My Outside Time Has Changed a Bit

Now that the kids are back in school, I'm not able to get out in the dark with the Christmas lights at the park as easily so morning walks are a bit different.

Yesterday morning after dropping kids off at school, I went for a short walk around Riverview Park. The sun was shining nicely on the river so I of course had to go take a look (and a couple of pictures).

I got this picture then all of a sudden I saw a great blue heron flying along the river and into the trees farther downstream. How cool. I didn't even realize it was there but when I looked very closely and zoomed in a lot on my picture, I could see it toward the left side of the river. How fun.

I'm glad I chose that park and visited the river while I was there.

 

Since that day, January 6, was National Cuddle Up Day, Jet and I got to cuddle up to read together.

Since it was also National Bean Day, I made black beans and rice for dinner. Then I made cornbread to go with it. Then I threw together some fruits and vegetables and we had a balanced dinner. Woohoo.

 

This morning instead of going for a walk in a park, I decided to celebrate National Bobblehead Day and Old Rock Day, January 7, in a similar manner to how I used to celebrate. I used to go for drives and take pictures of Jr.'s bobblehead with mountains in the background because mountains are old rocks. Since we've had such a mild Winter so far, I just drove right up into the hills and went for a short walk on a hiking trail. The bobblehead went hiking with me.

I got distracted, of course, when I heard scritch-scratching in the brush. It was most likely a spotted towhee based on location and what I know of behavior. I heard one call later. I didn't bring binoculars or the good camera so I didn't get a look at it. That's okay. It was still fun celebrating actually being among the old rocks.

Have I mentioned that I live in a beautiful place? 

Walks

I have been enjoying getting out for walks in the mornings when I can. I've done a lot along the lake. It's been fun to see the changes in the lake from Winter to Spring, from frozen to unfrozen.

Here are some of my morning pictures from my walks or brief stops by the lake to get a look.

 

January

 

February

March 

Sometimes I take walks along the river or the Provo River Delta.

This wildlife viewing tower is where I was in the last picture. I took the picture of the tower from over by that tree way behind me.

Sometimes I walk at local parks. I love living in a place where there are mountains all around.

 

While we're talking about the lake (or let's go back to talking about the lake), Jeremy and I went out to Utah Lake State Park one day and got to see some cool ice stacks. Here are some pictures of them.

I already mentioned ice stacks I saw on Valentine's Day.

 

And while I'm going back to talking about things, somehow I missed mentioning on my blog (probably because I was falling asleep while trying to catch up) that on March 3, besides being National Cold Cuts Day and Soup It Forward Day, it was also World Wildlife Day and I went to the Provo River Delta for a walk but also got to see a long-tailed duck, a duck I don't see that often. Yippee! 

Another day, Jeremy and a couple of the kids were able to go see it. Also yippee!

 

Our Vacation, Thy Creations, and Our Relations- Part 10

Cow Appreciation Day was July 9. As we were driving, I called out, "We appreciate you," a few times to cows we were passing. Tee Hee.

 

Road Trip! 

We decided a couple days before that day that since we were in Washington, we could go to Mount Rainier National Park using Lucky's National Parks Pass. We also found out that now you have to have timed reservations to get into certain areas of the park... between certain hours. All our kids are used to us getting them up early for trips, so we were able to get to the park early enough we got in no problem. 

 

Welcome to Jurassic Park, err... Mt Rainier National Park.

Jeremy's parents came with us and it was nice to share that experience with them. It reminded me of when we went to Yellowstone with them in 2017. I visited Mount Rainier once when I was a child and it was so foggy, we could only see glimpses of the mountain from time to time while we were walking around. This trip the sky was so clear, we could see so much. It was gorgeous.

We took so many pictures (with our phones and our Nikon camera) that it's hard to narrow down which to put on this post so bear with me.

We got some tips from Utah's Adventure Family about places to go and Jeremy did some research so we had a plan. We went up the Paradise Corridor through the Nisqually (Southwest) Entrance to the park. It's a good thing we went in the morning as it got busier and busier throughout the day. We didn't do some of the things we planned to do and that's okay. We had a full day with what we did.

 

Christine Falls

Ricksecker Point

 

Narada Falls

See the fence toward the top left of this picture?

That's where we are standing in this next picture. And you can see the bridge I took that last picture from at the top right of this picture.

It was a short hike for this waterfall. Jeremy, Lucky, and I decided to go down and back up and it was pleasant. The mist felt so good.

We told our other kids when we got back up that we got a picture of the waterfall. This is the picture. Tee Hee.

 

Nisqually Vista Trail

Look at that smile. Jeremy was happy to be there.

We got to see where the Nisqually River comes from the Nisqually Glacier.

It was definitely a hike, including hiking across snow on the trail that had not yet melted.

How Nichole takes a break in the middle of hiking

How Jeremy takes a break in the middle of hiking

 

Lunch Break

We stopped at yet another overlook (we stopped at so many).

Look. It's Narada Falls again but from a very different angle.

 

Reflection Lake

At first we thought the lake was too choppy to see the reflection, then we reached a point where people were going right up to the edge of the lake to take pictures and when I went there, I could see why. There was a still part right at the edge protected from the wind blowing across the rest of the lake. There was the reflection.

Longmire Museum. 

Outside the museum was a cross section/tree slice (aka cookie) showing different historical events during the tree's life. That was cool.

The museum also had a gift shop. My father-in-law likes any excuse to get me slug themed items (slugs are my thing). They are easier to find in the Pacific Northwest. Go figure. He got me a banana slug plushie which Jet immediately claimed. I'm happy to share. The boys named it Timothy. Jet took his hat off (which he also claimed. It's actually Jr.'s hat) and put it on Timothy but when we got back in the van he took the hat off and said, "No, banana slug. That's not your hat," while pointing his finger at Timothy in a scolding manner. Heh Heh.

It was a long but wonderful day.

 

I'll share more of our wonderful vacation later.