Daddy's Day Tops Off a Great Weeekend

What a nice weekend we have had.

This summer I'm trying to be proactive about doing a lot of fun things. We've received several calendars in the mail from places like the library, the farmers' market, the childrens' museum and the zoo, all full of fun things to do almost every day of the summer. I made these great big calendars on poster board to hang on the wall by the computer and we draw pictures or write down things we want to do on as many days as we can. Summer can seem long to me because I dread the heat a little bit. But now that I'm trying to find room to do all the neat things we can do, it seems like there's already hardly any summer left! And, I'm trying to enjoy the warmth while it's here. Come on, grass-is-always-greener-girl! It's been really fun to look at the calendar with CTP each evening, cross off the day and look ahead to what we're going to do.

The first big outing on the calendar was last Friday. I had drawn a large dinosaur on that day because my sister-in-law Kathleen and I were going to take our kiddos up to the Ogden Eccles Dinosaur Park. We piled into her nice little mini van after lunch and made the drive. It's really a neat place, with some interesting fossil displays inside the museum along with a robotic t-rex and triceratops in a dark and atmospheric room. This room is the first place you arrive after paying your entrance fee. We visited this museum two falls ago when RAP was 6 weeks old. CTP wasn't quite three, and he was the first to run in that room. One glimpse of the roaring and lunging dinos sent him running. I was still coming up the stairs when I saw a terrified CTP literally leap into the arms of my friend Gina, who was the nearest familiar adult. He was so upset he stayed in the gift shop for 45 minutes. This time went better. Although he was initially alarmed, he was able to go into the room, clinging tightly to my arm. RAP also squeezed me a bit harder but was quite fascinated. The rest of the park is an outdoor maze of pathways leading around mounds and through leafy tunnels, filled with plaster statues of dinosaurs. Some life size, some not quite. I'm a bit of a dino-snob at this point at felt critical of some facts, but overall it was fun. And hot.



On Saturday we planned to visit Anderson Library for a Hawkwatch presentation. A cute and certainly granola-loving gal (she nearly walked off the screen of a Simpson's episode - she was such a perfect stereo type of a bird-lover) was there with a guitar and a bird. She sang silly songs, passed around plastic replicas of bird parts and even dressed CTP up like a hawk to demonstrate qualities of a raptor. CTP was thrilled. There were only three families there - I was surprised because it was a 100 degree day - you'd think more people would come to the cool library on a day like that. Anyway, the kicker was that she had a live hawk with her to show. CTP was really hoping to hold it, but alas, it was not to be. My favorite part was at the end during a Q&A time, CTP thought it good to bring up raptor dinos vs. raptor birds. The other kids were asking questions, but CTP made this comment, "Rapter Dinosaurs actually BEND in the middle." Huh? Even the presenter seemed stumped as to how to respond. Thanks for that, buddy. Of course I thought he was charming. I'm so glad we're taking advantage of all our community has to offer.

Daddy's Day was nice. I gave Troy a leather necklace with an "M" bead on it for Matthew. We've been working on getting some jewelry made to remind us of him, and it's taking a while. So in the meantime I thought he'd enjoy that, and I think he's happy to wear it every day. CTP gave him (you'll never guess) a dinosaur to play with. Isn't he thoughtful? I spent the day cooking for my in-laws - we really had a nice evening with them. It was so much cooler out that we ate on the back porch, and my friend Becky and her family joined us for a scrumptious chocolate truffle cake for dessert. Here's my new favorite salad recipe:

Mixed greens, your choice
Cut up chunks of watermelon
Crumbled feta cheese
Avocado
Red onion - sliced, marinated in olive oil and balsamic vinegar, then grilled until caramelized
Some tangy vinaigrette.

Yum. Happy Father's Day to all, and to all a Good Night.