The KAT's Meow

While we were in Oregon on our vacation, there was a point where my brother Todd, Jet, and I were playing with some dragons and mythological creature toys. Jet was playing with a little dragon and I was playing with a phoenix.

Little Dragon (Jet): I have teeth.

Phoenix (me): Do you have sharp teeth to eat things? What do you eat?

Little Dragon (quietly): I eat Daddy.

Phoenix: What? What do you eat?

Little Dragon: I eat Dad and Uncle Todd.

Catching Up on July Holidays

OK. Here we go. Sigh.

July 25 was National Chili Dog Day and National Refreshment Day. We had chili dogs (with homemade chili) and refreshments. Done. Blogged.

July 26 was Talk in an Elevator Day. A few of us got a picture of us talking in an elevator the day before. So we celebrated it observed. Done. Blogged.

 

July 27 was National Sleepyhead Day (in Finland). I totally missed it this year even though I was thinking about it just the day before. Sigh. Told you we were busy. Check out how we've celebrated that one in the past, though (starting with last year's celebration while we were in Washington). Done. Blogged.

July 28 was Milk Chocolate Day. We had chocolate milk. Done. Blogged.

July 29 was National Lasagna Day. We had lasagna. And I learned how to do "baked" mashed potatoes in the Instant Pot from A Season of Family Meal Plans, volume 3. Done. Blogged.

July 30 there were a lot of holidays I didn't celebrate but I should have. Paperback Book Day. International Day of Friendship. Father-in-Law Day. National Cheesecake Day. Sigh. I must not have been feeling well that day because someone made me breakfast and Jr. helped make dinner that night. 

He decided to gather all the ingredients needed for the dish in a bowl before making it. Heh Heh. Done. Blogged.

July 31 was National Avocado Day. We had avocados in our salad (yet another recipe from A Season of Family Meal Plans, volume 3, by Jordan Page) as well as cucumbers. 

Jr. took the bowl of cucumbers I had just cut up and made this comment:

"Man, this cereal's the best."

He doesn't particularly care for cucumbers so we talked about other ways to use cucumbers besides eating them like cereal (though I love eating cucumbers). Done. Blogged.

And just like that, I'm caught up on the rest of July holidays. Go me.

Done. Blogged.

Extra Busy

School started so of course we're extra busy, just like we were extra busy when school got out for the Summer.

But look. I found a picture of the sky. 

That and Lucky's recent posts will have to tide you over until I get to catching up again.

What?

 

Lucky's Turn: The Small People Part 4

 The Mouse People

The mouse people do not live on the animal but live on the machine mouse. The mouse people are very very good with technology and that's basically the only thing that they have that is different from humans.

The mouse people do not think they are the prey of humans they just think that the humans are invading their homes because humans won't eat a mouse but they will put their hands on them and click buttons and stuff. So the mouse people get crushed by the human hands and whenever they click one of the buttons it's like a giant earthquake to all of the mouse people.

Here is proof of someone killing hundreds of the mouse people just by putting their hand on the mouse.

The mouse people are probably the smartest of all the small people.

Lucky's Turn: The Small People Part 3

 The Spaghetti People

The spaghetti people are kind of like humans except they can be really bendy or really stiff whenever they want to be.

The spaghetti people also once again think that they are the prey of humans because they get flung every where when someone snaps the spaghetti in half and if a piece of spaghetti falls to the floor the spaghetti people also fall to their doom. After that for all the spaghetti people that didn't die will die soon later because they will get boiled in hot water for a while just so that the humans can have a little meal.

Here is a teenage boy killing millions of spaghetti people from snapping the pasta in half and soon going to kill more by putting the spaghetti in the hot water. (Though it is pretty awesome that he was able to break such a big amount of spaghetti).

The spaghetti people are probably the most thoroughly executed of all the small people because they get boiled in the hot water.

Lucky's Turn: The Small People Part 2

 The Paper Plate People

The paper plate people are kind of like the spoon people but that they always wear paper hats. Some people think that over time the paper hats glue themselves onto the paper plate people and they can never take them off.

The paper plate people also think that they are the prey of humans because they get smothered by all the food that gets put onto the plate and will also get eaten if they are anywhere near the food which it's hard not to be near the food when it's all over the plate. So once again  humans kill millions of paper plate people every time they eat from a paper plate or put food on a paper plate.

Here is some evidence of millions of paper plate people being squished because of all the food on that plate and once the human starts to eat they'll have nowhere left to hide.

Most of the paper plate people die because it's almost impossible not to get killed from one being smothered in food, two being eaten by humans, and getting thrown in the garbage is also another thing that can send them flying and dying.

Lucky's Turn: The Small People Part 1

The Spoon People

The spoon people are microscopic creatures that look like humans, talk like humans, walk like humans, and are basically humans except their size.

The spoon people think that they are the prey of human beings because, well us humans do kill and eat a lot of them. Just think of how many times you've licked a spoon, put a spoon into your mouth, or washed a spoon. Each time you do one of those things you kill hundred's maybe even millions of these tiny creatures.

 Right here is evidence of a little kid killing millions of spoon people all so that he could have a little frosting from a spoon (he soon found out it wasn't frosting but that it was barbecue sauce).

The only reason the spoon people aren't extinct is that they are so plentiful all over the world on every single spoon.

Uncharted Worlds

We got to see Jeremy's sister and brother in Washington. His other brother and family visited Utah after we got back. It was Pioneer Day, July 24, as was it National Cousins Day.

So our kids got to go with their cousins (the youngest of which we got to meet for the first time) to "Uncharted Worlds: A Journey with Giants" at Ashton Gardens at Thanksgiving Point. It is similar to Dinosaur Island which they had the last couple Summers there. 

 

Aaaagh! It's going to get me!

Always have to get a picture of me with my favorite dinosaur: stegosaurus... and with my Jurassic Park shirt. It's important to wear that shirt to a place like this.

Of course we had to stop to feed the fish... ducks... and a turtle.

That leatherback sea turtle looked menacing.

 

Pirate ship fun. "Ahoy, matey!" 

 

Look at Jeremy, the uncle with the interesting beard.

Watch out! High Voltage! Didn't you watch Jurassic Park? Oh, yeah. You haven't watched it yet.

It was fun after watching Jet holding hands walking around with his older cousins at the zoo in Washington to watch Lucky doing the same thing with his little cousin.

Oh, no. Trapped in ice...

...next to the mammoth. 

 

We had a great time with this family.

Later Jeremy and Jr. were working on a project at home, so Jet and I went out for a drive up Kyhv Peak Road (it used to be known as Squaw Peak. It was hazy because of fires both in state and out) then a walk along the Provo River Parkway and by Bridal Veil Falls.

Afterwards we read a Provo Story Trail, "How Coyote Stole Fire," at Quail Orchard Park.

Since it was Pioneer Day, at the end of the day, Jet and I watched fireworks from the front lawn with our neighbor.

It was a big day but a good one full of family and fun.

Mommy, Look

I got your eyes. Boop.

Smile!

Can you tell he's related to his brothers?

See my blog post, "Look Normal," about Jr. posted November 9, 2010 and my blog post, "Smile For the Camera," about Jr. Jr. posted January 15, 2015.

I was trying to get a picture of Jet in front of Stout Tree, the largest tree in Stout Memorial Grove in the Redwoods. I wanted him to "Smile." This is what I got.

Just like his brothers.

When Kids Remember Past Creativity

Getting back into things after vacation isn't always the easiest thing. Luckily, I put together some freezer meals before we left so we were able to have food ready to go and Jeremy picked up a few things at the store such as fresh spinach so we were able to celebrate Fresh Spinach Day on July 16. We got tamale casserole out of the freezer to go along with it. 

Since it was Ginger Rogers' Birthday, Nichole remembered a time when Jr. Jr. got creative with letter rearranging (see my July 26, 2022 post about it) so we had a choice between ginger ale and orange soda to celebrate her birthday this year.

Since it was also Personal Chef Day, Jr. was our personal chef and made us pancakes. Later we watched the movie Sabrina with Humphrey Bogart and Audrey Hepburn because in it she is at cooking school. "One two three, crack. New egg." At one point she is also going to make food for him- be his personal chef for an evening.

 

July 17 was National Hot Dog Day and Yellow Pigs Day so of course we made pigs in a blanket with yellow mustard. Nichole wore her racing pigs hat which she won on Yellow Pigs Day 10 years ago (see my July 17, 2014 blog post about it).

 

July 18 was Sour Candy Day. Some family members ate sour candy.

July 20 was Moon Day. I had every intention of getting out Oreos for us to make phases of the moon cookies then I forgot. I do that sometimes. We did have astronaut sandwiches with dinner.

July 21 was National Junk Food Day and National Ice Cream Day. When kids came to me asking if they could eat certain foods, I would tell them, "I don't care. Eat whatever you want," to paraphrase Muppets Most Wanted.

July 23 was Vanilla Ice Cream Day. Jr. made S'mores Milkshakes from A Season of Family Meal Plans, volume 3. 

We are definitely getting a lot of use out of those books. It's actually pretty amazing how many recipes that work for certain holidays are near where I'm already menu planning from in the books (within a few weeks). I'm not talking about Easter and Halloween (though there are recipes for those holidays), either. It's holidays like Vanilla Ice Cream Day like I mentioned or Eat Brussels Sprouts Day (I blogged about that one on February 1, 2024).

 

Well, there you go. Creativity and meal planning.