"Ah! The planet's alive!" the boys scream. What a weird name for an aquarium. But, in typical Utah fashion, it was incredibly well-done. I really liked the electric eel tank with the light-up display showing the level of voltage in the tank. Then there were two metal contact points and if you touched both of them, you got quite a zap! Talk about interactive! I also like the fish that crawled up out of the water. For some reason I thought that was a theoretical link in the evolutionary chain, not a living specimen! They also had a really neat wing of fish that were only in Utah and a great education center about the Salt Lake wetlands. Did you know that 80% of all the animals in Utah live in wetlands and that 60% of the wetlands are on the shores of the Great Salt Lake? Makes me a little less critical of the holdup on that Legacy Highway over the wetlands. Thanks Cara, Ally and Tyson for taking us there!
"My Dad and I went fishing at Strawberry Reservoir and all I got was this crawdad."
This was our first time camping with the boys. Clint was not interested in camping in some of the other muggy places we've lived. Plus he did too much camping in Iraq. Now we're in Utah--bring on the outdoors!--has been the theme. We four-wheeled it up to a campsite on the shores of Buckeye Lake just as it was getting dark. We set up camp and the boys gathered firewood while we made our chili dinner. But with the long, wet spring we had, it was no surprise that the firewood was wet (we had to brush the snow off some of it!) and made for a smokey fire, that gave out little heat. The boys we're exhausted and freezing after dinner. Clint boiled some water on the stove and filled up water bottles to put in the bottom of their sleeping bags and they were asleep in about two minutes. The next morning we drove up to Mirror Lake and beyond and looked at future possibilities. Never did go fishing, but maybe next time.
Clint once said that he'd seen the portals of Hell--a fabric store. I don't feel that strongly about Cabella's, but it certainly has more allure to the males in the family. Here the boys are playing with pop guns.
Blue bells--my favorite. There seemed to be acres of these! The wet winter brought many good things.
This trail is the sweetest mountain bike ride! We went a month later with Mike Pulsipher and had a blast! Up until the last 45 seconds when I botched the last hair-pin turn--a five bruiser--ugly! I still want to go back!
We turned around after an hour uphill. We figured that was accomplishment enough for Trace. Then we came back down and had a chili, cheese and chips dinner in the parking lot. Everything tastes delicious after a hike!
What a treat to be able to spend a few hours with the Rimingtons who we knew in San Diego.
Tiffany watched the boys for me every Friday when Clint was deployed. And she gives the best hair cuts in the world. Clint and I really look up to Tiffany and Paul. Some of the world's best people.
