A Fun little Tuesday Trail

Well, it was Tuesday, and even without Callie, we needed a trail.  

We tried one that looked interesting.  And it was fun!

 

It wasn't a very long one, but it had interesting things to check out.

I was also excited to realize it connected two housing areas that Marian and I run through.

And doesn't this look much more fun to run than the street?  So it was a good trail day and we enjoyed it. 

 

The End of the Fun

Alas, the day came that we had to return home.  While all of us would have preferred to stay, only Callie got to. 

Our last selfie together.  Callie wanted a Grand Adventure, so she was staying with Adam and Savannah.

And then she was going to fly out to AR with their family and family-hop for a month. This was her agenda on who she hoped to stay with and when.  And then I would drive out to get her, and stay for two weeks and she would come back home then.  

Rylee thought it was an exciting plan.

And I thought it would be great too.  I just didn't realize that THIS is more how I'd feel when I left her!I was so proud of her for trying something new and hard, but wow, I didn't realize how big the hole in my life would be without her!

Anyway, we left.  We drove home sans Callie and it was fine.

 

Sunday serenity

On Sunday, I ended up taking Delaney to Urgent Care, as she was having some pain. Everyone else went out to enjoy the Sabbath by visiting the Temple and communing with nature.  It looks like they had a great morning.

Dan and the girls at the Temple.

The cousins had to get in the picture too.

One last Temple pic!

The hike was fun with their cousins.

The trail was nice.

The  kids....er... the scenery was lovely.

And look!  Callie managed a shot of our amazing hosts!

Doesn't it look like fun?

Just a quick break to rest the feet.

And look- Fall is coming!  Look at the leaves changing colors!

 

Dan had a birthday too

This guy had a birthday.  So we introduced Adam's family to Jello Poke Cake.

It was delicious.

And well received, even by those who claimed to hate jello. 

A group shot of the party.

There was loot.

And I was really impressed at Callie's foresight to purchase this USMC themed kokeshi doll in Okinawa before we left!

 

Swimming in the cold

Adam has a pool, and it looks very nice.  But it is not heated.  And the temps at night got down low enough that the pool was pretty chilly, even when the afternoon was warm.

These crazy kids got in and swam even though it was cooooold!

I thought they were nuts, but they had a blast.

And they lasted longer than the 5 minutes I bet they would!  They stayed out there and swam and played till they were blue and loved it.

Good Times at Adam's House

We spent a week at Adam and Savannah's house and it was not enough!  They are too cool and too fun and their kids are too cute!  I also took too few photos.  We had so much fun hanging out together, and that didn't seem shot-worthy.  And I did drag Savannah out to her awesome Thrift Stores, and that's not very shot-worthy either.  Sigh.  I'm sad I didn't document it as much as I should, but I have delightful memories, and here are some pictures I DID take:

This little cutie is too much!  Such a fun kid.

Oops, how did THIS get in there?!

Miley was also quite popular.  Delaney was delighted to have someone who would hang out with her.

Sheesh, I don't know who lets this face in here!

Chillin together.

Denali made some pretty awesome blueberry scones.... And I'm pretty sure I need the recipe.....

We ran.  It was hot.  And there were lots of hills and it kind of sucked.

But we saw lots of deer!  This is a dreadful photo because I was fumbling to get the phone out of my pocket and to take this picture while running. There are like 10 deer on that lawn!

Of course we took advantage of Adam.  Okay, fine.  He offered.  He did check ups on everyone and then did a marathon day of filling teeth... I think it was 15 cavities?  More? It was a lot.

I think Callie had 5 teeth that needed some work.  Adam gave her the good meds and she was awesome.  And giggly.  Marian got 9 fillings.  She also got the good stuff, but apparently it just made her catatonic.  Which worked fine too.  I opted for just the nitrous, and Adam really is that good, and I didn't need the heavy stuff.  I got 3 fillings.

 

Rylee's birthday

This kid had a birthday.  And it was even more awesome because she got to celebrate it with her cousins.  Hopefully that made up for the fact that I made her go to the dentist on her birthday.  Heh heh heh.

But yes, the important part here is the we made the 13 hour journey up to visit Adam and Savannah and their family.   Liza is not sure how she feels about those candles!

Rylee did have a good birthday, minus the dental visit.  She requested lemon cake.

There was much loot.

And she was excited about it

She may have received some corgi stickers that then adored her laptop.  I guess there IS too much of a good thing!

Wait. If it is cousins, then there maybe isn't too much of a good thing! We love Adam's family and had such a good time with them!

 

Another Tuesday, Another Trail

We enjoyed the hike from the previous week so much, we went back to the place where we had turned around and started there.  Part of the agreement to get all the girls to come out and hike is the promise of 20 minutes out, 20 minutes back, so the hikes are 40 minutes, and maybe an hour if everyone is having fun.  So we had to end the "Dishwasher Pond" hike before we had finished exploring everything last Tuesday.  

We went back to where we had ended and began there.  The trail barely had another 20 minutes of hiking left, but it was a very fun area to walk in.  The girls like varied terrain and lots of trees.  This one had both and a good time was had by all.