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.

  

Pi Day 2022

3/14 is Pi Day. As often happens, I made impossible cheeseburger pie. We ate potato chips with it because 3/14 is also National Potato Chip Day.

I made apple pie (in our Pi plate) too late to give anybody any (though Jet tried). We had to wait until the next day.

 

The kids had school off that day again so... we went on an expedition. We went to the lake to skip rocks (Jr. Jr.'s request). I forgot to have us sing, "Sing ho for the life of a bear." Oh well.

When we got there, I was worried about being in the gulls' way when we skipped rocks but we were able to find a spot away from the gulls that had plenty of rocks so no problem. 

Jet was so thrilled that I was actually giving him permission to throw rocks. 

He was also so happy to be out and running around with his siblings and watching the small planes fly overhead as we were so close to the airport.

It was nice weather and we had a good time.

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.

Busy Week

It has been a busy week. We got a new mattress and box spring for our room so we had to get rid of the old ones and get the new ones in there. I had some helpers and "helpers."

 

Sure, Mommy, I'll help you organize things in your room. 

Hold me. 

Read me a story (or three). 

Blow bubbles. 

Oh, you've only got 20-something minutes left on the dryer. I'll push the power button then push random buttons and start it again. 

More books! 

I'll help you sort through clothes... by throwing them on the floor.

You mean you wanted to put the clothes in here?

Selfies!

Let's play dress up.

Hold me more.

I'll help you, too. 

Watch me juggle. 

See what I brought home from school?

I'll help you.

Monkeys jumping on the bed for National Monkey Day, December 14. I gave them strict instructions not to fall off and bump their heads.

Thank you, all my helpers.

Once the old mattress was gone, the kids wanted to play with Nichole's old dog toy since there was so much space before putting the new mattress in. The dog chases the ball around which they gave to Jet so the dog chased him around.

Then we got the new mattress in our room so there was room on the living room floor again.

 

Monday, December 13, was Violin Day. Nichole played violin. It was also Cocoa Day. Some family members drank cocoa.

 

Also this week the kids had a "snow day." Because of the weather overnight, the school district canceled school Wednesday. Well, sort of. They made it a "distance learning day," which means the kids still had schoolwork to do, they just did it from home. Remember when schools were shut down for the end of the 2019-2020 school year? The kids had to do all their schoolwork at home. Gone are the days of actual "snow days" when the kids have a free day to play in the snow at home. Now they can have a full day of school at home, which means an actual full day because the kids are all trying to share the computer and it takes so long.

President Nelson came out with a video on Thursday encouraging us to find personal ways to "help others experience the light of Jesus Christ this Christmas." It made me feel like I needed to try again to #LightTheWorld better even with being so busy. So I looked at the calendar for December 16 and made food to give to someone before running errands that evening. It felt good.

Saturday, December 18, is Maple Syrup Day so the kids made waffles and had syrup with them. It is also Ugly Christmas Sweater Day. Jr. wore what he wore to his last concert. His orchestra was performing at an end of the semester assembly. The high school and the junior high encouraged people to wear Christmas sweaters that day.