Our Vacation, Thy Creations, and Our Relations- Part 11

July 10 was Don't Step on a Bee Day and National Kitten Day. Creativity took over.

Jeremy's sister came to visit that day. It was nice to catch up with her.

Jet uncovered some slugs in grandparents' backyard. They weren't banana slugs but one was a leopard slug.

 

July 11 was Blueberry Muffin Day.

Road Trip!

When we went to Mount Rainier we saw where the Nisqually River came from the glacier. We wanted to see where the Nisqually River emptied into the Puget Sound so... Nichole, Jeremy, and I headed to Nisqually Wildlife Refuge. We love Nisqually Wildlife Refuge anyway. It's one of the places we always try to visit when we're in Washington.

 

Some highlights of this trip:

Bald eagle hanging out in what people told us was its usual spot, where we could walk right up to it... or right under it.

From its spot, we could look out and see seals sunning themselves on a sandbank. They were so fun to see. Adults and youngsters.

We also saw seals swimming in the water. There was a mama and baby swimming together that were so cute. Baby kept climbing on mama's back.

There were so many great blue herons out that day, both adults and juveniles. So many.

We went all the way to the end of the boardwalk, about a mile. 

From there we looked back at Mount Rainier which we had visited just two days before. So we went from where the Nisqually River started one day to where it ended another day. 78 miles.

As we were walking back through the forested area of the refuge, we stopped at a pond to see if we could find a frog. We found a frog then another then another. There were so many. I loved it.

We found out while we were there that this year was the 50th anniversary of the refuge so we just had to get a souvenir mug as it is one of our favorite places to visit in Washington.

I'll share more of our wonderful vacation later.

Exploring Somewhere New

One day, the kids and I made the trip to Wasatch Mountain State Park over by Midway. We may have driven through it once when coming back from Cascade Springs, but we've never been there.

I read some blog posts about it from Utah's Adventure Family, and wanted to take the kids to explore, so we did. We stopped by the duck pond at the visitor's center to see some birds. We saw a great blue heron flying in and landing by the reeds. After watching some barn swallows flying around, we saw a bald eagle flying close to the water then off into the distance. That was great. Those things are big. And they're not as common in Utah in the Summer. We expect to see them more in the Winter. So that was exciting.

We drove up to Huber Grove next to look around. There are pioneer buildings and informational signs about pioneers who lived in the area. They also have some nature trails so we all went walking through the woods then through the grasses where we got attacked by burrs, but mostly Jr. His pants collected the most so we all helped to get them off of him.

While we were in the grove of apple trees, a group of turkeys came for a walk near us. Two adults and several youngsters. They weren't bothered by us and we didn't do anything to bother them, just watched and took pictures.

Before we left that area, we had a snack in the van while listening to birds and watching squirrels run around. Then we drove to another place in the park where we thought about going hiking but it was too hot and we didn't get too far before we headed back to eat lunch in the van before driving home. The kids were done.

I enjoyed the trip with the kids and definitely want to go back. It's a lot closer than Antelope Island State Park (which we love) and I could definitely do more exploring.

That evening I went to a Relief Society activity. There was a chocolate fountain with things to cover with the chocolate and plenty of pleasant conversation. It was appropriate for National Junk Food Day on July 21.

Garlic Heron

April 19 was Garlic Day.  My parents gave us garlic from their garden and we used some in spaghetti sauce.  Then of course I forgot to take a picture.  Oh, well.

We do have pictures of the new balloon sculpture at Ashton Gardens for the Tulip Festival.  Combining our love of birds with our business, we made a great blue heron standing in water with a group of cattails (or as Jeremy likes to call them KAT-tails since I made those).