Bonding Time: Hiking

Since it has been a mild Winter, I wanted to take my nature loving boy out hiking one day in the hills.

Jr. Jr. and I took the afternoon on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, January 19, since he didn't have school, and we hiked up to Battle Creek Falls. We took binoculars and the birding camera with us.

Just up from the parking area, we heard scritch-scratching in the underbrush, which I would have assumed was a spotted towhee but I could see robins, so not a spotted towhee (be careful about assuming). Jr. Jr. has really good eyes when it comes to spotting things so he helped me notice the bird that was not a robin. I got a look at it in the underbrush with binoculars and this is how things come out of my mouth since I'm a birder-

Me: You're right. That's not a robin. That's a thrush! Robins are actually thrushes but this one... if it has a reddish tail, it's a hermit thrush. Do you see the tail?

Jr. Jr. confirmed the reddish tail (I would use the term "rufous"). 

I love birding.

Besides the birds, we also enjoyed the hike together. We had plenty to talk about, including the ice we kept seeing in the stream and the water flowing under the ice. 

Nature's cool, man.

 

We made it all the way up to the falls and a little above the falls before turning around. I only slipped twice, once on the way up, once on the way down, both in the same location. Ha. Nothing scary. 

When we got back down to where we saw the hermit thrush on the way up, we saw it again with the robins. It decided it would be a good sport and posed in a tree so I could get some good pictures of it. I was very pleased with it sitting there for so long.

Jr. Jr. and I enjoyed that time together. I love that we have that love of nature in common.

  

I love bonding time! 

 

Earlier that day, I got out for my morning walk at the park with the Christmas lights. The city says they're going to leave them up until Valentine's Day like they did last year.

Lucky, Nichole, and I made cheese ball that day, too. Nichole shaped it into a witch's hat. It didn't last long. Mmmmm, cheese ball. 

 

January 19 was also Whisper "I Love You" Day. There was plenty of that going around. It was National Popcorn Day. The kids had popcorn. It was also Brew a Potion Day. We had hot chocolate and I told everyone to put whatever they wanted into or on it.

 

The next day, January 20, was Penguin Awareness Day. Jet and I watched "Surf's Up" together. I haven't watched that in a while. It was fun.

  

Friendship and Adventures

So... less than a week after we got back from the Pacific Northwest, we packed up and headed out again, this time to Montana.  Jeremy was building a big installation for a fair there.  The theme was "Friendship," so he built a 13 foot tall dragon, it's tail holding a swing.  Sitting on the swing was a knight being pushed by a princess. 

While Jeremy did the fair, the kids and I spent time in a motel room again, but we also went to a local park and to the museum attached to the park.

Since he was at the fair, Jeremy picked up a deep fried Snickers for us to split.  Eh, fried ice cream is better.

On the drive to and from the fair, we got in some birding.  We got to see swans at "Swan Lake."  We got to drive through part of Yellowstone National Park.

We also got to stop at a rest area with lava rocks... and cactus.

The adventures didn't stop when we got back to Utah.  The day after we got back, I took the kids to the Museum of Ancient Life at Thanksgiving Point. 

Later that day, we went back to Thanksgiving Point, to the Gardens this time, for their family night activities.  The theme was, "Rockets, airplanes, and the Wind."  The kids got to launch pop bottle rockets and alka seltzer rockets.  They did alka seltzer rockets before- last Summer for the news.

We got to watch people flying radio controlled aircraft.
The kids also had fun with air- knocking down styrofoam cups, building paper loop airplanes, and making wind socks.

It was a good family evening.

Then the next morning, we got up and went hiking with friends.  We went up to Battle Creek Falls.  That was nice.  I think the last time I went hiking all the way to the falls was when I was pregnant with Jr. Jr.  Yeah.  That was a while ago.

So... yeah, we've been busy.  Jeremy figured out that in the month of July, we were in 6 states- only one of those was just driving through.  All the others we stayed at least 2 nights in.
Busy busy.  Lots of adventures.

The Months of Cereal

I didn't realize it until recently, but there are a few times you can celebrate with cereal in February and March.  To name a few:

February 16th was National Almond Day.  I didn't want to buy just almonds, so I treated myself to some cranberry almond granola from the bulk section of Winco. 

Ah, the bulk section at Winco.  Such a great yet dangerous spot.  It's a great place for finding things to help with celebrating, because you can get as little or as much as you want.  Getting just a little is great for a budget.  Unfortunately sometimes it is so easy to get a lot, or when I go to get a little of one thing, I find so many other things.  It is a great section though, and some things are definitely cheaper in the bulk section at Winco.  So... as I was saying... I got some cranberry almond granola to celebrate National Almond Day.  It was yummy.

Today, February 19th, is the anniversary of when the breakfast cereal company, known today as Kellogg's, was founded in 1906.  I surprised the kids with one of those packs that has several individual sized boxes of cereal for breakfast this morning.  

I did not get it from the bulk section at Winco.  

The kids loved that they each got their own box of cereal to open and pour out (Jr. Jr. had help).  If I had been looking up information earlier, I could have had some more fun with this one.  I found out that Kellogg's was originally known as Battle Creek Toasted Corn Flake Company.  I happen to live in a town that used to be called Battle Creek (but not the same Battle Creek).  There is a hiking area near here that leads through Battle Creek Canyon to Battle Creek Falls.  One of the local parks is Battle Creek Park.  Oh the pictures I could have taken of a box of Kellogg's cereal in different locations.  Sigh.  I need to get better at my research before holidays.  Oh, well.  There's always next year.

Coming up on March 7th is National Cereal Day.  I don't have much to say since we haven't celebrated it yet this year, but we've celebrated it in the past.

Ah, cereal.  So many ways to celebrate with cereal during these months.

Happy Mother's Day/Anniversary

If we can't be in the Pacific Northwest right now, it's nice that we're only a 5-minute drive away from an easy hiking spot. Yesterday we headed up to Battle Creek Falls in Pleasant Grove. With a 2 year old, a 4 year old, and two adults, it took us about an hour to hike up to the waterfall. Nichole made a game where every big rock she stepped on, she would lift her arms and her leg in the air and call out, "YES!" Whether she was holding our hand or not.

The mist from the waterfall felt so good. It reminded us of home.

I thought it would be fun to get some cute pictures of the kids while we were there. Nichole of course was the little model. Jr. of course decided that his poses must include his tongue sticking out.

It really is fun to get out and do family activities like this.

Happy Anniversary, Jeremy!