July in Words and (lousy) Pictures

I have given myself permission not to feel creative, photographically speaking, until both boys are in school for a full day next year. I am not sure if that is to assuage my guilt about not picking up my camera or about not feeling very creative at the moment. Either way, my nice camera has been collecting dust in the closet ever since the Ireland/England trip and we have been downgraded to iphone camera snapshots for the month of July. The lack of any decent photos has made me not want to post anything about our adventures this month. Or perhaps I am just feeling unmotivated in general. It really is a terrible Catch-22 ( I like the German word better "Teufelskreis" or Devils' Circle, which really describes the whole process better.)

This month has been a more challenging one with the kids home all day. They fought non-stop (A bit out of character for them. Sure they argue, but never this intensely) for the first couple of weeks. William then had an amazing vacation to Yellowstone with his Aunt Annie and his cousin Quentin. He had all kinds of adventures rafting on white water rapids and scaling rock walls (like a mountain goat, until it was time to come down). On the upside, he did get a bit homesick and was glad to see all of us when he returned--even his younger brother, and the fighting is back at a "normal" level.

Since it is July in Utah, the weather is HOT! Trying to beat the heat is the name of the game, with out going stir crazy indoors. We have lived in Salt Lake longer than I have lived anywhere in my entire life (same goes for Bill) and I have to say when it comes to indoor activities in Utah between the cold winters and the scorching summers -- been there, done that! I am usually quite the go getter and take the kids all kinds of cool places. I used to hide the fact that the activities were actually to entertain me so I didn't loose my mind in the house all day under the guise of "entertaining the kids". However, I have run out of new things to do in this not so big city, and have been forced (out of sheer boredom) to explore the place I haven't been-- the great outdoors. (Shudder!) The only place that is not life threatening to be outside for hours in the heat is in the mountains and the boys and I have headed there a few times to search out easy hikes to cool destinations just so we aren't all inside.

Our first hike we took Bill and headed up Little Cottonwood Canyon to the destination we had wanted to hike on Father's Day, but had been rained out. We drove up to the Albion Basin and did what everyone told us was an easy hike to Cecret Lake. William couldn't get over the fact that someone had spelled "secret" wrong and was a bit perturbed by this oversight. Romney was excited to go until about 2 minutes into the hike when he slipped while trying to balance walk a fallen tree and cut his leg. Lucky for him, his Mama has bit of experience taking care of active boys and had some band-aids in the car. Also very lucky was the fact that we were still very close to the parking lot where the band-aids were living in the glove box and Daddy could run back for them and rescue Romney. Bloody leg fixed, we kept going (with the promise of ice-cream afterwards) up the hill where our easy hike turned into a mildly challenging hike in no time. Steep switch backs and loose gravel make this "kids" hike more than I was thinking we would face, but the kids did fabulously and we made it up in no time. The payoff was a beautiful mountain lake with stunning views and 75 degree weather. Worth it! (Never thought I would say that about any hike!)



Our next hike was less challenging than I expected. This time it was up Big Cottonwood Canyon and I think the term "hike" may be a little strong. . . more like nature walk around Silver lake. The lake was very stagnant which made a perfect breeding ground for horseflies, dragonflies and mosquitoes. We took a quick walk around the one mile long boardwalk. Where we found a trail leading up to two different lakes. I was excited to try the trails, if for no other reason than to leave some of the bugs behind, but the boys weren't interested and we stayed on the boardwalk path. The payoff from this hike-- lovely mountain views and the opportunity afterwards to drive up to Snowbird and use the free passes to the Alpine Slide we had left over from our rainy Father's Day weekend.

So other than lots and lots of play-dates for the boys with friends,a comic book class William took with his two best friends, swimming lessons for Romney, and Real game/fireworks watching for the boys. . . that is what we have been up to this month.

Bonus video: They boys watching fireworks on pioneer day. Bill says this is what happens for the entire 20 minute show. I wouldn't know, since I haven't watched a fireworks show in years. (Crowds+Heat=unhappy Mom)