Summer Trip Episode 5

Time: 1 July 2008, 5:24PM
Location: 34°11'22.4"N 109°33'56.5"W Whiting Homestead, AZ
Event: Brown Water Rafting

Finally, we are at The Homestead and the first thing to do is find some dirt, preferably with a little water mixed in. Lovely.
If the pond is full and you have a boat, take it for a spin.
Mom is a pretty good paddler. Maybe that's not such a good thing.
Naturally, if you can find two boats, invite some cousins to join you.
Bask in the joy of the beautiful mountain air at 8000 feet. Don't forget to look for snakes and crawdads...

Summer Trip Episode 4

Time: 28 June 2008, 3:29PM - 7:45PM
Location: 42°52'N 112°26'W Grandma & Grandpa's House, Pocatello, ID
Event: Family Party

Water Slide into the old Cattle Tank
Cavorting with Cousins
Minor accident involving slippery feet and a resulting lost tooth.
Sharing Grandma & Grandpa's array of bikes.
More water sliding.
They call him "The Streak". (Don't look, Ethel!)
Riding uncle Brad's new bike.

Summer Trip Episode 3

Time: Friday, June 27, 2008, 5:32 PM PDT
Location: 45°40'10.7"N 118°47'51.8"W (A park in Pendleton, OR)
Event: Playing at a park


After spotting a semi-truck on the street and investigating: "BIG WHEEL!"

The owner of the "big wheel" invited the boys to take a peek inside the cab. They were more impressed than the photo might indicate.

We learned that it costs over $900 to fill the truck with fuel and it gets about 6 miles per gallon.

Summer Trip Episode 2

Time: 27 June 2008, 4:53 PM PDT
Location: 45°40'7.5"N 118°48'7.9"W (Dairy Queen in Pendleton, OR)
Event: Ice Cream after dinner

Summer Trip Episode 1

Time: 27 June 2008 2:48PM PST
Location: 45°41'39.4"N 120°22'52.6"W (near Blalock, OR)
Event: Stopping to let the boys run around for a while.

Hey! What's that?

It's a BIG, LOUD, FAST TRAIN!
Run!

Nephi

Last summer, Pop and I were fortunate to be part of the incredible premier of "With Mine Own Hand"- The Musical Account of Nephi, which drew talent from all over Vancouver and Portland. We were in the stage choir. Well, it turns out big names from Salt Lake attended the production, and yada yada.... now it's REALLY going big at Education Week, in Aug. at BYU. Only this time, they don't need a stage choir (or orchestra) because all of that has been professionally recorded now, and is on a CD.
And we're on it!
Of course, this just goes to prove, it's not what you know, it's WHO, since our buddies the Zabriskies (featured frequently on this blog) are the creators.
Now, this is the thing - I am exceptionally picky about music. I hate "cheesy", overly dramatized, sappy, spiritually sensationalized anything. This has prevented me from enjoying many member (and church) created LDS CD's and movies - believe me. That said, this is one of the most enjoyable, moving, broadway quality, scripturally based (all of the scripture references are listed on the CD booklet for each song) productions EVER. Music like this is a rare, RARE find. Listen to samples of it on their website, and you'll see what I mean.

Bikers

On Saturday Ma headed out early on a mission. We needed more bikes. Yes, the more observant among you will recall that we have at least four already but the boys have tended to fight over one particular bike, the one that is the easiest to ride and has buttons to push to make noise. When she returned, Ma brought two more bikes, purchased from nearby neighborhood yard sales. The boys approve.

Girl Power!

Well, the doctor declared it "95% certain" that our little bundle of protoplasm is of the female persuasion. She was appropriately modest and didn't give us a very good look, but sometimes it's what you don't see that's important... Here she is in profile, thumbing her nose at us. Awww. She sure is growing up fast. It seems like only a few weeks ago that she was just a mass of undifferentiated cells. She'll be breathing air before you know it.

Mum's the Word

In a few years I'll probably dream about doing this, with duct tape. For now, he thought he had an "owie" on his lip and this constitutes toddler first aid.

One Bike, Two Boys

Remarkably, they rode around like this for a while before one of them got bored and wandered off.

"Chalk" Full of Fun

The Elders (our threesome) and Jennifer (our friend from our ward) and her daughter all came over for FHE. The Elders were in charge of the activity:
Sidewalk chalk! The crunchers did what they do best - promptly broke all the chalk in half, then squeezed in a late night bike ride (WAY past their bedtime.)
So the Elders had the burden of decorating our street all by themselves. (They were the only adults comfortable bending down for that long.)

Oh My Goodness!!

Cole Reporting:
An amazing thing happened yesterday. Mona and Papa Z came over to visit and while they were here we heard music playing outside. That would have been amazing enough all by itself, but when we went out side to investigate, we saw what looked very similar to our wonderful mail truck but instead of mail inside, IT HAD ICE CREAM! I know, we were skeptical too, but to prove it, Papa Z got us some ice cream from the so-called "ice cream truck" which we promptly ate, dripping appropriate amounts on the ground and on our shirts (especially Grant). To quote one eater of the ice cream (Grant again), "Yummy!" Dad claims that the mail truck that comes by every day doesn't have ice cream inside but we're going to have to investigate that claim before we can be certain.

Episode 3: abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz

The Count

I don't know what happened to "2" and "5" and I also don't know when "no" became a number but he sure is emphatic about it.

Twinkle Twinkle

Oaki Wear at Last!

It's official! The Crunchers (being entirely disappointed in not being able to find the cool gear they need) have finally launched their own company. Cole is promoting their ongoing campaign to "Live Outside"...
while staying clean and dry whenever possible.
And they quote from the inspiring book "Last Child in the Woods" (by Richard Louv), "Unlike television, nature does not steal time; it amplifies it."
So come check out all their hard work/play at oakiwear.com and feel free to use the coupon code - "crunchers" - to get 30% off any of the gear (for a limited time).

Creature Comforts

Boys are simple creatures. They just want... creatures! And whoever helps them find them (or takes great interest in them) becomes a fast friend.
Grampa digs....
Gramma admires....
and here's Grant with a look of pure satisfaction (above) and pride in his daily catch.
A bond is formed.
We've found a new way to recycle bottles of water: Pop discovered they make the perfect bug cups. Before the cups, Grant would just jam them all into his tightly closed hand, and carry them around for hours. Not only is that cruelty to all the disgusting, slimy, less than loveable invertabrates, but it was giving us the willies.

Slug-Bug

Well, maybe just slug.

Which reminds me, does anyone know a good way to remove slug slime from hands, shirts, coats, hats and/or shoes?

And I Quote...

"Ow!"

Grant Spielberg

Here's Grant' first effort at film making, with a little "help" from Cole.

Judging from the voices and the saliva, I'd say it's definitely a horror film.