Entertained

We were thrilled when David's family came to stay last Friday night. We love having them come and visit. It also got us out of the house early Saturday morning so we could watch David race in the Sundance Hill Climb.

The race is a 2300' climb (about 8 miles). Good for David to want to race it. I got car sick just driving up the course and we only went to the 4th mile. We cheered him on near the start which meant we had some down time while we waited for him to come back.
As long as we kept the kids away from the rental bikes they did a pretty good job of entertaining themselves. They went on a chipmunk hunt. Henry wanted to catch Simon pretty badly. Based on a google search the little rodents we saw were probably not chipmunks or squirrels. There were a lot of them though and they kind of grossed me out. I was glad Henry was unsuccessful.
A boy can think of a million things to do with a stick. They threw them in the lake, had walking sticks, made a bow and used one to limbo.


After the race

we took the kids somewhere fun to eat: the super cool new Harley Davidson store in Lindon. It is a little nerve wracking with 6 boys and lots of motorcycles to touch but what better place to take boys?
The food was pretty good, even my pickiest eater liked it.
Thanks David and Emily for getting us out of the house. If you hadn't have come we probably would have stuck with our normal Saturday routine: cleaning the house & adjusting sprinklers.

Yellowstone

While we were in Idaho we took a day trip up to Yellowstone. (Or Hannah Montana as Zack's been calling it). I am not the best judge of time and space and didn't take into account how much time it takes to get in and out of a vehicle and how slow the driving is, so as usual, we didn't have enough time to see everything I thought we could. We still had a good time. It just means we'll have to go back again and I am fine with that.

We decided to stop first at the Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center in West Yellowstone. Fortunately for us they had the biggest grizzly bear out for our viewing pleasure. He was amazing.
Back in the day, when I was much braver/stupider and I lived in Jackson I really wanted to see a bear in real life. Every hike, I hoped to come across one. All this was before I had kids and became completely paranoid and before I watched the movie Grizzly Man . Ok, and it was also just flat out nuts--bears can kill you. (This little fact added a little anxiety to the previous camp out as there were bears in the area and I was having visions of one coming down from the mountain to our little lake where the kids were playing. I have a tendency to worry but when my dad gave us a walkie talkie and gun that night...let's just say I was glad we weren't sleeping in a tent.) Anyway it was great to see a bear at a safe distance.
According to Zack's map we were looking at the bears. Thank goodness for maps.
"OK kids, nobody look at me." Perfect!
Once the pressure was off for seeing bears and wolves we went into the park. I was the best animal spotter in our car and we saw the usual: elk, deer and bison but no bears or wolves.

Our first stop was at the Artist Paint Pots. Pulling in the parking lot, I remembered something: there is a lot of steam and heat at the paint pots which equals danger. So I reminded the kids to make sure to stay on the boardwalk. Worried that they wouldn't understand the importance of staying on the boardwalk, I informed them that people have stepped off and been boiled to death. That got Zack & Haylee's attention, so much so that they were overly cautious walking a little too slowly on the boardwalk, and repeating: "I don't like this place." Then we got to the orange colored water which Haylee decided was the melted skin from the people who didn't stay on the boardwalk and died the greusome death where apparently you not only boil but melt and then your orange skin stays behind to remind all the other people too stay on the path. Hey, they stayed on the path, we'll worry about the emotinal scarring later.

Then it was off to Old Faithful where our impecable timing had us missing the geyser by 30 minutes which meant that we didn't have time to wait for it to go again. Just as we were leaving we witnessed this:
Close enough. Now it was off for Jackson and the Bar J Wranglers. We gave ourselves 2 1/2 hours to get from Old Faithful to Wilson. We drove without stopping and we were still late. This didn't help:
Yes, the moose was licking the road.

Getting the McGarry family together is a difficult task. Getting everyone together and on time is impossible. We at least beat Logan and Wacy and Ashlee and Rob who I don't think had a moose blocking their path of travel. The Bar J is a fun time. We had a chuck wagon dinner and then the Bar J Wranglers performed. They are really talented and funny. Ben wasn't that into it and Zack wanted to go home to sleep but Noah loved it. Here's most of our group all squished together at one table. A special thank you to the stubborn people at the next table who refused to move even though Dad showed you our seating card which clearly showed we had 5 seats at your table. I hope you enjoyed all your elbow room.
We had a fun little vacation even if the drive to and from was less than luxurious. I drove Matt's air conditioned challenged car hoping Dad might be able to fix it. He got it going on Friday night but by the Sunday drive home it wasn't working. Nothing like a hot & sweaty four hour drive, but I made it there and back on just a little over ONE tank of gas. HA! Take that OPEC.

Camping

(This dirty foot picture is dedicated to Emily & Liz.)

Every year the McGarry family gets together for a big camp out. This year, most of us weren't feeling the camping vibe; but Lacey's persistence and Excel spreadsheets made it happen.

Our campsite was fantastic. I will not divulge the location because we were the only campers there and I sort of like having the place all to ourselves. Find your own fabulous camping spot. Ours looks like this (only clearer):
Being near the lake was the best part of the trip. It totally occupied the kids. If you keep an eye on them, a lake is an excellent toy for children. You will rarely hear that they are bored. Because if they don't want to swim:
float
or snorkel
they can throw rocks,

stack rocks,
go fishing
or pretend to go fishing.
They can also walk around the lake wearing swimming floaties,
eat breakfast by it,
ride a motorcycle around it
or just admire its beauty.
Water gear is also a great source for entertainment.

We always have some sort of craft project for the kids. This year they made flags which would have been good clean fun except that a certain aunt from Utah brought finger paint. I really should know better.
Grandma is usually good for a fun activity and this year she impressed with some test tube experiments. Did you know there is something that you can add to sand which will make it aqua phobic? Of course I can't remember what is added, but it's pretty cool because when you pour water on the sand it will repel the water so that when you dump the water out the sand still feels dry.
At a McGarry campout, don't even think of serving something other than dutch oven chicken for dinner. That's a little lesson we learned the hard way a few years back. It has something to do with a certain cattle rancher's distaste for lasagna. That's all I'm saying.
This year Mom & Lacey decided that since we were eating fried chicken and fried potatoes we might as well have something fried for dessert. Why not deep fry a Twinkie or Snickers bar?
Beware, though, I can tell from personal experience that the fried Snickers bar might come back to haunt you in the middle of the night. However, if you are going to fry something skip the Twinkie and Snickers and go straight for the Hershey's Kiss wrapped in a biscuit that is deep fried then rolled in sugar. Someone (not me) named it moose balls and it is yum.
Even though camping = dirty--really dirty-- kids it is so much fun. The only thing missing from this camping trip was Matt. He'll be with us next year. Thanks Lacey & Scott! I think it was our best camping trip yet.

Cousins

Samandethan came to visit us last week. Not just Sam and Ethan, Emily, Aidan and Henry were also here, but that's how we've come to refer to the whole family. It's based solely on birth order and our verbal laziness. We have been so excited for their visit and we weren't disappointed.

The biggest surprise for me was going to the zoo. I didn't expect to enjoy it as much as I did. Neither was Noah who really just wanted to go to Boondocks. We haven't been since Zack was a little baby and frankly it wasn't that great: so hot & the animals all seemed sad. They have made some impressive improvements and the weather was nice. I love watching my kids get excited about something other than video games or tv shows; nothing beats seeing their faces when they make a new discovery.
Zack is still laughing about the chimpanzee's blanket and was so excited about seeing turtles. "Turtles? We didn't even know there would be turtles!"
Given the chance, Ben might be willing to go live with the penguins.
And Noah, my little zoo naysayer, well, he liked it so much he's the main reason I bought the zoo pass.

I really love getting together with family. It is so great that my kids have cousins their same ages and that they get along so well. While they were here, we also went swimming and saw Prince Caspian at the drive in--which is now my second new favorite place. Kids only cost $1 and get a free glow stick. A free glow stick, are you kidding me? They had me at $1. I'll be there every week.

It's not every day....

We've had a few unusual things happen this last week.

Noah called me from soccer practice to find out if we had insurance on Matt because he was about to roll down a hill in a giant ball. I wanted to capture the moment on film, but was too late. Instead I took a turn (that's me). If you ever happen on an opportunity like this, don't pass it up. It's a good time or as Matt put it: "the most awesome thing ever." I don't think I'd go that far....

This not so little guy was coiled in front of our next door neighbor's garbage can. He was found alive but I am not mourning his death.
Last weekend there was an attempt to break the world record for number of people in a water gun fight. Matt & Noah participated and got soaked. I don't know if they broke the record but it was a lot of fun. They were on the Marine's side and had the help of Cosmo. The Navy side had the Flash Fox. I don't know who won but everyone (even those of us who were on the sidelines trying not to) got wet courtesy of the fire hoses.