In Our Own Words

I guess I've not been acting very mature lately, because this morning Munchkin asked me,

"Mom, what do you want to do when you're an adult?"  

Should I be flattered?  A mere four hours later Buddy Boy said to me,
"Mom, you're not a lady.  You're just a little girl!"

It was like he was scolding me....:-)

Cecret Lake

We decided to try and hike Cecret Lake yesterday.  We'd never been, but we heard it was beautiful, so we decided to try it out.

We weren't able to park close, because up at the Albion Basin there are only two parking lots, both of which fill up fast.  The parking lot for the Cecret Lake hike was full, and we had to park a quarter mile down.  The second we were out of the car Buddy Boy had some major meltdowns, and I wasn't about to walk up a freakin' mountain with him acting like that, so he and I sat in the car while Clay and Munchkin went up.  I was so mad.  I'd been looking forward to seeing this hike for awhile!

Anyway, after about 20 minutes of him kicking, screaming, and scratching (and a lot of stares from passerbys), he finally calmed down.  I told him we could go and find Dad and Munchkin, but only if he would stay calm.  We went through the list:  No hitting.  No screaming.  Nice voice.  Nice hands.  Hold Mom's hand; no running away.  On and on.  He seemed truly calm so we headed up as well.

BEAUTIFUL hike.  I wish I got better pictures to show it, but I only had my phone camera with me.  It got me thinking that maybe we should do an overnight camping trip up there.  It was just really pretty with lots of wildflowers and greenery.  Most of the hike was pretty level, which made it easy.

The final ascent to the lake is really the only part that is steep.  I'll be honest, it made me nervous looking at it, because it looked like it was all on a ledge that would be easy for runaway Buddys to fall down...but we talked it over, decided we would "take it easy and slow like a turtle", and that's what we did.  It wasn't nearly as difficult as I'd expected it to be.

The lake itself...hmmm, I mean it was pretty, but it wasn't quite as amazing as I'd heard.  It didn't help that the mosquitoes were out in droves!!  There were a lot of people there (this is a popular hike), but there was plenty of room to explore, tons of rocks to sit on, and a bunch of chipmunks and squirrels to watch.  We had a good time there!

I have to say, this hike was one of my favorites so far, not because of the destination, but because of the journey.  The kids enjoyed crossing 4 little (teeny tiny) streams, the trail was a nice soft dirt trail, and the scenery was unbeatable.  We enjoyed it just as much as we came down as well.:-)

In Our Own Words

So, if you don't know this already, Clay LOVES photos.  He loves taking them, he loves ordering them, he loves making collages of them, heck, I think deep down he wants to be a scrap booker.  He won't admit to that last one, though...

Anyway, Clay and the kids went to Bear Lake this last week, and Clay was up to his usual picture-taking.  Munchkin got mad and called him PAPARAZZI.  ha ha ha!!!

Also, yesterday she was telling me why she loves her Uncle Timmy so much.  She said, "It's just that I have this really great connection with him, I don't know why. And plus he's really strong, stronger than Dad." When I laughed she said, "What? It's true, he IS stronger!"

In Our Own Words

We went to the local planetarium yesterday...just so you know.

Last night, Munchkin asked me, "Mom, remind me...was I born in Midvale, or was it Mercury?"

I told her Mercury, of course!  

In Our Own Words

Buddy Boy and I were watching the 30-minute firework show that our city put on (we watched from our house), and the loud "BOOMS" were scaring him.  He kept throwing the blanket over his head and telling me that the big ones were monsters, and he's "SO SCARED of monsters!"

After the show, he cheered really loudly and yelled, "Thank you fireworks for the 'BOOS' and for scaring me, and thanks for having little and big ones and thanks for the monsters!  And have a good night!"

Silver Lake, Twin Lakes

Last Friday we went to Silver Lake, at the top of Big Cottonwood Canyon.  Silver Lake itself is a really easy hike...in fact, it's not even a hike, it's a walk around the lake.  It's wheelchair accessible, which makes it really great for anyone to enjoy.  The boardwalk that goes around the lake is less than a mile long.  The fact that it is such a simple walk does not mean it's not absolutely GORGEOUS.  There are picnic benches and bathrooms there as well.  

Here's the view of Silver Lake from higher up.  (Sorry, I didn't take picture of it from straight on.)


Silver Lake by itself can provide hours of enjoyment.  But if you want to do a little more hiking, you can follow the boardwalk around to the Twin Lakes and Solitude Lake trailhead.  The Twin Lake is about a mile one way, and the Solitude is about a mile and a quarter.  We decided to go to Twin Lake.  Everything we read about this hike was that it was easy, and for the most part it was, but I confess, we had to stop a couple of times and take a break.  The kids (Buddy Boy especially) wanted to be carried half the time because they were tired.  But if you're willing to give the kiddos a couple of breaks, it's definitely very doable!

 View from about halfway up to Twin Lake.

3/4 of the way up, Buddy Boy had a meltdown, so we took another break to give him pressure hugs and calm him down.  



We got up to Twin Lake, and there was no one else there.  It was awesome!  A while later another small group arrived, but for the most part we had the entire place to ourselves.

In Our Own Words...

On the way home from my cousin's wedding reception, we asked Munchkin if she had gotten a chance to chat with the bride.  She said yes, but was obviously frustrated about something.  We prompted her..."what's wrong?"

She replied, "I didn't know what to say to her, cause I'm just not that romantic!"

Logan River Walk (Golf Course Section)

Two Saturdays ago, we went to Logan for my cousin's wedding.  We decided to make a day of it, since I'd been hoping to plan a day trip there this summer anyway.

We started off at Cox Honeyland, where I got some raw, organic beeswax (to make chapstick and stuff) and some honey.  It was a lot of fun trying a free sample their AMAZING fudge (seriously, salted caramel fudge, mint chocolate, raspberry lemon...shazam!) and looking around at the fun stuff.  I was really happy to be able to buy some locally grown, raw and organic honey for a decent price!  (Don't get me started on why I feel so strongly about us buying our honey local, ha ha.)

After that, we headed to the Rendezvous Park, which is where the trailhead for our walk was located.  Except that once we got there, we saw no trail!  Well, that's not true; there was a trail, but it was only 2/10 of a mile long, if that.  So we crossed the bridge and followed a small trail on the other side of the river, which again, wasn't long, but it was nice and cool in the shade, and we had a good time skipping rocks and pretending to be explorers.  We had a good time watching the fish swimming around, too.

So, the moral of this "hike" story...if you're in Logan, this is a fun place to stop and spend 20-30 minutes exploring, maybe even to have a picnic.  Just don't plan on a long walk.  There are some nice benches there, and you can relax and enjoy the quiet solitude there.  We'll probably stop by again here the next time we're in Logan. (Oh, and I can't forget to mention that the bathrooms at the parks in Logan are incredible!!  Very nice.:-))

Anyway, afterwards we went to the Providence City Cemetery, and then spent 15 minutes at a playground.  We followed that up with a trip to Gossner Food to buy ourselves some "squeaky cheese" and milk, and then we headed to the wedding reception where we spent the rest of the evening!