Travelin' in Utah July 13-17

We drove down to Idaho on Saturday July 13th. It was a good drive with stops at some nice rest areas. We joined Robin and her kids for dinner that evening. She made us yummy tator tot casserole.  We had a good time hanging put with Robin, Zach, Elizabeth and Quinn.  They have infectious laughs and find lots of things to laugh about.  Dinner was a lot of fun.

We had a yummy breakfast at Robin's in the morning and loaded the car for the drive to Kaysville.  On the way down we had a need for a potty stop.  Our only option at the time was a gas station with a label in the window welcoming us to the middle of nowhere.  It was posted pretty clearly inside that restroom were for paying guests only, so I treated the kids to ice creams that we ate sitting in the dusty parking lot.

We made it to Grammy's without any problems but not quite in time to join her for church.  Instead, we settled in and fell asleep on her sofas while the kids broke out the toys she had brought out for them.

Sunday evening I had some of my favorite high school people over for a mini reunion. Our official 20 year reunion is next month but none of us really wanted to go.  So we emailed each other and set up a reunion with some of the people we did want to see.  I made some gluten free chocolate brownies with extra chocolate chips and fresh raspberries. They were delicious.  We had me, Erin Ford Findlay, Lori Hollist Auger, and Ann Baker Romero.  It was great to just sit and talk.  I could see why these were the friends I chose to spend my time with all through high school.  I definitely think we should do more of these mini reunions!

We stayed at Grammy's until Thursday evening.  We went swimming in the swim spa pretty much every day.  We also visited a few museums.  I took the kids to the Natural History Museum at the University of Utah on Tuesday the 16th.  It was a really nice museum.  We started by climbing all the way to the fifth floor. There, you can go out on the roof and learn about weather and water conservation.  There is also a room about Native American history and current relationship with American society.  We worked our way down through geological information and archeology and then to the dinosaur exhibit.  There were a lot of kid-friendly activities and the displays were all really well done.  It was a great museum.

On Wednesday we took a hike into the mountains behind the parents' house.  We had decided it was time to spread the ashes of the dog the parents had that died just after my mission. Yes, that was 14 years ago.  Her ashes have been in a box on the fireplace since then.  On Sunday when we were waiting for the parents to return from church, Becca picked up the wooden box of dog ashes and, shaking it, asked why Grammy kept a box of rice with the kid toys on the fireplace.  We decided it was time to move the dog on.  The plan had always been to scatter the ashes on the Vita Course, or nature trail. But the boys who frequently went up there never managed to remember to take the boxed dog. So, Wednesday morning the 5 Killpacks and Grandad put on their socks and shoes and headed up the mountain.  We walked to the creek and found a shady spot by the bridge.  That was where we put Cricket's remains. Then, Kip and the kids played in the creek, building up a little dam to increase the depth of the water they were playing in.  Anna and I got mosquito bites on our legs that bugged us the rest of the trip.  And eventually we headed back down the mountainside.

On Thursday Grammy and Grandad treated us with a trip to the Treehouse children's museum in Ogden.  It's another great museum option.  There were enough things to do that we weren't able to get it all done in the two hours of free parking we had available.  The highlight was when the staff hosted play staring the kids.  It was a version of Blanca Flore.  William got to be the prince.  He did an excellent job projecting his lines just like Elizabeth Moreno taught him for the school talent show.  Anna got to be one of the 7 bandits and also did well.  Becca really wanted to be a Bandit but enjoyed the play anyway.

After the museum, Grandad took us to the union station Grill.  We had a yummy lunch and then got to look at the trains on display outside.  They had a train car that had carried the olympic torch for the winter olympics in Salt Lake in 2002.

Pioneer Day, July24, 2011

Our stake did a Pioneer Day celebration at a local farm. There was lots of good, pioneer-style food. Oh, and shaved ice. I'm not sure pioneers had that. But we enjoyed it.

The kids did a pioneer parade. William joined, even though he'd chosen not to wear pioneer clothes. He was Anna's moral support. The marched around the barn at least 10 times.

Thank goodness for lots of water!

Becca was a super cute pioneer with her daddy!

Lakeview Farms Pumpkin Patch

Since there was no school on Friday and it's that lovely time of year when pumpkins are big and leaves are turning colors, we decided to go with our friends the Istooks to the Pumpkin Patch. We drove out to North Plains and wend to Lakeview Farms because we love their little train around the field and boat across the lake. Becca wouldn't go near the lake, so she and I rode the train to the patch and back.

I got this picture of her while waiting for the boat to deliver the rest of our crew.

When the boat arrived we went into the field and picked out the best pumpkins ever. We really liked the warty ones this year. I can't wait to carve them...

After getting our pumpkins picked out, we climbed with them onto the train and rode back. The kids had a blast. It wasn't too cold and it wasn't raining. It was a perfect day for the pumpkin patch!

William Turns 8! May 29, 2011

William turned 8 this year. It's a big year for him. We had a little family party on his birthday and he got to open presents.


The next day was Labor Day, so we had Istooks over for a combo BBQ/Bday part. Unfortunatetly, Kip wasn't feeling well, so it didn't end up lasting as long and involving as many games as we had hoped, but it was good to see the Istooks again!


William got baptized on June 4th into the Five Oaks Ward, Cedar Mill Stake, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He's official! He felt really good at his baptism and was excited to make the decision to do it. We're thrilled at how good a person he is. He really wants to do what's right and always thinks of other people's feelings. OK, not his sisters' feelings, but sisters don't really count, do they...Anyway, he really tries to follow the rules wherever he is. That's a nice thing!

Magic Kingdom, 2011

 

I spent the night before our Magic Kingdom visit planning what things I wanted to do with the kids. When we arrived, we headed straight for Fantasyland and started the fun. Kip took William and cousin Preston to do their first rides and I took the girls on Small World. They both enjoyed it, in spite of Becca's nervousness in the line.

 

After Tea Cups and the Carousel (a major hit), we watched Mickey's Philharmagic. Yet again, it was too scary for Becca. Why do they have to make everything scary? If they kept these shows simple and didn't throw in all the drama and bad-guys my kids would like them a lot more.

 

We finished Fantasyland with a final round of Tea Cups. I did the super-spinny cup with William, Anna, and Preston (whom we adopted for the day), while Kip did the slower, gentler cup with Becca. We met the cousins and did a kid trade-off for Space Mountain and I realized that I actually do kind of like rollercoasters.

 

After lunch in Tomorrowland and a ride on the magic carpets, we headed to the Buzz Lightyear ride with the rest of the family. While Kip and I rode Splash Mountain on our fastpasses later that day, Uncle Tyler talked William into riding Thunder Mountain Railroad for a dollar. He almost enjoyed it--he said it got scary in the middle when it was dark.

 

The girls loved all the princessy things to see and were especially cute at this little sitting spot outside the castle.


We ended up leaving at 8:30, just before the night's parade. The kids were tired and I was satisfied that I had done all the things I really wanted to do.

Florida, April 29th, 2011

The Killpack family reunion for 2011 was a trip to Disney World in Orlando. We decided to try out the option of taking a red-eye and getting there with time to settle in before our first day of hitting the park. We put the kids to bed at 8pm then went in and woke them up at 11 to head to the airport for our 1am flight. The goal was for them to stay drowsy on the way and to fall back asleep in flight. It didn't happen. All three kids were too wired on the first flight to sleep much. And Kip and I couldn't get comfortable. The second flight, the kids may have slept a little. I was too tired to stay awake, so I'm not sure. In any case, by the time we reached Orlando, got in a line for a bus to the hotel, waited for our room to be ready and finally got inside, we were all exhausted.

 

We all took about 2 hours of a nap piled on top of the covers because it was just too much work to even pull them down.

 

When we woke up Chad, Angie, Abby, and Max had arrived from Ft Lauderdale and Grandma and Tasha had gotten there from Utah. We all got on another Disney bus and headed to Downtown Disney, ready for the fun to begin.

 

The kids begged me to let them ride the carousel. At $2 a piece, I didn't want to do it, but I folded. So they got one ride. But no more!

 

William's Recital - March 19th

 

William had a piano recital on the 19th of March. He practiced a ton and really liked his songs. He played pieces called Springtime 1 and Springtime 2. They used both hands! He got up and performed them without getting nervous at all. It was really a great performance.

 

We all enjoyed the performance, and the girls especially liked the cookies afterwards.

St Patrick's Day 2011

 

 

I decided to celebrate St Patrick's Day this year with some green food items. After William got home from school, the kids got to eat green frosted cupcakes (store bought - I mean, I'm only willing to do so much!) for snack. Then, for dinner we had Green French Toast. I thought it was pretty cute. I was afraid the kids wouldn't go for it, but they actually had fun with it.

William in the Airport

William really wanted me to film this and post it online. Here it is! I say in there that it's at the SL airport, but it was really here in Portland.

Halloween

 

I worked hard this Halloween on creating Avatar the Last Airbender costumes for the kids. They got their first showing on Friday, the 29th of October, at the local shopping center's trick-or-treating. We met the Istooks and went from shop to shop collecting candy. We were lucky to have clear dry weather.

 

That night was the Fall Festival at the school. The kids enjoyed it but didn't last long.

Saturday night the ward did a Trunk-or-Treat. We decked the kids out again and headed out to collect candy in the drizzling rain.


William was Avatar Ang.


Anna was the tough earthbender Toph.


Becca was an adorable lemur Momo.

Work Party, Aug 3, 2010

Kip's work reserved Rood Bridge Park in Hillsboro--complete with bounce-houses, balloon artists and food. We arrived later than we wanted to but had a great time and got to see some old friends. the kids enjoyed playing and eating.

 

Becca loves her Dad.

 

Anna loves her Mom.

 

 

Not the Florida Beach

On Sunday afternoon, the 30th of May, after attending church in Tillamook, we took the kids out to the beach. Anna thought she wanted to swim, but it was a very cold weekend and we tried to discourage her. We finally agreed to let her pull up her leggings and go wading. After playing in the sand for a while, she, William and Kip headed for the water. One step into the waves and she came running back to me on my log. It was COLD. I think she was expecting something more like what we found in Florida. Kip made a deal with the kids to see who could stay in the water the longest. William won and got really wet. Anna wasn't far behind. When they were sufficiently frozen, we trekked back to the beach house and gave them both a warm bath.