Camping and hiking

We had a busy, but fun, week. Lucy learned to climb. First she started with the stairs. By the end of the week, she was climbing to the top of the bathroom counter and up step ladders. She is still really cute.
Kirk had a good week with both Father's Day and his birthday. He got lots of love and a few presents, including a DVD of Sleeping Beauty (the children's choice). Unfortunately, not one of the presents was really a surprise since certain people haven't learned how to keep secrets around here.
Later in the week we were able to go camping overnight at Balsam Campground in Hobble Creek Canyon. We weren't too sure that it would be a good place, but it was recommended in the book The Best in Tent Camping: Utah, which seems to have some nice information.
We were pleasantly surprised. The campground was nice, even with vault toilets and no garbage collection. It did have drinking water, and lots of pretty campsites. We had a site next to the creek. It rained, but mostly during the night and when we were packing up to leave. Of course, Edward and Lucy didn't sleep at all--one was too scared and the other was too excited. (Note added in July: The campground host killed a black bear at this campground that refused to be scared away by the campers. I guess the "You're in bear country" signs really were true.)
The next day we went to Timpanogos Cave National Monument. The hike to the cave was quite a climb since it is about 1.25 miles and 1,000+ feet gain in elevation. We did it in about 45 minutes since we were trying to get there in time for our tour. We did arrive in time for the tour, and what was the best treat, we were the only people on the tour at that time.
The nice ranger took our photo at the entrance to the first cave (Hansen Cave). Then we saw the Middle Cave and Timpanogos Cave. This was the first cave for the children and they loved it. We thought it was a really beautiful cave with lots of interesting decorations. Here is a photo of the family in the cave.
Just kidding. Here is a better photo (with flash) of Andrew and Edward at the "Heart of Timpanogos."
Here is the formation behind the boys. Then we got to hike back down to the parking lot. There was lots of crying and screaming and we ended up carrying Edward, as well as Lucy. The trail gave me fits because it is on the very steep edge of the canyon wall. We made it, though, and had a nice outing with the family.

Rain and rain

It has been raining every day for the past few weeks--except Friday. So Friday we went to the public swimming pool for about an hour and the kids had a blast playing in the splash pool. We are still thankful we are taking swimming lessons at the indoor pool.

One afternoon we visited the Bean Museum and got to see an unscheduled reptile show. There were enough kids running around the museum that the education employee called everyone together and did a reptile show. We got to request live animals, like a snake and lizard. Andrew and Edward were doing little scavenger hunts around the museum. One of the questions for Andrew said, "Find a member of the bear family." So Andrew looked all around the museum and every so often, I would say, Look there's a black bear, or whatever. But he went to one of the exhibits and found the "Mommy grizzly." "There's a member of the bear family," he said, pointing at the mother grizzly next to her cub.

Finally, we have been exercising a bit. Edward saw a picture of a woman in a yoga pose when we were at a store in the mall. So he got on the floor and did a very good imitation of "exercising," as he called it. We have a 3-year-old who does yoga poses.

I am thankful...

• Andrew's head seems to be healing nicely (he got the staples out this week) and we haven't had another accident.
• Kirk's book is progressing toward publication.
• We found Andrew at the security/information desk soon after he ran off and got himself lost at the mall.
• For rain every single day this week even though our lawn is now covered in mushrooms.
• We remembered to fly our flag today for Flag Day.
  

Andrew update

Andrew's cut is healing nicely. I've washed his hair and discovered that if I comb it carefully, the hair hides everything (staples and all). The scar should be above his hairline, so you would only see it if he starts losing his hair when he gets old. The doctor didn't have to cut very much hair when he was fixing Andrew--I'll cut much more when I (hopefully) give the boys haircuts this week. Thanks for the comments and concern.

Interrupted

Our Monday afternoon routine was rudely interrupted when Andrew fell and cut open his head on a corner of the piano. The doctor always says that "you will know" when a child needs stitches, but I didn't really understand what he meant. Well, as I cleaned Andrew up, I finally saw the gash, and knew we would be spending time at the doctor's office or emergency room. I stopped the bleeding, put him on the floor to prevent fainting/shock, and called the doctor. Yes, they could fix him there, so we packed everyone in the car and spent the next 1-1/2 hours at the doctor's office. Most of the time Andrew was waiting for the numbing gel to work. He has two staples holding the cut together now (and I put a bandage on the lower end to catch drips overnight). Poor boy. He's pretty cheerful about it. We are thankful it isn't any worse and that he doesn't seem to have a concussion. At Andrew's request, Kirk and our home teacher gave him a blessing this morning.