Westward Ho!

For those of you doubting our loyalty to Utah, we present to you our Days of '47 Celebration (only a few weeks late due to technical difficulties, not our lack of affection)!

We kicked off our festivities with a Pioneer Primary activity at the church. Abz, Superkid and I arrived early to set up and there was only one other car in the lot, which was obstructed from Superkid's view. Superkid said, "Looks like we are the first ones here!" To which Abz replied, "No. Look Superkid, there is Jesus' car parked over there."

Superkid was particularly excited to learn about pioneer life. As I was drawing hop-scotch squares on the pavement Superkid noted, "Mom, I didn't realize the pioneers played hop-scotch." Okay, so *most* of the activities of the day were not authentic, but were fun none the less. I hope we didn't do too much historical damage to the kids in the process.

Here is Superkid standing in line to do some candle dipping...

Superkid was a champ in the watermelon eating contest...

And here we are lining up for the re-enactment of the trek from Nauvoo to the Salt Lake Valley...

And no Days of '47 celebration is complete without a UNICORN RODEO! YEEEHAAA!

And here is OUR 2009 Rodeo Queen!

Poster Children for the Cookie of the Month Club...

Can anyone guess what the Toad cookie of choice for beach days is?

Pretty Women

After 8 years of living in New England, we haven finally attended our first Polo Match. And as it is for all sporting events, for us it is less about the game and more about the cake...

...reenacting a Pretty Woman scene (the most innocent one for sure, I mean... um.. so I am told)...

...and keeping Tadpole from being trampled by 12 horses.
Good family fun! We'll be back for sure and next time we will add seersucker, fine linen, large hats, tea and crumpets and a trophy to the experience.

The Blue Footed Booby

Last week was Sail Boston...
So I grabbed the kiddos...
...and my favorite NE cousins...
...and we hit the warf!
There was even time to run around at our favorite court house...
Take a spin on the carousel...
Visit our favorite harbor seals...

And tell the kids of how our boat got its name. Boat?! Boat?! You say! Well, just because we don't have a boat (yet!) doesn't mean that we haven't named her. She is a beautiful, yet modest little yacht (sleeps 6) with a blue hull. She is our "Blue Footed Booby". I picked out her name when I was in college taking an Ornithology class. As soon as I heard of this bird I thought she would make a spectacular boat. 

...Superkid is not impressed. He thinks that "The Blue Footed Eagle" would be more regal.

Drum Roll Please...

We present to you THE FIRST BLUEBERRY OF THE SEASON! TA DA!!

Here is my crew of little blueberry pickers... 

...Which turned out to be a crew of little blueberry munchers. Between the three little hungry mouths that I brought and the six little hungry mouths my friend brought, we didn't make much headway in actually accumulating many berries to bring home. No worries, I turned my back for a second and Tadpole went and claimed some heavy machinery to get things moving...

Here is Abizella straining to carry our haul back to the car...

She better start working out because I plan on hauling home a lot more this summer!

More Independence Day Fun!

Around here, the Independence Day fun kicks off on the 2nd of July on Pop's birthday and the TRUE birthday of our country (ask Pop's for the details on that one).

And just like our forefathers, we spent time running through sprinklers...
...and, of course the heavens smiled upon our celebration and blessed us with our own rainbow to run under.

We had a patriotic reading of Click Clack Moo...
And rounded out the weekend by wandering down to the harbor for some fireworks over the water (which if you put on your night vision goggles you will see behind Pops and Tadpole)...
Young Tadpole was not a fan and spent the entire fireworks display with his head burrowed in his special silky blanket. He did not look up once, even after being transferred to his stroller and walked back to the car. 
Kind of reminds me of young Abizella when she was his age. We watched the fireworks over the water in Bar Harbor. She rolled up her hands and covered her eyes and didn't look up until we were safe in our hotel room. I only bring it up now because after carrying her for 20 minutes 8 months pregnant as we trudged back to our room I feel I am something of a hero (not a child abuser for taking such a wee one to a scary fireworks display).

Check out the Post about the George Family a couple of posts back if you haven't noticed it yet...

Mr. 4th of July HIMSELF

When we heard that Neil Diamond, MR. 4th OF JULY HIMSELF, was coming to Boston to perform with the Boston Pops this 4th of July, nothing could hold us back! ... well, except for maybe crowds of hundreds of thousands of people, so we went to the dress rehearsal on the 3rd. 

I have to say that the best, most memorable fireworks display of my life was when I was a small kid watching the home town fireworks display. For the first time ever the finale was set to music. Not just any music. Neil Diamond's "America"! Trust me, people in my small town are still talking about that magical night. In those days the fireworks were set off at the Old Central Jr. High and the whole town spread out their blankets just a few dozen feet from ground zero. It was par for the course to have little burning embers singe your naked flesh on those fiery nights. There was one exciting year when one misdirected firework blew up a van. I remember my mom crossing her fingers that it was ours. We would get there early and listen to the orchestra and bum Cracker Jacks off of Aunt Jack and Uncle Zella (no, I didn't get that wrong, that is actually what we called them). When I came of age, I was allowed to go watch from behind the scenes and blow up a big boy myself (which I think I actually chickened out of doing, I'm not a big fan of fire). I wasn't the only minor running around back there, besides my older bro., I remember Danny Sessions was having a great time. Those were the days when the fire department and other city employees were enlisted to the task of dazzling the town. 

I knew I wasn't missing this concert. To my surprise it was Pops who was over the top excited to go. It turns out that his Mom was a SUPER fan of Mr. Diamond and made a fan of her son too. 

So we grabbed our gear and trudged to the Esplanade to stake out our site. 
All morning long before we hit the road I played "America" to the kids and belted out the chorus with them. Superkid is a huge fan of the song and has his own un-melodic version which he sung all weekend long. So often that now whenever he starts singing, "Comin' to America..." Tadpole yells (from wherever he is in the house), "TODAY!".
So here are the Toad Boy fans...
And here are the Toad Girl fans...
We got there plenty early and filled our time by eating...
And drinking...
ourselves sick...
And then there was nothing left to do but dance dance dance!

We wish you were all here to party with us! This was a 4th of July to remember!