Antelope Island

I haven't been out to Antelope Island in the middle of the Great Salt Lake for years.  I remembered the shallow water with brine shrimp swimming around in it (actually crustaceans, not brine fly larvae as I erroneously believed up until this visit.)  I remembered the round grains of sand, the clouds of brine flies, and of course, the smell of the Great Salt Lake.  That's a hard thing to forget.  After Chris flew back to S.Cal, I had time on my hands with the kids so I took them on the long drive out on the causeway to the island.  We were actually pretty lucky in that it wasn't too hot (no shade out there), we saw plenty of wildlife (a burrowing owl, antelope, bison from a distance, and big orb spiders), and the kids were really entertained with just exploring.

One of the bison art installments.  Not pictured are the big spiders living inside it.

Big spiders all over the visitors center.

Nathaniel, Sydney, Courtney, Davis, and Carson.

Atlases (or is it Atli for plural?)

Walking out to the water

It stays shallow for a long time and its so salty you can skip rocks even throwing them underhand.

These guys wandered way out.  They spent a lot of time skipping rocks which would go forever on the salt water.



Look closely for the cloud of brine flies.  I taught them how to herd them.



Davis found a cool old bike at the historic ranch.

Nathaniel weighs himself on the old scale.

Hope it's not hooked up to any dynamite...

Who knew blacksmithing could be so fun?

Great view from the island to the Wasatch Mountains.

It would be easier to if those dang cattle would hold still.

Hold on!

Davis got the hang of it, and then tried it on his cousins and brother.

But, we didn't float in the salt water.  I wasn't that excited about it and we didn't bring swim gear.  And I never really liked the feeling of my skin when the oily salt dried all over it.  So, it was a successful outing without that experience.

Johansen Cousins in Utah

We spent a couple weeks in Utah in July.  Its a good time for kids to spend time with cousins.  We were with our Johansen cousins in Park City and in Bountiful at Grandma and Grandpa's house.

Hummingbird at Scott's house.

  After family dinners the old folk usually sit on the deck and the kids disappear downstairs to watch tv and play games.

Jamie, Cassie, Thanny, Lily, Holly hanging out at Grandma's.

Blake and Ione

We were lucky this time to be there for Holly's 8th birthday party.  More cousins singing = more fun.

Holly's 8th birthday

 My mom and I took some of the kids up to the This is the Place Monument in SLC.  Boy it was a hot day.  I think the statues below are of Brigham Young having a visitation from the martyred Joseph Smith.  Brigham said, "This is the right place." Then Joseph said, "Yeah, but it sure is hot and there is no shade. Maybe since it's a dry heat it will be OK...."

A meditative moment for Nathaniel at the statues of Brigham Young and Joseph Smith?

Shuttle train at the "This is the Place Monument"

Touring the pioneer house with Grandma.

Pioneer donkey.

Grandma, Ione, Lily, and Nathaniel on a pioneer street.

Apparently pioneers played giant jenga games.

Ione scratching the pot bellied pig.

This is the Place monument, SLC.



Lemon, bluberry/raspberry, and watermelon flavored tongues (I mean, snowcones).



Lily and Nathaniel in Mueller Park Canyon.

Jamie, Lily, and Blake in Park City.

On the left: Chris, Jennifer, Kristen & Ione. One the right: Davis (red) and Nathaniel (yellow) ready to go down the alpine slide.

Lily, Blake, Jamie, Holly and Nanette survived the alpine slide.

Mountain Biking in Park City

On our trip to Utah we spent a couple days at my brother's house in Park City.  At one of the city parks there is a mountain bike "skills course".  Chris and I haven't mountain biked for years and it was Nathaniel's first time (Davis has gone with the scouts a few times).  So it was fun to go down the curvy bumpy practice trails and play on the wood structures.  I must say, bikes with suspension make it a lot easier than it was with our old hard-tail bikes in Virginia.  

Chris tests out the skills park structures.



Confidence, strength, and padded shorts - what else could you want?

Chris and Davis rode off the big teeter totter.

I rode off the small teeter totter.

It's a good thing you can't see my face.  I'm pretty scared.

 Nathaniel testing his balance skills with a drop off at the end.

Stopping to blow the parachute seeds away.

The flat road wasn't as fun as the downhill trails.



Boys and bikes.

It was so pretty.  I wish I had pictures of us riding the next day when we took the gondola up the Canyons ski resort.  We rode on trails that switched back down through the pine trees and then took a chair lift back up.  I did get some pics of Nathaniel with my phone while Davis and Chris were going down a longer trail and Nathaniel and I explored a bit and took the gondola back down.

On the gondola.

Snow that has been hollowed out underneath by a stream like a turtle shell.

Lift chair with a snow shield.  Pretty nice.

I need to get into better shape so we can do more mountain biking.  Much more fun with the boys than going to the outlet mall.