A Little Adventure

I am sure that many of you have seen reports of flooding in Texas. I say this because many of you have asked me if I have been flooded. Thankfully, I haven’t been flooded yet. Yes, it does rain almost every day. In fact, the other day I was told that there were only 3 days in the month of July when it didn’t rain in Austin (and rain is predicted for the remaining days of the month). The rain really makes my trail running difficult and is generally annoying. I guess the one bonus is that I do find it very interesting to watch the ditch fill up outside my window. They also have some very interesting water holding pools in the apartment complex. Between Monica and I we managed to get a few photos. Here they are…

This ditch is normally dry…

Here is a view that is zoomed out a bit more. I kind of like the secondary stream that develops…

Here is a view of the ditch on another day. The water wasn’t quite so high this day.

Here is an example of the holding pools. When I first moved in, I did wonder what they were for…

When we were in Texas, Milo wanted to play some indoor games (because outdoor games aren’t very possible in a downpour). One of the ones he suggested was Duck, Duck, Goose. He modified the rules a bit for a 2 or 3 person game, but we held true to the spirit of the game.

The most memorable games were when we were all participated. What we would do is, go around to everyone’s head (including Holly’s) and tap it and say Duck until you came to the person you wanted to designate as Goose. After Goose was said, then we’d run into the bedroom and then run back out and it was someone else’s turn. One memorable time was when Scott tapped Holly’s head and said Goose. She, of course, couldn’t run. Milo told him, “you can’t choose baby Holly, she can’t even run.” Of course Milo tried this trick not too long after. Another memorable time involved a fracas that ensued after Scott tapped Monica on the head. As they returned to the front room to retake their seats, Scott decided to slide into his seat just like Milo did. Monica thought it would be fun to land on him. Quickly and much to the surprise of his parents, Milo decided to top the pile and create a “doggy pile” on Scott. Nothing like a good game of Duck, Duck, Goose that ends with a family “doggy pile.” Good times…

We had fun playing several different games. We created play money and played a store game which Milo really liked.

We’ve had a very tragic passing this evening. Here is the story.

Milo was going over to the Aunt Hill with his aunts this evening. Milo got on the elevator and he pulled on the special one and it broke off pip (it was getting to be threads attaching it to pip).

A picture of the special one that has broken off.

He started crying and threw a tantrum and didn’t want to get off the elevator. Aunt Jill carried him to the Aunt Hill. They set the pipster and the special one on their table. Milo then decided to have some cheese chips and watch a movie. After he arrived home, he told me about the story. He seems to have recovered. Well, except until it was time to go to bed…We’ve told Milo that he needs to find a new special one and he isn’t sure that he liked that idea…

Oh, boy…the special one is broken….what is Milo going to do?

Milo sucking his thumb and tickling himself with the now detached special one.

When Milo was in Texas, he thought that going to the library each day was awesome. We went to the library about half the days we were in Texas. The branch we went to had a fair selection of books. Milo is familiar with the main library here in SLC, but the library in Texas didn’t have some of his favorites. We did find a few of his favorites, like the Arthur books, Brown Bear Brown Bear and a few others.

One day when we were at the library, Milo noticed in the Spanish book section a favorite book “Berenstain Bears and the Messy Room.” He insisted that we get it. I told him that I didn’t know Spanish and that his dad would have to read it to him. He said okay.

That night, Scott happily read Milo the book in Spanish. Milo thought it was pretty cool. I asked Scott if it would be okay for us to get more books in Spanish, and he said sure. The next day we got “Where the Wild Things Are” and “Curious George Rides a Bike.” Milo liked the Curious George Spanish book so much that he wanted to read it during the day with me a few days later. I told him again that I didn’t know Spanish, but that I’d try. I made an attempt to say the Spanish words right. Since I don’t know Spanish, I slaughtered the pronunciations. Milo didn’t think that was a good idea anymore and after I had tried to read the first page, he said something like “Mom, you don’t know Spanish. I’ll have Dad read it to me.” I said, “Great, I really don’t know Spanish and it will take me a while to try and read this book to you.” He was kind enough to let me read him another book. It made me laugh. Hopefully one of these days I’ll master learning a different language….Milo will probably learn one before I do.

We decided that we had better get out and see more of Texas in spite of the weather. We decided to check out Pedernales Falls SP. To get out close to the falls requires a little bit of climbing/rock hopping. Since Monica was carrying Holly, she decided to hang out on the shore while Milo and Scott went out to get up close and personal with the falls.

A ponderous Milo at Pedernales Falls SP.

One-eyed Jack at Pedernales Falls SP.

When we were finished seeing the falls, we went to the picnic area to eat lunch. We are still wondering what color Holly’s hair will be. It seemed like a good time to take a photo of her hair, so that everyone could see the current color.

It has been quite rainy during Milo’s time here in Texas. It is a bit rough to stay inside all of the time, but we have managed to survive. Upon recommendation from Scott’s manager we managed to locate a “park with water.” Milo has enjoyed himself the few times we have managed to get him there. We even remembered to take the camera a couple of times…

Dad, the water is attacking me!

This looks a still image out of some adventure movie. His face is just classic.

For some reason, Milo would periodically bend over and put his head in the path of the water. It was pretty funny.

Monica and Holly were enjoying the respite from the rain.

In his idiosyncratic way, Milo only wanted to play in a specific section of the waterscape away from the crowds. Occasionally, those spouts would turn off early. He was content to wait for them to come on again, but it was funny to watch him standing there without the water.

Milo thoughtfully hanging out in the water.

Finally, on our third trip to the park we convinced Milo to play in other sections of the waterscape. Here he is hanging out below a shower-like spigot.

Running…

Running faster…

He apparently doesn’t have a problem running with his eyes closed. Nice work son…

I just liked this view of Milo through the out of focus water drops.

Running through the water dots.

Checking out the drain to see how it works.

This is probably my favorite picture. Milo decided it would be fun to sit on this water spout. It was apparently relaxing, so he took the opportunity to throw his head back and relax.

Hugging a pole?

There were a few kids there kicking a ball around. An older girl noticed that Milo was watching them intently, so she invited him to play with them. Milo had a good time running around kicking the ball.

Just over a week ago, we flew on an airplane to come to see Scott for a few weeks, and it was an adventure. I haven’t flown for several years and this was Milo and Holly’s first time flying. I was glad that my sister was flying with me to help with the kids.

When asked about the adventure, Milo said, “we took our shoes off and we went on the escalators that took us to another escalator.” He is talking about the moving sidewalks. He also remembers, “we got hot and cold water” for Holly’s bottles. He was even willing to put his beloved pip through the x-ray machine. He was a very good boy and very curious about what was happening. He made friends with the flight attendants and watched them quite a bit before we took off. He was content to ride on the plane. He did get tired and fell asleep half way through the flight. He slept soundly as we landed. I was amazed. Holly also did very well. She didn’t cry at all. She slept through everything, except she did wake up to eat a bit after we got in the air.

After we arrived and Scott picked us up, Milo just kept staring at him almost as if he was wondering if that was really his dad. We are glad to be all together again.

Recently, we went on a trip with my family (my parents and brothers and sisters and their families) to Yellowstone. We had a great time. Scott wasn’t there to take awesome pictures and I neglected to bring an extra battery for Milo’s camera, so I have limited pictures of the adventure.

We started out on Monday morning and started on our way ending at a very nice cabin in Island Park, Idaho. It was called the Huckleberry Retreat. It was perfect. Everyone enjoyed staying there.

We went on the short hike to see the Grand Prismatic Spring. It was great to see Milo walking with all his cousins.

Milo and his cousins

Milo, Addison and Easton

Grand Prismatic Spring

The first day we went into Yellowstone to see Old Faithful. It was quite the experience. The kids were calling the geysers, “crazy waters” and also “jumping waters.” We didn’t find a good place to picnic, so we ate in the parking lot. It was very fun to see the kids and how they reacted to the geysers. We walked around Geyser Hill.

A picture of Old Faithful going off.

Milo was resting on the boardwalk waiting for a geyser.

Here’s a picture of how Holly saw Yellowstone.

After that the kids were tired, so we got back into the car and continued around the lower loop in Yellowstone. We stopped to see the lower part of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone falls. By this time it was getting late and we started heading back to the cabin. It took us a while since there were a lot of people and a lot of them were stopping to see wildlife.

Milo did very well. He liked wearing his backpack. He would put it on first thing in the morning and would only take it off when he was in the car or had to use the bathroom. Holly did very well too. She would fall asleep in the car and stay asleep while the car was moving. She would wake up when we stopped, but mostly slept through it.

In the evenings when we’d get back to the cabin, Milo would run around with his cousins and then they’d want to get into the hot tub. Milo liked that a lot. He said “you have to have a shower before and then you can get in the hot tub.”

The second day, we went on the upper loop which takes you around by Mammoth Hot Springs. We stopped to see the Artist Paint Pots with the boiling mud. It was pretty awesome. Here is a picture of Milo walking with his backpack on while we were on that hike.

We did manage to get a spot to eat lunch at Mammoth Hot Springs. Milo, Holly and I stayed with Alysha and Grandma at the picnic spot while the others went on a hike. We did have some ice cream while we were waiting. We then got in the car to finish going around the loop. That was quite entertaining. We stopped to see a few bears while we were on our way. We also saw a moose, some elk, buffalo, a coyote, and I can’t remember what else. It was on the way back to the cabin that I started getting sick. The next day, others started getting sick as well. That was the worst part of the trip. We had a great time and were so glad that we went. It was fun to see new parts of Yellowstone that I hadn’t seen before.

For some other commentary on the trip you can see my sisters’ blogs here and here.