Our Country Cousins

 My girls got to go to Girls Camp twice this year: once on the east coast and once on the west coast, with their cousins. My sister Sarah was nice enough to invite them. 

We drove down to Portland.

And, what do you know, the Kangs have been holding back on us.

I didn't know they had a ginormous garden and cows! (Not in their backyard. They share with friends whose home is in a more rural setting.) 

Apparently, they don't own two cows. They own two half-cows. (1/2 share of each)

When we bought 1/2 a cow, it was already wrapped and ready to go in the freezer, not grazing in a meadow. No fair.

Sofia in her daisy chain.

My nieces, checking up on their beehives. They're 13 and 11. That's homeschooling done right. :)

My kids liked the chickens best.

My Dad always says that chickens are magical. They can turn bugs, bread crusts and watermelon rinds into delicious, nutritious eggs.

Plus, they're fun to chase.

Elise finally gave Cozy a few tips on catching them.

They needed to be put away for the night anyhow, so we weren't just needlessly harassing the poultry.

 All of the kids joined in.

Even Anthony, doing his best "villain stroking his pet chicken during his evil monologue" impersonation.

 So, Aunt Sarah and the older girls departed for camp and I got to hang out with the kids who were left. They're a fun bunch. We had a lovely time jumping on the trampoline, watching Studio C, honing our Super Mario Bros skillz, and visiting Sonics happy hour. :)

My only source of sadness was that Sarah took all of the sewing machines to camp.

The 4th with Cousins

The Veatch family came over for the 4th of July, and, while the parents were trying to digest all of the good food Grandma had made for us, the kids were cooking up entertainment. 

They regaled us with many a skit in the front yard.

 

 All of the skits were very well-rehearsed and convincing.

 Oh, the joy of having people to be silly with!

 

Once it finally got dark (darned long summer days!), Tony set off fireworks. (Thank you!)

The kids were all patient and willing to be impressed. We oooed and ahhhed.

We saved sparklers for the finale. 

Lovely evening.

Grandma's New Toy

My Mom recently fulfilled her dream of owning a vespa. 

(Or should I say that my Dad made that dream come true?)

She can zip around town to run errands in style.

Now that my sisters and I are Moms ourselves, we tend to fret over our parents the same way we fret over our children. We worry when they travel alone or buy motorcycles (or scooters). At least they wear their helmets, right?

Mom took Annika for a spin.

(Sofia has declined. Not such a thrill seeker, that one.)

Cozy, on the other hand, chased her Grandma and begged for a ride.

Her ride was a stationary one,...

...which seemed to please her plenty!

I'm sure I'll never be half as interesting or fun a grandparent as my parents are.

Never.

Maybe I can buy a pony to compensate?

Further Food Tourism

It's really the main sort of tourism we embrace. 

Hey, everyone in the family enjoys it, and we have to eat anyhow, right?

....and, if you're going to experience a foreign culture, food it a great way to do it.

A little birdy told us that Crown Burger is uniquely Utah....and delicious.

Fries and onion rings for the fry sauce, a gyro, and a very good (and big enough for multiple people) 

pastrami sandwich.

The theme was nice too.

Subtle, but also tempting young boys to pry weapons from the walls.

(I was watching my little men stare dreamily at those swords.)

And Yum.

Now we can go to Washington.

BYU

Nostalgia?
Ulterior motives?

I admit that choosing to stop in Utah was motivated by a combination of the two.

BYU is my alma mater and where I met my husband, and Utah is where my first two children were born. It was fun to share some sentimental sights with the kids. It would have been more fun if Tony had been there....since he actually shares those memories.

And, I would be thrilled to see any and/or all of my kids go to BYU. It's a big university, with a lot of great and diverse programs (since I'd bet $ none of them study the same subject).  Plus, they've got cousins who could be in school with them. And, it's such a deal for Tony and I - cost-wise.

Step 1: Create fond childhood memories of university.

Why am I the only person in my family who thinks sculpture gardens are fun?

Step 2: Breed familiarity. Taking a tour of campus.

We hung out in the fancy-smancy alumni building, waiting for our tour. You wouldn't believe how hard it was to keep them from ringing the brass bell you see behind Anthony's head.

I applied to BYU on a "sight unseen" basis and never took an official tour, so we all got to learn some fun new facts about the university.

For example: did you know that most foreign students at BYU are from Canada? 

Second largest group - South Korea. 

(Fact I chose not to share: when I was at BYU, my apartment had no air conditioning. Don't tell Sofia!)

...and we got to ride in a spacious golf cart.

Wheee!

Step : Bribe with t-shirts and ice cream....and in the future...tuition money.

We went to the creamery. 

It was no South Mountain, mind you. There was an appalling lack of baby cows.

Still, ice cream is pretty good.

Then, to top it all off, we dropped in on a college friend of mine who settled in Utah. 

Pretty literally "dropped in". I think I gave her maybe a half hour warning. 

My kids were a little shy and worried about hanging out with kids they didn't know....but they had a great time! (During which I totally forgot to take a single picture - like a nerd.) Still, lovely trip!

Temple Square - In Fast Forward

We stopped at Temple Square, but the kids all wanted to do the drive-by version.

The wouldn't even let me go to the little log cabin next to the history museum.

Only Cozette wanted to explore with me, and she didn't have enough pull amongst 

the kids to make it happen.

We had to settle for walking through one of the visitor centers...

(Coolest doll house ever, right?)

....and looking at the seagull fountain.

Then everyone wanted to head to the hotel and rest (which to them means: swim. Not restful.)

(It may not have helped that we had a mewing cat in tow. Next time Matt gets kittysat.)

A Stop at Bruges

As soon as the girls got back from camp we headed west! 

9 hours of driving to Indiana.

9 hours of driving to Nebraska.

8 hours of driving to Wyoming.

The kids were all so good and helpful. No one screamed except Coze...and she only got restless toward the end of the day. (And they should have been good too! I sacrificed and took them swimming every single night.)

5 hours to Utah.

Utah was our scheduled day off. 

Party time.

After watching the Man Vs. Food's Salt Lake City episode, we knew 

just where we wanted to have lunch.

Bruges Waffles and Frites!

Ooo...can't wait until my lavender looks like this.

Hanging out at a patio restauraunt was a nice change of pace from fast food and hurrying to the next destination.

Even the napkin dispenser was belgian. :)

We tried a vanilla waffle with chocolate in it and a scoop of ice cream and, my favorite, a cinnamon waffle with creme fraiche and strawberries! Yum! 

My husband makes a pretty good waffle and gets a little offended when we buy them elsewhere...so maybe I need to get him some pearl sugar to put in them?

James like the fountain best of all and kept wanting to go into the restaurant to laugh about it.

Anthony want to try "the Machine Gun"- a baguette sandwich with sausage and frites on it, topped with andalouse sauce. 

And, no, he did not finish it. (So I got to try some too!)

Cozette kept  asking the nice girl at the window for strawberries.

Must be nice to be so cute and charming that everyone gives you what you want!

...and I think the strawberry sunglasses helped. :)