Salt Lake

At least once every summer, we have a tradition of "Kicking Around in Salt Lake." It's something we all look forward to, and last Thursday was our first time this year. Since Quentin's office is right next to the fountains at Gateway, we met him for lunch - we had sandwiches in the shade next to the fountains. Then of course the girls wanted to play in the fountains. They played / laid on the warm bricks for about an hour. Then we went to the Salt Lake library and got oodles of books (my dad has a Salt Lake library card and lets us borrow it!)






Then we checked out a bakery that I've been hearing a lot about - City Cakes. It's not only a dang-good bakery, but a vegan one as well! Now, it's not that I'm necessarily against eggs or butter or milk in bakery products (and I'll still eat them!) but I've always been intrigued that yummy things can still be made without those things (and with other natural ingredients.) Whenever I bake, which is rare, I try to "veganize" the recipes. But it can be hard/expensive to do everything totally vegan. Anyway, the girls and I were excited to try this bakery. I had a to-die-for Lemon Blueberry Scone. Oh yum. And the girls had (which I tried too!) a chocolate-dipped peanut butter cookie, a snickerdoodle, and a ginger softie. Oh yum. I don't know why I didn't get any pictures! But I'm sure we'll be going back there sooooon!

After our yummy treat, we went to Sunflower Market then stopped by Mom's house to say hi to her and Grandma. The girls kept telling me, "This is the best day ever!"

Summer Fun

We had a free day on Saturday, so we went to Sub Zero (yum) and the car wash (a fun one, with the brushes and stuff) and ran a few errands. We didn't return home until the late afternoon, and we told the girls we would fill up the kiddie pool and turn on the sprinklers. Yipee! But as soon as the pool was filled, black clouds filled the sky. It started thundering/lightning and raining. Dang. We had also planned on going for a bike ride later that evening, but that was off too.

It seemed like a long wait till Monday evening when we were finally able to do our bike ride. We used our "hitch bike trailer" that Mom gave us for Christmas, loaded up the bikes, and headed over to the Lagoon Trail (Farmington Creek Trail.) I LOVE riding bikes, and I LOVE Lagoon Trail. Simply heaven.



And today (Tuesday) the girls finally were able to play in their pool and the sprinklers. Ahhh, Summer!

Food for Thought

I saw this on a display at the Exploratorium in San Francisco and had to share:

"Switching from beef and dairy to vegetarian meals just one day a week saves as much carbon pollution as driving 1160 fewer miles a year. One small change can make a big difference."

And can you imagine the impact that could be made with a vegan lifestyle? I'm sure I've mentioned it before, but I've been vegetarian (and vegan-ish) for about 24 years. At that time, a vegetarian diet was most often considered weird or unhealthy or full of deprivation. But I have been thrilled to see a gradual shift in thinking and acceptance. Not only is a vegetarian lifestyle now generally accepted and appreciated, it is becoming revered as one of the healthiest diets one can have. Vegetarian meals are usually very flavorful, colorful, filling, and delish - and with the awesome benefit of being a more peaceful way of living. Kinder to animals; gentler on the earth. Living and eating with awareness and compassion.

I'm just sayin'! :)

Oobleck

I had never even heard of Oobleck until a few months ago when I was on the internet, searching for something for preschool. Up popped a recipe for Oobleck and it got me curious. I wrote it down, thinking it would be a fun thing to do this summer. So then when we went to San Francisco, the Exploratorium had an exhibit on this Oobleck stuff. So cool, and we couldn't wait to try it when we got home.

So today we tried it. You just have to try it to understand it. I guess Oobleck was named after a Dr. Suess book where a gooey substance (called Oobleck) covered the whole town. Oobleck is known as a non-Newtonian substance, meaning that it has liquid properties and solid properties as well. It's strange - it pours like a liquid but when you exert pressure on it (stirring, poking, rolling, etc.) it feels more like a solid. It's weird. And Kiera, our science nut, couldn't get enough of it!

So...here's the recipe in case you're interested:

1 cup water
1 1/2 to 2 cups cornstarch
Food coloring (optional)
Mix with hands, wait about 10 minutes, then pour onto a counter or table and have fun!

Funny

We went to the park yesterday evening. Kasidee took my hand, led me over to the playground and said, "I want to show you something. I used to can't do this but now I can."

Fourth

The Fourth of July weekend was a fun, busy one as always. Let's see...we did the Children's Bike Parade (see previous post), Kiera went to the Centerville parade with a friend, we had a BBQ at Corbin and Nikki's house, watched fireworks at Eaglewood Golf Course, saw Cars 2, had dinner with Mom and Grandma, and watched fireworks at Corbin and Nikki's neighbor's house. Whew.

I love the evening lighting and tried to get a few shots before the golf course fireworks show started - but the kids were so fast and wouldn't slow down for me to get the shots I wanted. But oh well. Check it out anyway:



Makenna catching "fairies"

Haircut

Can you believe Kasidee is almost 4 years old and we've never cut her hair? Her hair just grew out pretty and didn't seem to have awkward phases. I loved that she had a little curl at the nape of her neck that just got longer and longer as her hair grew out. Well, she's been wanting her hair cut (and she even did her own trim about a month ago - erg!) so we decided it was time. Quentin, of course, wanted to be the first one to trim her hair so he did. So cute!

BEFORE - with her Rapunzel hair (her hair's a little lumpy on the side!)

HALFWAY THERE (I cried when I saw her cute curl!)

AFTER - So cute!

Bike Parade

To kick of the weekend-long 4th of July celebration, we took the girls to the Centerville City Children's Bike Parade last night. They love washing and decorating their bikes in preparation. We joined tons of people in a 5-ish block parade and finished with popsicles in the shade. Ahhh, summer!

Makenna's New Smile

Yesterday was an adventurous (for lack of a better word, really) day. Of course, I have to back up a bit and tell a story before telling you about yesterday.

Sweet Makenna has had teeth issues since she was just little. When she wasn't even quite 2, we noticed that her front teeth looked like they were melting or disintegrating. After consulting a pediatric dentist, they told us that she has compromised enamel (which I came to find out later was most likely due to an antibiotic I took during my pregnancy with her - erg!) and that her teeth were literally wearing away. She underwent surgery to cap her 4 front teeth and a couple of back molars. It was esentially root canals on her baby teeth. That was such a scary, stressful time but we were confident in the dentist's assurance that her permanent teeth would not be affected.

We thought we were done worrying about her teeth.

(This is a picture of her last December, when her one tooth was barely starting to get loose.)


But this past year, a couple of Makenna's once perfectly straight caps began to get loose - a normal part of them getting ready to fall out. But as the tooth got looser it became crooked, and you could see the silver backing of the tooth. Plus the white enamel front didn't quite match the real teeth beside it, making it look a little off-color. Makenna came home in tears many times, saying her teeth looked funny and that people made fun of her. Heart. Break. We kept consoling her that her teeth would fall out soon and that the new ones would come in and everything would be okay. Besides, her smile really was cute - see?

MAKENNA'S CUTE OLD SMILE


But then a permanent tooth began coming in BEHIND her baby tooth. We kept wiggling her loose baby tooth, hoping it would eventually come out. However, on Tuesday night as I was helping her brush her teeth, this is what I saw:

OUCH!


Since the permanent tooth was coming in behind the baby tooth, the permanent tooth was not helping push the baby tooth out, and the baby tooth roots were not dissolving like they were supposed to. The permanent tooth had begun to push the baby tooth - root and all - forward and it began splitting her gum. She wasn't in pain, but we knew something wasn't right, and we were worried about an infection.

The next day (Wednesday) we took her to the dentist. He said the 2 front teeth needed to come out, but he was afraid we'd be back in 6 months to get the other 2 out. So he recommended taking her 4 front teeth out - all of the caps - all at once. He was able to get it taken care of that day, which was scary but a blessing too. Quentin was able to be with her as she had laughing gas and a local anesthetic. It went pretty quickly and she did really well.

She was scared, but I think she is glad to have her caps gone. She still has a silly smile, but she looks like a typical 6- or 7-year-old with big teeth and little teeth and gaps all over! I catch her smiling in the mirror at herself, and I have a feeling that she feels more confident in her smile now than she did before.

MAKENNA'S CUTE NEW SMILE


So in all, Makenna has lost 8 teeth and but has just 2 1/2 new ones to fill in those gaps. And as for the future.... The dentist said in the next couple of weeks, her gum line will even out and the one permanent tooth she has will move forward into place. All is well. Until then, Makenna's having fun trying to figure out how to talk and eat with that big gap in her smile!

Manners

Kasidee just came up to me and said...
"Mama, can I may have some chocolate soymilk?"

San Fran

After months of planning (and debating...should we fly or drive or go on the train? Should we not go and just save the money? Should we wait till our kids are older?) we went to the San Francisco area for a long-awaited vacation! I had carefully saved some of the money I earned from teaching preschool with the hopes that we could use it on a family vacation. After realizing that just flying there and back would cost nearly $1500, we decided to drive. Our old clunkers wouldn't pass the test of a long drive through the middle of nowhere, so we rented a car (Quentin got his dream of driving a 2011 Dodge Charger!) We split the drive into 2 days each way and it wasn't that bad - it was part of the adventure! After we got home and tallied up our purchases, we realized that we were able to do the whole trip (car, gas, hotels, food, souvenirs, entertainment, etc.) for hundreds of dollars less than it would have cost just for plane tickets. Yeeeahhh!

Of course, it helped that we stayed with Quentin's uncle Mike and his family (thanks again guys!) They live near San Jose, about 45 minutes from San Francisco. We stayed with them during our honeymoon 14 years ago and it was fun to show the girls some of the things we remembered from way back then!

So...this is a long post of our 10-day vacation. Maybe it's boring to you readers, but it's a journal/scrapbook record for our family. After sorting through over 900 digital pictures, this is actually really pared down! But we had such a fun time and made some good memories!

SATURDAY, JUNE 18
Picked up rental car and left around 6:00 p.m. Drove to Battle Mountain, NV (a dinky little town) and arrived at our hotel around 11:00 p.m.

SUNDAY, JUNE 19
Father's Day! The girls had hidden their present - a Willow Tree figurine of a dad with 3 girls - to Daddy in their suitcase and surprised him in the morning. Swam in the hotel pool, enjoyed the free continental breakfast, and drove the 9 hours to Mike and Faye's house.

MONDAY, JUNE 20
My birthday! Drove to Santa Cruz and spent a couple of hours at the Henry Cowell Redwood Forest.





Went to the Wharf in Santa Cruz and ate pizza on the beach. Then the girls played in the water. They loved it!



TUESDAY, JUNE 21
Went to San Francisco to the Exploratorium - coolest hands-on science museum ever! We spent 4 hours there and only got halfway through it before it closed. So fun!!






Walked down and up Lombard Street, then drove down it.




Drove across the Golden Gate Bridge (we were going to walk across it but it was cold and windy) to Sausalito - that's what I imagine heaven to be like!



WEDNESDAY, JUNE 22
Had a quiet day at "home" with the Baker family. Swam in their neighbor's pool, had dinner and hung out.

THURSDAY, JUNE 23
Went back to San Francisco. Went to the Cable Car Museum.



Toured Mee Mee Bakery in Chinatown - we got to watch how they make fortune cookies.



Then we browsed at Pier 39 and Fisherman's Wharf - the girls picked out a souvenir.



Had dinner at Boudin's (known for their sourdough bread) - Q had clam chowder in a bread bowl and I had a yummy veggie sandwich.



FRIDAY, JUNE 24
Drove to Fairfield to tour the Jelly Belly Factory - yum!



Had a BBQ with the Baker family, then walked around the Great Mall in San Jose.

SATURDAY, JUNE 25
Spent the day in Monterey with the Bakers. Went to Monterey Bay Aquarium.



(This is a "Leafy Seadragon" - how cool is that?!)



Went to the beach even though it was only 55 degrees out. Jason taught Quentin how to "skim."



While everyone else bundled up and watched.



Went to Dennis the Menace Park



And had dinner at Fisherman's Wharf - check out our lemony grins!



SUNDAY, JUNE 26
Headed homeward via Lake Tahoe - so beautiful! Reached Reno by 8:30 p.m. but decided to drive a couple more hours to stay in Battle Mountain.



MONDAY, JUNE 27
Drove 5 hours from Battle Mountain to home. Met Mom and Grandma for dinner, returned the rental car, and began unpacking, doing laundry, and reminiscing!

Jason and the girls


Kiera, Makenna and Callie-Dog


Kasidee's "Cage" from the dog


Kasidee and Dana


The Stephens and Baker families