we took the other bend in the trail.  We walked for about 10 minutes, thinking that she was in SO much trouble for not waiting for us. Thinking she must be running because we hadn't seen her yet, we decided that DC should run up ahead while I walked back the other way with the little kids to wait.  DC ran up ahead , and asked everyone on the trail - with no luck - if they had seen her.  Meanwhile, she had come back up the trail to look for us. When she couldn't find us she asked another family on the trail if she could us their cell phone - but there was no reception available. A few minutes later, on my way back, I met up with her and this family.  DC however, ended up running the whole loop of the lake (aggravating his asthma) searching for her.   We met up with him at our original stopping place by the lake. After getting a lecture about never having an 'attitude' on the trail again, we  headed back down the trail for home.  Along the way, several concerned hikers asked if we had found her.  It was very comforting knowing so many people were looking out for her as well.  Frijoles was a bit shaken up from the experience, but it turned out okay, and I'm grateful that this was nothing worse than a important lesson learned. (hopefully learned!).

 

 

Graduation

Today was Buba's  preschool graduation.  He has grown so much and is nearly ready for Kindergarten, he just needs to get one official summer break under his belt and he'll be raring to go. 

YouTube of graduation program

Click this link to see the YouTube video of his program
(well it turns out I downloaded a video at too high a resolution so it takes a long time to view. So if you don't want to wait for the quality here's what you'll do. Click link, once video is up, look down on the lower right corner of the video screen.  You'll see some icons, select the first one in that row - looks like a gear or flower - it'll change the quality controller.  To speed up the viewing process, you have to lower the quality - sorry about that.). The first song is the cutest if that's all you can see.

 After the program they got a bucket of cotton candy as  graduation program

These are his very best friends, every day he asks to play with at least one of them.  But since today was a special day, I told him ALL of them could come over and play for the afternoon.  It's been a crazy, loud, bruised-knee afternoon but he's having fun and I love that he has a good group of friends close by to play with,  (right now I can hear one kid moaning "I'm so dizzy I could throw-up! Spin me faster!)  I might have to run and do a damage control check in a bit.    I love little boys, especially this one!


{word to the wise: when I five year old says he could throw up - it's not a figure of speech!}

You Tube Recital

Because Twinkle Toes plays the guitar she doesn't often get the chance to preform for others. Apparently in the guitar lesson world 'recitals' just aren't part of the repertoire.  T.T. gets bummed because her other siblings always get to go out for a special treat after every piano recital.  So we've come up with a compromise.  YouTube Recitals.  We post private video's and send them to family who's interested (mainly G.ma's & G.pa's)
with the rule that she doesn't get any do-overs.  If she can do that - we'll celebrate her success as well.
Her first recital I didn't blog about, but thought I would on this one.

Recital: Last Kiss by Daughtry

ps - refer to video disclaimer on "graduation" post - sorry.  Also, T.T. has the habit of licking her lips when she's concentrating, not thinking, nervous, relaxed, or has a runny nose (j.k. on that last one!) but we're working on it.  Love ya T.T.   

All the Do's I do

 I enjoy playing around with hair.  I had thought that having two girls I would have lots of fun playing with their hair, but they don't like ANYTHING done to their hair! Just straight.  I always did my girls hair all cute for school, despite their protests.  I made lots of cute bows and headbands and got up early to be sure to have the time to work with them. Then one day, when Twinkle toes was 7, I showed up to volunteer in her class. As I walked in, I glanced toward her to say hi, and saw the custom job she had done to my styling that morning.  When she left for school she had her hair combed straight with a nice headband and big flower clip to the side. But now, instead of wearing her elastic headband as it typically should be, she had it around her forehead, like a crown, and because it was elastic, it had bubbled up a bit to create a nice little muffin top with a big flower smack in the middle of her forehead!  I couldn't help but laugh out loud while I assured her teacher she didn't leave the house looking that way.  I since then, aside from brushing it out, I let them do their hair themselves for school.
Looking back at my kid school pictures, I can tell exactly when my mom stopped doing my hair - around 3rd grade.  Perhaps it was that early desire to create my own style that  fostered my love for playing with hair today.  That got me to thinking about all the different hair-dos I've had (long, short, curly, straight, blonde & black). Right now I'm going for the thrifty look (natural color, and long).

  ( update: pictures didn't post well - sorry, just have to use your imagination)

Frijoles 1st Science Fair Project. 

The FIZZ EFFECT

 ( I don't know that the safety goggles were really necessary, but she sure looked cute with them on!)

 I was really impressed, she came up with her idea all on her own (unlike some projects we saw at the fair that were suspiciously complex for a 5th grader).  She labeled her project "The Fizz Effect".  She observed that baking soda and vinegar fizzed when combined.  Her experiment was to find out why that happened and if there were other cooking products that did the same.