Age of Head Bonks
Hang in there, kid. And stop trying to touch the elliptical while I'm on it. Or crawling under my bed. Or scooching into the bath faucet.
Exploring the new park
Our trip in numbers
Days on trip: 5
Miles driven: 1,158
Roadside potty stops: 1
Restroom potty stops: 4
Chicken Run viewings: 3
Hours of iPad gaming: too many to count
Sam naps skipped: 0
Jack naps skipped: 3
Fatboy sandwiches consumed by me: 3
Peanut M&Ms consumed by me: ~ 270
Mornings slept in by me: 1
Diaper blowouts: 3
Loads of laundry: 2
Cousins visited: 7
Photos uploaded to Flickr: 62
Toys received by Jack: 10
Toys received by Sam: 3
Falls out of bed: 1
Total head bonks to boys: ~8
Alpha-bots recovered from long ago lost: 1
Replacement Alpha-bots imported from Japan just in case: 26
Requests for McDonald's by Jack: 5
Requests for McDonald's granted: 3
Weird Utah billboards observed: 14
Items missing upon arrival in Arvada: 2
Ounces of Diet Coke consumed by me: 376
Swimming dips: 3
Swimsuits packed by me: 2 per boy
New swimsuits waiting at Mom's house: 2 per boy
Sunburns: 0
There and Back Again
We didn't rush the return journeys. On Sunday morning the kids got out all their wiggles while I searched high and low to gather all our stuff back into the car.
At the height of Jack's Frozen obsession, he bemoaned my lack of grandfather clock so he could recreate a moment. Wish fulfilled:
We tried to get a nice picture of Grandma with her two great-grandsons. We succeeded in taking the pictures, but I'm not sure if any of them are nice. There's a lot of silly to wrangle.
We bid our good-byes to Layton and stopped in SLC to see Andy and Jenn. The dogs were thrilled.
Then it was time to origami Dad into the backseat for a long drive. He kept the boys happy by plying them with french fries, blueberries, and cookies.
Ah, such a beautiful sight!
Before I brought in the first suitcase, Jack had stripped naked and was begging to jump in the pool. These pictures are from Monday morning because I was too busy to take pictures, I was stretching my toes in the pool too! Once again, we took it slow in GJ. I felt bad putting the kids through all this driving, so I wanted to be sure they got all their wiggles out. They had plenty of swimming and playing and eating done before we left for Arvada at 6:30pm.
(He tattooed his name on his fist. What a thug.)
This was taken as we pulled out on the road. Both boys were asleep by Palisade. It was the easiest of the four drives, for both traffic and kids' moods.
Today? Happy to be home, playing with new toys, taking extra naps, and exploring the crawling skills honed in Utah. Boy, do I have some baby-proofing to do.
Layton/Ogden
Another fun day in Utah. 
We went to the dinosaur park in Ogden. Jack was a bit timid about the roaring and the carnivorous feasting depictions, but overall had a fun time.
These were the "small" snow cones.
While boys napped we ladies dipped into the Needlepoint Joint. I got some beautiful alpaca/cotton blend for my next big project.
More family, dinner, and more swinging to finish the day.
Sam is happy to get all the toys to himself. I used to play with these too.
So tired, he fell asleep sitting up.
A Grand Journey
I've been meaning to take the kids to Utah for ages. I still hadn't met my new adopted cousins, who have been here for years. Plus visiting the rest of my mom'a side of the family, and my brother and his wife, so we really needed to visit.
Thursday after Jack's summer school class, we took off for the first leg of our journey: Grand Junction!
Picking up:
A break in Silt:
Made it! There was about as much screaming, crying, and junk food eating as you would expect. But they were pretty good overall. They even made each other laugh for a good chunk of the drive (Sam appreciates Jacks fart noises in a way that I can't).
New toys to explore and the pool:
Passing Country Jam
Jack settled in at Green River:
The boys were far from thrilled to be back in the car. Sam exercised his lungs through most of the metro area. But we made it and were quickly surrounded by family and food. I can't believe how much older my cousins are. But I had to remind myself that I was presenting my second son, so I'm getting old too :-)
The boys had to so some final carousing, and is had to dash to Target for some forgotten essentials (ha, did I think I could go four days without a trip to Target? Oh naive one).
And that brings us to this quiet, peaceful morning. The boys are well slept and fed. Grandma Lois is being a good sport about the mess we bring. Jack is on his fifth turn on the big swing. It will be a nice day.
Air guitar baby
After the Rain
Last week.
