+ a 4th birthday party +

We celebrated Jamin's 4th birthday this past weekend with about 50 of our closest family & friends. That's a lot for a kid's party I know! but I rationalised it by reminding myself that we have just come home from America & it's a good chance for everyone to get together. 

Jamin has been into Superhero's for months now & has only been answering to "Jamin the Superhero" for sometime. If someone asks him what his last name is he will reply "Superhero". Ha, still cracks me up everytime! His wonderful Aunty Lara made him his very own superhero cape in his 2 favourite colours - green & yellow. He looked every bit the birthday boy racing around in his satin cape, saving everyone in sight. 

I had lots of help with the food from baker extraordinaire, Aunty Linda & Mum (Oma). The kids devoured the food & didn't even notice that it was healthy. I love that the fruit skewers are the most popular & the sausage rolls were actually vegetarian. Popcorn, coloured pikelets & homemade guacamole rounded off the food table. Big thanks also to Danny's parents who saved the day by looking after all the tea & coffee, keeping the adults warm on a very cool Toowoomba spring morning. 

My brother Brian was roped into leading some kids games & generally tired them all out. It was so much fun to run around in the sun with a herd of little kids who couldn't be happier.

Those of you who know me well will realise that I was in heaven holding a birthday party under this beautiful tree. I had planned to get the gazebo but someone else had arrived at 6am to secure it (they can have it if they are willing to get up at that hour!). We got the 2nd best spot however & didn't really notice the 6 other parties in the park!

After the games we moved onto the cake which Linda & I had created the night before. Kael had a little run in with it upon arrival at the park but it survived mostly unscathed.

And here is where I gained the award for "Worst Mother 2011". Earlier that morning I had found a bag of party poppers in the cupboard & took them along for the kids. The kids had been nagging all morning  to pop them so I decided spur of the moment to get the kids to pop them at the end of happy birthday. I even remembered to ask if there were any kids that didn't like loud noises. Guess who doesn't like loud noises...? Yep, my own son Jamin. oops.

The kids already had the poppers in hand before I realised my mistake & there was no going back. I covered Jamin's ears & he basically spent the entire song cringing in anticipation of the bangs. Oh dear. Like I said... worst mother 2011 award in the bag.

But all in all it was a fantastic party & I had a very happy, tired little 4 year old to take home.

:: zion national park, utah ::

After a chaotic few days in Las Vegas, we headed a few hundred miles north to Zion National Park. We had heard great things about this part of Utah since we arrived & were not disappointed! The canyons & scenery were spectacular. The little town of Springdale was artsy & outdoorsy, full of interesting coffee shops, art galleries & adventure companies. The national park was not only beautiful but so well equipped with information, visitors centres & shuttle buses. 

Our only regret was being unable to tackle some of the more adventurous hikes because of our two little ones that do not share their parents love for outdoor adventures. Saying that, we dragged them around in the chariot, on the shuttle buses & up a few small hikes.

We spent a lot of time down by the river, where the boys could paddle & throw rocks & we could drink beer & chill out. Everyones happy, except the water was REALLY COLD!

On the shuttle bus on the way up the canyon Jamin kipped out. They introduced shuttle buses in 2000 to reduce traffic congestion & it was a great move. They hook two together & can even load your bikes on the front if you are planning to ride down the canyon. The boys loved them so much that Jamin wanted one on his birthday cake! Now that is a big deal for a 4 year old!

A short hike up to the Emerald Pools with both the boys in backpacks. Made an easy hike a little bit, no a lot, harder! But they did love getting wet after walking under the waterfalls & the object lesson on why they are called waterfalls was educational for the whole family!

The hike back took a lot longer with our budding artist Kael stopping to draw in the dirt every few steps. His brother joined him & then we had two very dirty boys to carry.

One morning Danny took off on his own adventure, hiking up Angel's Landing. Here's the description of the hike but basically it is a feat of engineering that only the bravest hikers attempt. The drop offs each side of the rock below are hundreds of feet!

Danny stopped for snack at the top & this little squirrel tried to snitch some of his food.

The self portrait at the top.

Looking back down the ridge where he had hiked and had to go back down. Scary!

On our way out of the park on the way to Grand Canyon we got to go through a 1.1 mile long tunnel, built in 1830, complete with windows throughout to view the canyons. Apparently it is another feat of engineering & was pretty impressive & popular with the boys in the family.

Zion National Park did not disappoint, in fact we even extended our stay a few extra days to soak up the beautiful scenery. This is a place that we would love to return to if we are ever back in the area, as there is so much more to explore & do. It gave us some wonderful memories to hold onto.

+ 4th july fun +

We returned late last night from a very big weekend visiting Yellowstone National Park. More on Yellowstone tomorrow but I thought that today I would share the great 4th of July festival we stumbled upon in Jackson, Wyoming. 

It was lunchtime & we were driving through town, looking for a park for the boys to play in when a bouncy castle was spotted, alongside lots of red, white & blue balloons. The local church was having a celebration for the 4th of July & we joined in. The perfect way to break up a long day of driving!

After the 1st stop at the "Bounce House" we moved onto face painting where balloons were the order of the day.

The boys both got (big) tshirts & joined in the kids games.

They ran their 1st ever 3 Legged Race together.






And Jamin joined in a Tug of War with Kael cheering him on.

Here's the video...





Then they went fishing while we waited for our hot dogs & lemonade. They caught bubbles on the end of their lines.

After an hour of this fun they were both happy to jump back into the truck for a few more hours driving. 4th of July is a lot of fun!

Here's what we did last year.

+ a messy morning +

I was feeling adventurous this morning so we decided to make some oatmeal dough.

Here's the recipe if you are game to try it

1 part flour

2 parts oats

1 part water

And here is what happened...

The boys had a ball, got very messy & coated the grass. I am really hoping that the birds are attracted to a flour'y treat because it will be a challenge to get it out of the grass!

We did a lot of hosing down with mixed results. I can't really say that the clean up was worth the fun but the boys might disagree with me. 

:: photos by jamin ::

Jamin has had the water-proof, shock-proff camera out over the last few days & is loving playing around with it. Here are some of his pictures. 

Beloved Aunty Linda talking on Skype. 

Random

Self portrait 1 - 

Jamin specified that the 2 pictures were supposed to join together.

Self portrait 2

Self portrait 3

Kael

Do we have another new photographer in the family?

:: sunny summers day ::

The last few weeks, excluding our dreary Sunday, have been divine - full of sun, flowers, picnics, shorts & t shirts. I adore summer. It lifts my mood everyday & fills me up with ideas to spend my days with my boys.

Chocolate cake, banana & Orange juice - a great afternoon snack!

The flowers from our garden brightening up the room.

The little vase the boys picked.

The beautiful flowers that I thought would look just perfect in our bathroom.

Did I say it already? I love summer!

:: flaming gorge, utah ::

We were back on the road this weekend, heading about 4 1/2 hours east to Flaming Gorge, on the border of Utah & Wyoming. The car trip was long but the boys did really well. I just don't know how we would survive driving these long miles over here without the iPad for dvd's & games. A sanity saver thats for sure! 

The views were amazing!

We found a campsite about 1 o'clock on Saturday, after stopping for an all American lunch of hamburgers & grilled cheese with fries. 

After setting up we headed off for an easy hike along the rim of the gorge. 

Well... it wasn't so easy with both of us carrying heavy children on our backs. Danny & I both felt some pain the next day!

We were a little envious of the boats on the dam below. Can you imagine wake boarding down there amongst these rocks? 

We saw an eagle (we think) flying just off the side of the cliff. Very cool!

Our walk finished at the Visitors Centre where we listened to a Ranger's Talk about the native plants. Notice how all 3 boys have identical looks on their faces? Wonder what they are thinking. Danny said that he was trying to look interested because the Ranger was so passionate about her topic. 

These animals are native to the area. Eeek!

We headed back to camp & dealt with a tummy bug scare with Jamin (didn't we sigh with relief when it turned out it was his bowels?). The boys were in bed early & we decided to make the most of the fire pit. It has been so long since I have had a camp fire & once again I was reminded of what a great choice in men I made. Danny did some 'fire-tending therapy' while I finished off the bottle of wine. The sun set around 9 o'clock so we decided to head back inside. It was a great night! 

Things went downhill from there... I spent most of the night up with Jamin, then Kael woke at 4:30am. We 'woke' the next morning to find it was pouring with rain with no predictions of it letting up for the day. We threw in our plans for a long ride & another hike, packed up & were gone by 9 o'clock. The drive home was gloomy as was the afternoon at home. This seems to be the pattern of our 'American Adventure' - high highs but very low lows. We think maybe in 10 or 15 years we will look back & say it was worth it. For now, we will keep on trying to make the most of the opportunity we have, without losing our sanity dragging 2 little boys along behind us.