Bear Adventures

This fall right before Halloween, David was here with his family, so I decided our family needed to go to Bear World. I wasn't sure if I could get them all to go, but I didn't worry too much about it.  I just thought whomever would like to go, can.  And I would pay for the whole thing.

I decided to take them all on Saturday, the last weekend of their season.  I happened to hear on the radio that you would get a pretty good discount if you went during their last couple of days, so I told the fam......

I knew David and Emily and their boys would want to go and I was fairly certain that Joni would want to take Ledger. Beyond that I wasn't sure if anyone would bother.

Boy was I surprised!  Lisa AND Tyler came (I was kind of surprised about Tyler) Joni, and her 2 little kids, and shockingly, at the last minute, Mike and Andy decided to also go. (We really felt badly that Abby, David and Asher were not in town and therefore unable to come.)

We piled into 2 cars, both filled to the gills.  As the 2 cars play a part in my little story I have to tell you who was in each car.

Car A:
David's Explorer with David driving.
Also inside: Emily (front seat) Sorren and me in the middle seat, and Nathan and Zach in the back.

Car B:
Joni's car, with Joni driving. 
Also inside: Mike (front seat), Andy, Ledger, London in the middle seat, and squishily seated in the very back, Lisa and Tyler


We arrived at the gate  with Car A in front.  I was quite impressed with the lady who sold us the admittance tickets.  I told her I was paying for both cars.  She asked how many people total and the ages of each.  She worked her magic and we all got in for less than a hundred.  I was amazed.

She told us to go ahead and drive through the animals and that we could go as many times as we wanted until 5:00.  Having never been there before I wasn't really sure what she meant, but we headed through the gate.

It was pretty awesome!  It was so fun to see the white elk and buffalo, all the deer and other animals just lounging around. In our car (Car A) Sorren was so excited!  We let him get out of his carseat so he could stand up next to the window and really look. He kept making really cute little growly noises.  Nathan and Zach seemed to also love looking around and commenting on the animals.  It would have really been a fun relaxing time, but David happened to notice, as soon as we drove through the animal gate, that he was almost out of gas!

Meanwhile back in Car B they were having their own kind of fun. I wasn't actually IN car B so I'm just related the facts as I heard them.  Ledger was also let out of his carseat, I presume so that he could also have a closer look.  He promptly began to climb all over the place, including the front seat.  Mike was starting to get agitated because of Ledger's acrobatics.  At one point in time Ledger was actually climbing around on the dash in front of Joni, the driver.

In Car A we finished driving past the tamer animals and then proceeded through another more secure gate, (which kind of reminded me of the entrance into Jurassic Park) into the bear enclosure.  It was very exciting to see bears everywhere we looked.  They had lots of little "caves" for them, but mostly the bears were out in the sun watching us as we drove past.  I guess there were signs all over showing which way we were to drive, but at one point we saw a great big bear ambling across the next road over, so we skipped an entire loop to drive directly over to where the bear was to have a closer look.  The entire time I'm thinking in the back of my head "this would not be a good place to run out of gas, but I'm sure we're okay".

Meanwhile, back in Car B Ledger also got very excited about all the bears and wanted to take a closer look.  He kept trying to open the car door to do just that.  Mike was pretty calm about that little development. Just kidding.

When we finished driving through the bear enclosure I was kind of surprised to see that there was a kind of amusement park with activities and a petting zoo up ahead.  I had no idea that was there.  I was ready to stop and check things out when we got a phone call from Car B.  "We're going around again cause we didn't see everything."  And I could see that they were already heading through the gate back into the animal enclosure.  Without a second's hesitation David put Car A into gear and we were through the gate right behind them.  It was only after we went through the gate that I remembered, we were out of gas!

The second time around was pretty similar to the first with 1 major difference.

There was a Bear World truck right in front of us, with the back full of paying customers, that kept stopping for long periods of time while all the people in the back threw out food to the bears.

 This time Car A kept speculating about if we ran out of gas who would come first, Bear World employees with a gas can or hungry bears wanting a human snack.

Car B was having there own excitement.  Since the bears were all being fed they were out on the road and surrounded our cars.  Ledger thought this was an extremely good time to see one up close and personal and actually opened the door!  Mike was very calm. Ha. Ha. Ha. His agitation rubbed off on Joni who tried to escape from the herd of bears by putting her foot on the gas pedal.  She's pretty sure she might have run over a bear toe or two.

All's well that ends well, though.  We made it out of the bear enclosure without running out of gas (Car A) or getting eaten by a bear (Car B).

This time we actually did stop and enjoy the fun at the petting zoo.  A few of us used giant slingshots to catapult potatoes at some targets out in the field, a straw maze was run,  animals were petted in the petting zoo, rides were ridden in the amusement park.

It was a very fun outing.  I can't wait to do it again next year.  This time I'm going to ride in Car C.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A little of this and a little of that.

 

People are so nice.  When you have a baby they bring you food. Sometimes the food is awesome!  I love it when you get a meal that looks like something your mom would make for you. 

Good old comfort food. 

 

It's probably not the greatest idea to try out a new recipe for the first time and then announce that fact when you take the "first-time-you've-made-it" food to someone you're trying to help.

Although you put a lot of effort, resources and thought into this meal,

maybe, just maybe,

it would have been better to use the old tried and true Shepherd's Pie, or Lasagna.

 

Then maybe, just maybe,

the recipient of all your hard-cooking-work

wouldn't have to guess as to the edibility of the food in question.

 

 

Is that melted saran wrap?

 

 

Late Saturday afternoon I got the phone call.

"Mom, can you babysit?"

I loved that phone call.

Ledger and I had a great time.  I threw a sheet over the play mat and made him a tent.  He loved it and kept going in and out

in and out.

 

 

Grandpa took him for a stroller ride and  I fed him dinner and put him to bed at 7:30,

per his mama's instructions.

 

I told Grandpa to listen for him because I was off to buy a pop.

When I got back home I was greeted by a smiling happy Ledger, playing with his Grandpa.

"He was crying." said Mike, sheepishly.

 

Ledger bought himself another hour. 

I put him back to bed at 8:30 and he fell asleep immediately.

 

 

 

Andy tries really hard to ignore Ledger.  His tough guy image won't allow him to show his softer side to a baby.

Ledger doesn't know this about Andy.

Ledger just LOVES Andy and

smiles at, climbs up on, watches,

and does his best to win Andy over.

From the looks of things, I think Ledger is winning.

 

 

It's been hot here.  Joni has taken Ledger to the splash park a couple of times.  Today Lisa and I stopped by to see the fun.  Poor little guy has such tender skin that he has to wear a hat outside, but it just added to the cuteness factor. 

He had a great time!

for about 5 minutes.

 

 

I fell in love again last week.  He only weighs 8 pounds, but he's gripped my heart as tightly has he gripped his mama's necklace right after he was born.

Love you Asher!

 

 

 

Saturday

Yesterday David brought his family to visit. While they were there Nathan (age 3) thought of a really fun game. He found his grandma's basket full of balls of yarn and methodically unwound them, going around and around the pool table. When he used up one ball he would go get another. Spider-slayer, aka "the little kitty", was under the table the entire time watching him go around and around and around. Every once in a while he would attack the yarn as it trailed past. It's been pretty funny since then. We left the yarn up and today the kitty is still hanging out in his Nathan-made cave, safe and sound out of Oscar's reach. Oscar will not cross the yarn barrier. I think "little kitty" wouldn't mind if we left it up permanently.




Last night the whole family, friends and half of Idaho Falls went to the Civic Auditorium to watch Lisa perform her viola concerto by Bartok. She sounded awesome and looked fabulous. Abby took photos of her on stage, which I'll try to borrow and post. After her performance, and during intermission, we all went back stage to congratulate her. I took my camera and snapped quite a few photos of that. Here's one that I really like. A few of her students went down to the performance and one of them went backstage with us and gave Lisa a bouquet of flowers. This shot shows her watching Lisa as she converses with some other well-wishers. Lisa's a really great role model for young up and coming musicians and I think it shows in this photo.


It was a pretty great day.

The Hike

Upon finding out that Lagoon was closed on Friday........

Joni: (texting Lisa) "what should we do? we could hike Tablerock."
Joni: (immediately upon sending text, thinking) "please say no, please say no..."
Lisa: (upon reading Joni's text, thinking) "how do I get out of this, I don't want to go, its so hard, and hot.."
Lisa: (texting Joni) "sure! Let's do it."
Joni: (reading text from Lisa, thinking) "crap!"

Joni, Abby, Andy, and Lisa and Tyler go hike Tablerock on Friday.
Joni and Andy only got about 3 hours sleep the night before.
Joni kept reminding Andy to prepare, get food ready, Etc.
Abby didn't really want to go. Didn't feel good that day, wanted to go shopping instead. She decided to buck up and go anyway.
I asked Joni to make sure Andy wears shorts and eats breakfast before they leave.

Lisa and Tyler pick them up at 7 am.

Tablerock is a very strenuous hike. My family once took my brother-in-law on it. He is an extremely experienced hiker. Currently he is in Iceland hiking. He couldn't believe how hard it was, and how unprepared he thought we were. He said most experienced hikers would consider it a two-day hike. He insisted they all eat cookies and sugar to avoid altitude sickness. Not only is it an extremely long hike, but it is, in some parts, almost straight up, or straight down depending on which way you're going.

Friday morning arrives.

Andy had 2 pops for breakfast, filled 2 ziploc bags with fish crackers, and pronounced himself ready. He did wear shorts without any prodding from Joni, and was quite offended that I thought she would have to tell him. As he said, "you must not think I have any common sense."

It took them 5 hours.
Just to get to the top.
Andy, being a bit short in the common sense department, has to beg water off of everyone. He didn't bring any. He is sweating buckets. He tries to take shortcuts and instead of doing the switchbacks goes straight up the mountain. I'm told that it's a good thing I didn't see him do it. They all thought we'd have a funeral to plan before Andy got off the mountain.

Joni, being short on sleep, experienced extreme vertigo. She had to look straight at her feet only, crept along, hugging the mountain at times and refused to move. She started to wonder how freaked out she would have to get before they called a helicopter to come and pluck her off the top. When the breeze would gust she felt like the entire valley was swelling up and down, just like the waves of the ocean.
She would most likely still be up there if Tyler hadn't given her his walking stick and helped her along.

Abby was probably one of the smartest people in the group. She went on most of the hike, but then decided she couldn't do the last most difficult part. She stayed back and rested and waited for them to ascend and descend. She felt very badly that she didn't do the whole thing. I'm thinking Abby was one of the few who actually used a little bit of intelligence that day.

The very tired, very sore, hiking group got home about 13 hours after starting.

Walking looked painful.
Toenails may come off.
Sunburns hurt.
Blisters and rashes ached.
Joni's foot had a blister so large it looked like she had a sixth toe.


They all looked like they had so much fun.
I'm really sorry I didn't go with them......NOT!

Pictures from Lisa and Tyler, probably the only 2 who really enjoyed the day.

Facebook Wisdom

I see quizzes on facebook all the time and hardly ever take them. Today I decided to stick my neck out and just see what came up. I took this quiz:
Linda just took the "Which Greek Goddess Are You?" quiz and the result is Artemis.

You are Artemis! The Greek Goddess of the moon and the hunt. Many people don't understand your personality, but you don't care. You're a rebel and you usually fall on the outskirts of society. You're unique and you embrace every aspect of that. Some say you're a wild child, and like Artemis, you know you are!

Kind of close to the truth. Maybe these quizzes are pretty accurate. So I tried another one:

"Which Tim Burton Character Are You?" with the result Edward Scissorhands.
You are very talented and artistic. Your character is very sensitive, even though people may think otherwise by your appearance. You begin to warm up to people after getting to know them for a while and often seem to be meeting new people in the neighborhood. Congratulations! You are Edward Scissorhands! .

I like that! If I could choose for myself I think I would have chosen these two. I may have to take more quizzes.

And now for your entertainment click on the following link.

AmericasCowboy

Yep, that's my classically trained violist daughter performing fiddle-tunes with her in-laws. Life is good.

April Fools Day

I'm gullible and a sucker in most cases. Yesterday was no exception.

Lisa, my daughter, told me about her plans. She teaches Music Literature and planned on surprising her students with a massively hard test telling them all they read the syllabus wrong and yes, it really was today. She was afraid some of her more anal students might either burst into tears or have a coronary right there on the spot so she backed off and just gave them a 3 point pop quiz that was ridiculously hard. One student asked if it was an April Fools joke and she deadpanned, "wouldn't that be nice." Then she graded it and had them pass it in. One student just crumpled up his paper in disgust and threw it over his shoulder.

Then she said "April Fools" and said they all got 3 bonus points whether they got the questions right or not. Ha ha. I laughed when Lisa told me what she had planned.

Then I went to my class. We had just spent the entire previous class period learning how to scientifically figure out how to draw things in 3-point perspective. We had to draw a building 200 feet tall, 90 feet wide and 75 feet deep with 10 feet sidewalks and 10 foot windows. There were 22 steps to the set-up alone. The handout he gave us was 7 pages long.

So, yesterday he comes into class and said, "get out a piece of paper. I want you to draw a building 75 feet tall, 45 feet wide and 45 feet deep, with 10 foot sidewalks, a 60 foot wide road in front and a bus 30 feet long driving down the road in 3-point perspective from memory."

I frantically jot down all the specs, thinking the entire time that I don't really need this class to graduate anyway, and maybe I can remember how to do part of the set up, and maybe I can just pretend like I know what I'm doing and can just fake it.

That's when the girl behind me calls out to the teacher, "do you know what day today is?"

I felt like such a sucker.

Aren't college professors funny?

Happy Little Spring Scene

I really wanted to share some nice little pictures of our nice little spring in Idaho, but my daughter Lisa's pictures were much better. So, go over to her space here and see.

Full Day

Today I:

Exercised.

Finished my "Fantasy Forest" drawing to turn in on Wednesday morning.

Did 6 thumbnail sketches of the next assignment..... a villan's lair. I think I'm doing a mediaval torture chamber.

Sewed up a dress.

Bought fabric to make curtains in our rec room. I'm tired of bare windows.

Went to my office.

Made a very yummy ham and rice casserole.

Took a nap.

Played some games.

Watched a movie.

Cleaned my house and did laundry.

Put away the winter decorations. Maybe the snow isn't melting because I had snowmen all over the house. I think I'm going to break out the birdhouses.


I think I'll take the rest of the night off.

Still Brrrrrrrr

I’m getting ready for some warmer weather.

This morning was 12 degrees, below zero.
When I went to work at 10 it was still 3 below.

I think it would be nice to have a heat wave.
Upper 30 temps would be great.
Mid 40’s would warrant a barbecue.

Utah Trip continued.......

Since Joni finished with her test so quickly I suggested that the three girls spend the day at Lagoon.

They were good girls and didn't want to desert their mother, but I managed to make them understand that I WANTED them to all go to Lagoon and let me do my own thing! I was really looking forward to spending the day the way I wanted to. We went to Utah in Lisa's car, and so they all agreed to go without me and I would be free until 5:00 pm. We got on the freeway to drive the 30 miles to Lagoon. As we're driving down the freeway at 75 or so miles an hour we were all sitting kind of quietly. Joni was in the back seat directly behind the driver, Lisa. Joni was gazing out the window, probably reliving the test in her head and she noticed that we were next to a semi-truck. She started musing about the semi right next to us and thought,

"this is just like that movie where a car is surrounded by semis on the freeway and they start to squeeze in on the car."

"...in fact that semi is getting awfully close."

"...OH MY GOSH, THAT SEMI HAS IT'S BLINKER ON AND IS CHANGING LANES RIGHT INTO US!!!"

So, Joni very calmly said to Lisa, "Lisa, that semi is going to hit us."

We all immediately looked over and saw that it was mere INCHES away from hitting us. Joni could have reached out her window and touched it! We all screamed and Lisa very smoothly inched her car away from contact with that big beast. I was quite impressed that she didn't jerk the steering wheel trying to avoid contact. If she had we probably would have rolled. Thank you Lisa!

When we were a safe distance away from the truck Lisa said she's sure that blasting her horn at the truck really put him in his place. I didn't believe her.

"You honked your horn? I didn't hear anything."

She got a sheepish look on her face and confessed that her horn wasn't exactly the loudest thing on the road. I wanted to hear it, so she gave me a demo.

I'm sure that semi-truck driver was properly chastized once he heard Lisa's "toot toot" - NOT. It sounded like a toy. We all had a pretty good laugh over Lisa's wicked-awesome scary-sounding horn.

The Great Salt Valley

Last night my three daughters and I just returned home from a 2 day trip to Salt Lake City.

A lot happened. It will take me a few posts to tell it all, but it involves
~ playing bumper cars with a semi on the freeway doing 75.
~ Lisa, Joni and Abby being thrown upside down multiple times.
~ Joni being fingerprinted.
~ Elephants


I would explain more in detail right now, but I found out right before I went to Utah that our secretary in the Geology department is gone for 6 weeks starting 2 days ago and now I get to do both her and my jobs until she gets back. So I have to go to work now.

Don't worry, no one got hurt, Mom.

hmmmmm, maybe I'd better call my mom and explain before she reads this and has a heart attack. ha ha ha

When the cat's away.........

I usually hate any reference to mice. ewwww, just typing the word gives me the heebie-jeebies.
But I just had to put on the pics of Abby and I (the mice) and the shenanigans we got up to in Lisa and Tyler's (the cat) house when they were out of town. They asked me to go water their plants and to leave the water on the tomatoes for 15-20 minutes. Okay, sure. No problem. While we were waiting we went in the house to water the plants there.
Abby got an idea.
She really really wanted to try on Lisa's wedding dress.
So she did.
And I had my camera.
So we recorded the event.


She had a great time with the veil............











.......props, like this apple (do I sense a Snow White wannabe)...........

......a baby chick (don't know what the reference is here).......
........and accessorizing with a cool lavender ribbon.


Abby said, "Mom you have to put these pictures on your blog!" I told her no way!!!
I didn't want Lisa to find out what we'd been up to.

Then, about a week later we were driving in the car. Lisa was with us. I was telling her about something, (can't remember what it was now), and I said, "look at my camera, I've got pictures of it."

Dumb

Pretty soon I hear this from the back seat, "What is Abby doing in my wedding dress?"

Big Oops!

Sorry Lisa. But since the cat is now out of the bag (you know, that same cat that is back from being away so we could play) I decided I would post these after all.