we are real cowboys

The most favorite part of our trip was horseback riding. We picked the "outfit" based on one requirement - the age requirement. Most insist on everyone being at least 8 years old. That is a big bummer for someone who is 6.

 

 Much care went into horse assignments. 

Here are the horses from left to right:
Clarke, Trinket, Romeo, Chuck (or "Fluffy"), Handsome, and Uno

Here are the riders left to right:
Poppy, Aunt Lindsay, Moi, Jimmy, Grace, Handsome ("Nate")

Jimmy was a little hesitant to start, but after 5 minutes loved it. The funniest part was seeing his little body on top of such a big horse. When he'd kick his legs to go faster, the horse didn't even seem to notice.

 

Having attended an equestrian day camp (one half-day), Grace was an expert rider.  

But no one in our party was an expert roper!

It was such a fun time, I am certain we'll do it again.

A side note on the horses' names:
My horse, Romeo, had a serious thing for Betty, our guide's horse. This caused some hilarity on our ride. Nate's horse, Uno, used to have a compadre, Dos. Sadly, Dos "didn't work out," so Uno consoles himself in tasty mountain snacks (grass, flowers, and any kind of vegetation he can manage to pull while riding). Jimmy's horse, Chuck, was a great faithful steed. Though part-way through our ride Jimmy informed Jane (our wonderful guide) that he really thought Chuck's name should be Fluffy. She said he might as well go ahead and rename him as he probably wouldn't care and most likely did not notice Jimmy in the first place.

At the end of our ride Jimmy picked a flower and gave it to Jane. I think he likes a girl who can ride.

mountain-air self-portraits

we mosey to the mountains

The day after our Olympic Park fun was the day we headed to the family cabin. To get to the family cabin in Big Cottonwood from Park City, one can take a very LONG drive down to SLC and back up through the main canyon road. Or one can take a short-cut on an unpaved road called Guardsman's Pass. As you might imagine, that is what we did. To say the road was rough would be an understatement. At least 1/3 of our party was motion-sick upon arrival. Here you see two of our party trying to re-coop:

Here you see two of our party watching out for wildlife:

They took their job quite seriously.

Right up the road from the cabin is Silver Fork Lake. A perfect place for taking a little walk and searching for wildlife.



It became evident quickly that we would mostly likely not see wildlife because the majority of our party was wilder than actual wildlife. We did see some pretty flowers, though.

We also struck "Cool and Dangerous" poses:

And fancy poses:

And with amazing luck we did see wildlife - a squirrel!!! The kids were beyond excited about the squirrel saying they had never seen one before. They are silly.

We were also "lucky" to see some ducks. They were all over the place.

I love the mountains. I love the aspens. I also love the cabin. Hard to believe I'm a city girl when I'm up here.

The cabin has many fabulous activities, including (but not limited to) Chinese Checkers.



It even has a perfect reading corner.

Happy Family Times (can you spot a few differences between these two pictures?)


Three Manly Generations-


Three of my favorite people-

the end of summer

Tomorrow is a big day around here: The last first-day of school the children will ever share while going to the same school. Must I be so dramatic? No, I must not. Perhaps it is the heat that is getting to me. Or perhaps it is the notion of putting people's name on SO MANY school supplies. The list this year for 5th grade was exceptional.

Grace is thrilled with her class assignment. In her words - "I have THE best teacher, and one of my BFFs is in my class!" I think we are all thrilled.

Jimmy seems to be rolling with the punches. He has some friends in his class. He picked out his first day shirt. He has an Angry Birds pencil case. He's set.

He also cracks me up. When told he would have to eat a strawberry today he said, "well, is it a chocolate covered strawberry??" He was crushed when he found out it was not. But then immediately hopeful we could just find some chocolate to dip. Clearly he has not fallen too far from the tree.

He also was thrilled at finding a folder in the back-to-school section of the store featuring Diary of a Wimpy Kid. So thrilled in fact that he called out to all shoppers, "Hey! I just found Diarrhea of a Wimpy Kid!!!," over and over and over again.

Its been a great summer, but does it really have to end????

one strong man

Lately Jimmy has been into being a very Strong Man. He told Nate tonight that real strong men take their shirts off when they lift weights. He is confident his pecs are getting bigger. How could they not be???

During our little trip, half the pictures I took of him involved a Strong Man pose. Here are some for your viewing pleasure.

Perhaps competitive weight lifting is in our future?

rocky mountain high

One day we ventured to the Olympic park in Park City. Seemed like a great place to whet our appetite for all things Olympic. While we were there we learned a valuable lesson, "everything tastes better when you're high..." Good to know.

Turns out it was Western Days at the park. And of course when its Western Days, one can hula hoop if one desires. 

Not even knowing it was Western Days, Jimmy had brought along his bandanna. He's prepared like that. 

Western Days and Olympic-style fun is even better when you have a grandpa along! 

We were there to see the Flying Ace Aerial Show. To say it was awesome would be an understatement. 

Former and future Olympians from a variety of ski and board events strapped on their gear, trudged up the hill, slid down what appeared to be giant slides, and did flips and tricks and twists and eventually fell into a large pool with great style. 

We LOVED it. Even my niece attacking her bottle on my knee love it. 

Nana and Poppy were astounded. 

Its a long way up that hill. 

But the thrills are so worth it. 

Afterwards, you could go and meet all of the tricksters, take pictures and get some autographs. 

Grace had them sign the under-brim of her hat. Smart young lady, she is! This is my favorite picture. I don't think I could pull of pink stripped hair (but then again I can't pull off a triple twist into the pool on skis nor can I handle moguls let alone medal in them!)

Grace, meet Shannon. Shannon meet Grace!