Comings and Goings of Summer 2007

18th Annual Family Reunion
We went to the annual Memorial Day family reunion in the foothills east of Fresno, CA. It was the 18th year, and we all had a great time. Lucy got to ride a horse with her cousin. EJ also rode a horse, and Hal ran around with the dogs, and with his cousins.

CHKDD and I played tag team watching the kids (Hal) and playing Frisbee golf, volleyball, swimming, various other lawn games, and lounging.

After the reunion, we drove to Palo Alto, where I flew back home and the rest of the family stayed with friends and visited family for another week. CKDD got to spend time with the girls she used to nanny while we lived there, and she also got to catch up with old friends from the Palo Alto ward and with her mother. She is a brave woman-she managed the kids by herself while up there, and managed them for the 2 day drive back home. On the way home they stopped in Tehachapi for a day of fun with Firefighter cousins, which included more horse riding and ATVs.



Swim Lessons
Lucy and EJ did four weeks of swim lessons, and by the end of it had both sprouted gills and dorsal fins. They each progressed quite well. Lucy developed a handsome freestyle stroke, a very nice backstroke, and can swim the length of the pool nearly as fast as her old man. EJ happily jumps in and swims to you with his modified doggie paddle. He was very brave this year, as it was his first year. Prior to lessons, he would only leave the steps with great coaxing and assurance that you would keep him safe. What a change a few weeks and a good teacher can bring about.

Hal, while not engaged in formal swim lessons, also likes the pool. His favorite thing about the pool is running around the edge of the pool and exploring the rocks along the fence. His second favorite part is actually being in the water, where if you tell him to “Swim, Hal, Swim!” he kicks his legs vigorously and flaps his arms like a bird, drenching whichever poor parent is holding him at the moment.

San Diego 4th
It has been the hottest summer I’ve encountered here or anywhere, with so far 32 days over 110 degrees. The typical summer only has 10 days over 110 degrees. It was hot enough to drive us out of town to San Diego for an impromptu two day excursion. It turns out the drive is only about 6 hours, so we were at CHKDD’s sisters’ house by 11:00 am the morning of the 4th. We spent the rest of the day at the beach on Coronado Island, where CHKDD taught Lucy how to boogey board. We were all impressed with how quickly she picked it up.

That evening the kids all fell asleep in the car, during the 10 minute drive from the beach to the house. I think it was the first time they’ve ever done that. Quite a day. We missed fireworks, but nobody seemed to mind. The next morning we spent at Balboa Park. A good time was had by all. We’ll have to do it again sometime.


Utah trip
We escaped the oppressive heat a third time this summer, this time to Utah for eight days. It was our first "Vacation" to Utah since being married. Living for six years in Provo was no vacation.

Our first stop was Mapleton, which we made in just 11 hours thanks to our new portable DVD player. What a miraculous thing it is. There was nary an “Are we there yet?” and not a single “Stop touching me!” While in Mapleton we stayed with some horses, and visited my elder of two younger sisters and her husband during our non-horse time. Wait, strike that; it only seemed like we stayed with the horses. We actually spent every waking hour luring neighborhood horses with underripe plums fastened to the hooks of homemade fishing poles. The kids were determined to get one to come to the fence. They were pretty privileged horses, because most of them scoffed at out offering, not even venturing within an arms length of us. Undeterred, the kids persisted until they met a nice boy who brought them to his house, which boasted 14 horses and five bison.

We did a half-day trip to BYU campus, and showed the kids the Cougareat (where there parents first met), the Library (where the parents cleaned for a living) and the apartment houses the parents lived in (which, regrettably, are both still standing-the first one we lived in should have been burned long ago, as it is not fit for man nor beast). We drove past Deseret Towers, where my old Hall is set to be shut down forever. I can't possibly be old enough for them to destroy my old hall, right? Right?!?

We also took in the 24th of July parade in Mapleton. Besides the Primary float Lucy rode in, one of our favorites was another Primary float with a big shiny ball with streamers and a sign that read, "Hie to Kolob." After the parade, we enjoyed bluegrass music at the city park, courtesy of Auntie S and her band, "Blue Thunder". We only lost Hal once.


Our next stop was Logan, where we stayed with another Aunt, the Chocolate Chip Cookie Queen. We enjoyed the company of many cousins while there, and it reminded me of the good old days of summer vacations to Logan, where our arrival always coincided with a huge Bear Lake trip that nearly all the family from Sandy, Salt Lake and Logan would gather for.

From there we went to Brigham City, and stayed a couple of days with Cousin Todd and family. His children match up quite well with ours in age, and the play equally well together. Together we took a dinner trip back to Cache Valley for an Old West dinner at the American West Heritage Center farm (former Jensen Historical Farm). This included a wagon ride through the farm, to a secluded meadow near a stream, protected from the late afternoon sun by some lovely trees.


Prior to embarking on the wagons, EJ and cousin EM were charged with protecting the “gold” from bandits. It was crucial that the gold be protected, because it served as payment to the cook. No gold meant no dinner. EJ took the charge very seriously, and he and EM sat with their feet on the chest of gold, concealing it from view. About half-way through the farm a band of outlaws rode up, firing their guns into the air, and demanded our gold. EJ and EM sat stone faced, unmoved by these threats. After we unsuccessfully attempted to convince the bandits that the gold was not on our wagon, they made off with one of the “passengers” from our wagon, threatening her with harm if we didn’t pay up. They let us go to think about it. After we arrived at the dinner site and disembarked the wagons, they rode up again, with the kidnapped young woman tied up, shouting threats. While they were threatening us, the cook stepped out of the mess tent with a rifle and opened fire on them, declaring, “That gold belongs to ME!” They returned fire, but the Sheriff showed up and together with the cook chased them off. It was all quite a good show.

Apparently it was too good a show. After we sat down at the tables, Lucy came up to me very timidly, and in a small voice told me she was scared. I asked her why, and she asked me to tell her why. So, I explained the show to her, and she felt better. She wanted to sit next to me through dinner, just to be safe. For a minute I felt like a great dad.

From Brigham we went to Temple Square for an afternoon, then stayed our final day with friends in Utah County.



We have known these particular friends since about a week after we got married. They worked with us on the bathroom crew at the BYU library-what bonding times those were. They remain good friends, and our kids hit it off with theirs very well.

They live in a town I call "BYU-West", because it seems like the entire town graduated from BYU in the past 15 years. It's like a pack of novice angels took a BYU married ward, lifted it up like the city of Enoch, then realized their mistake and dropped it a few miles west.

Anyway, we played with them for a day and a half, and the kids enjoyed playing with more friends. They particularly loved the Bean Museum on BYU campus, with its stuffed wildlife exhibits.

We had a great time visiting everybody, and hopefully the Utah trip will become an annual tradition.

H-J