Utah Lake Festival

Sifting for shells. James was fascinated by the duck pond in the background. Mostly because he could splash in the water.

 James is also fascinated with animals, especially ones where he can make the sound for them.

 On the hay ride. 

James is wearing a harness. I got him to wear it by asking if he wanted to be my puppy. He was all over that. At first he tested the boundaries with it, but then he became really concerned when I wasn't holding on to the end of it, because I didn't end up using it that much... but I pulled it out after I lost him twice... not far, but far enough.

 I can't remember the name of the tractor, but this one looks like one from a book we've checked out at the library... 

 Alexander is mellow and fairly patient. He really wanted to catch a fish. When I asked if the boys wanted to fish or go on the tractor ride, Alexander said fish and Benjamin said tractor. When we were leaving, I asked what their favorite thing was and they both said the tractor ride. I hope Alexander wasn't too bummed out about not catching a fish. It seems like he is in his brother's shadow a lot of the time and I need to figure out how to get him out of it. 

Benjamin was handing me his fishing pole after reeling it in most of the way so I could recast it and right as he handed it to me, we had a fish on the line. I set the hook and handed the pole back to him so he could reel the fish in. I couldn't get to the camera so we didn't get a photo of Benjamin holding it. It was a blue gill and after not being able to get the hook out of it's mouth and just cutting the line and releasing it, I felt really bad for the fish and hope it can still eat with a hook near it's mouth. It was a great violation of ahimsa :(I wasn't planning to take home anything we caught anyway. I can't really stomach un-filleted fish... brings back too many ugly childhood memories... Not to mention the odor). At that point I started hoping we wouldn't catch another fish, much to Alexander's disappointment.

It is so nice that Benjamin is getting to where he can take care of himself. He took the pole back to get a new hook and took the other one back when the reel stopped working. He even went to the potty by himself. He couldn't remember where they were, but luckily I told him the tractor stopped right behind the port-a-potties so he followed the tractor to find them. (Today we missed church b/c Alexander was puking last night -- couldn't be the hotdogs b/c we all ate them -- and Benjamin was so proud that he walked there by himself. I'm grateful he didn't get sidetracked on the way... you never know with him sometimes.)

I was kind of amazed I didn't lose James in the water. It was his nap time and he was getting fussy. I tried to nurse him but it was too hot for him to go to sleep while undercover. He ended up sitting on my lap. It was hard to cast fishing line sitting down, so I had to put him down a couple times. We did lose all our worms, but someone gave us more of theirs when they left.

We waited too long to get t-shirts and they ran out of adult sizes and child smalls... but the free popcorn was a worthwhile trade (for Alexander especially). I was just happy to get a couple Swedish Fish out of the day. Yum.

Eagle Mountain Demolition Derby

I decided to drive an hour to take the boys to a demolition derby because they 1) love cars and trucks and 2) love to see things being destroyed (This is especially true of Benjamin!)

One really nice thing about being in Utah is there was no alcohol at the event. They also said a prayer to start the evening off after the national anthem (It was almost like being at a ward activity). I'm sure a demolition derby in other places might not be as "family friendly".

It was a happy surprise to find there was free wireless internet (that had a stronger signal than what we get in our apartment) and we were able to "face-time" with Ryan for part of the evening. It sounds like he really appreciated being able to share a family outing with us.

. 

 The little boys wouldn't wear their hearing protection, but when I asked Alexander if I could return his to the store, he told me that he needs it when things are louder, but it wasn't too loud at the demolition derby. I thought it was pretty loud. I'm sure Benjamin will get a lot of use out of his "ear muffs". He likes to follow around the people with leaf blowers; now w/ a pair of sunglasses he can at least do it safely.

"Gumby" was the boys' favorite car. Benjamin and Alexander both favor green, so I think that's why... Plus, it was an easy car to follow.

There were only 3 trucks competing and "Junky" was the last truck running. The driver apparently decided to give the crowd a show. It was the highlight of the evening for the boys. I can't imagine the driver didn't get whiplash, but he did get out of the truck and stand on top after the jump. The announcer asked if the truck still would run even though it had a bent wheel and a popped tire (It was un-steerable). The driver revved it while it was being towed and much applause followed.

 "Miss Eagle Mountain" was sitting behind us and the Eagle Mountain Rodeo Queen was sitting next to us. The Rodeo Queen talked to Benjamin quite a bit during the evening and as we were driving away, he said, "I'm in love with the Rodeo Queen and I miss her already". I told him after his mission he would find a beautiful woman like her to marry. He said he wouldn't and she was the only one. (I recall him declaring he was going to marry 2 other girls this week including a 7 month old baby... so I'm not concerned. Although, as far as I know, this is the first blonde he's ever swooned over.)

Benjamin and Alexander both think they need to be demolition derby drivers when they get older.

I packed sandwiches, but because the boys were up so late past their bedtime, they were hungry again on the drive home so we stopped at McDonalds for McDoubles. Alexander is my junk-food kid and was sure we needed to stop for another burger on the way home Saturday.

Gas Chamber

This is everyone's favorite event. Going into a closed room full of CS gas. It's supposed to help us trust our training and equipment. You walk in with the Protective Mask (Pro Mask) on. The Gas Chamber in Basic was much more concentrated than it was this time. It was enough to get a reaction, but not to the point of causing the massive flow of snot. We went into the Chamber as Platoons.