Duck Days

I knew the kids had another day off of school coming up so I put together some ideas of expeditions we could go on like when we went to Dripping Rock but before presenting any ideas I asked the kids if they had anything they wanted to do in particular. Two of them wanted to go to a duck pond and the others didn't have an opinion. Duck pond it was.

Unfortunately when we finally got out, it was closer to evening so we weren't able to stay too long. We got great lighting for Nichole and Jr. to take some pictures while Jr. Jr. and Lucky fed the ducks.

 

You can tell where Lucky is in the back of this picture because of all the ducks headed in his direction.

Jr.: I'm surrounded. 

Among all the mallards/park ducks there was a wood duck. That was fun to see.

It got later so with the promise of coming back the next day we headed home.

 

February 4 was Homemade Soup Day so I heated up leftover taco soup and said the kids could have whatever other leftovers they could find.

 

When Jeremy got home we had a date night. The kids watched a movie in our room while Jeremy and I watched the new Ghostbusters movie that we've been waiting years for. It was supposed to come to theaters in 2020 then everything shut down so it finally was released late last year and Jeremy and I watched it on DVD for date night.

I also made ghost shaped rice crispy treats (made with marshmallows of course). Tee Hee. 

 

The next day we headed back to Paul Ream Wilderness Park where the kids fed the ducks and Jet ran around. February 5 was National Play Outside Day.

 

This is how Jet feeds the ducks. Oats all over his hair and coat.

 

Earlier in the day, Nichole showed us a watercolor picture she did of the wood duck from the park. Fun. She's getting good use of new watercolors she got for Christmas.

 

Also earlier in the day, I celebrated Ice Cream for Breakfast Day. I did not feel guilty about it. When the kids saw me, they all asked and got permission for ice cream, too.

 

So those were our duck days. Then on February 6, I celebrated the anniversary of when Alan Shepard hit golf balls on the moon by playing a golf game on the internet.

By the way, February 6 is also Lame Duck Day but we didn't go back to the park to look for lame ducks.

An Expotition

Winnie-the-Pooh Day became a two day event this year. The actual holiday was on January 18. Since Monday, January 17, was Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the kids didn't have school that day so we did some of the celebrating that day.

The kids watched "Piglet's Big Movie" then we went on an "expotition." It would normally be an expedition to the North Pole (Nichole even got our Winnie-the-Pooh book out to compare the A. A. Milne stories to the mini stories in the movie). Instead of going to the North Pole, Lucky wanted to go to the South Pole because... you know... penguins.

So we bundled up, got in the van, and headed South... to Spanish Fork.

I took the kids to a place I hadn't been to in many years. Dripping Rock. You can walk along the trail and the river/stream is below. Across the river/stream there are overhanging rocks that have water dripping/pouring from them. I found out recently from Utah's Adventure Family that in the wintertime if it's been cold enough, there are icicles hanging from the rocks. I never would have thought to go there in the Winter. So that is where we went on our expedition... to see if we could find any icicles at Dripping Rock and get some "fresh" air. We've been cooped up so much with sickness and Winter and the kids had online school on Friday, we needed to get out and get some exercise.

 

It was good to get out. We had a good time. Jet was especially happy to get out... after he woke up. He's been cooped up more than anyone.

There were definitely icicles hanging from the rocks and foliage at Dripping Rock. Jr. Jr. got really excited to see them as we walked along and with his imagination, he could see shapes in them and started thinking about stories to go along with them. 

Besides the icicles there was also plenty of water dripping from the rocks. It was neat to see in some places both together.

After the Dripping Rock area, we continued on up the path, going over some bridges then up some switchbacks (all paved, though. We saw several families pushing strollers) to the end of the trail where it met up with a road and some houses next to the golf course. We definitely got exercise. We even got to see the wind turbines since we were so close to Spanish Fork Canyon. I like wind turbines.

While we were walking along we were singing, "Sing Ho for the life of a bear. Sing Ho for the expedition." Jet was even getting into it. I'd sing, "Sing Ho," and he'd sing, "For the life of a bear," in his cute little voice.

Being a toddler, he did want things to be a certain way. He wanted to be held, he wanted to hold someone's hand while walking, he wanted to look through my binoculars, he wanted to let go of our hands and run off and he would throw a tantrum if he didn't get his way. Toddler.

It was still fun, though. Some of the boys started kicking pieces of ice down the trail as we walked. Jet wanted to be like his brothers so he was kicking ice on the trail, too.

Lucky was happy to have kicked this piece of ice all the way to the van. Way to go, Lucky.

We really did have a good time out and the kids are in agreement that we should come back sometime in the Spring or Summer to see even more dripping water at Dripping Rock. Jr. Jr. suggested we come back when it's even colder to see more icicles.

Later at home the children watched "The Lorax" because January 17 was Betty White's 100th birthday and she did one of the voices in that movie. Sadly Betty White passed away just a few weeks before she would have turned 100 but she had a long life and career and we can still celebrate that.

January 17 was also National Hot Heads Chili Day so we had chili and the kids ate spinach because it was also Popeye's birthday. Good job, kids. I made lasagna for dinner the next night because we didn't have enough time Monday. And hey, if we can celebrate Winnie-the-Pooh Day both days, we can celebrate Popeye's birthday both days, too. 

On the actual Winnie-the-Pooh holiday, the kids watched more Winnie-the-Pooh movies. They had at home school that day and a couple of the kids were sick anyway.