Fisherfolk: Annie and her Papa Kay

Remember when we took that epic backpacking trip?  You know, at the beginning of the month, but it already feels like eons ago?  Well, you may have noticed that our youngest monkey did not join us for the adventure.  Fifteen miles just seemed a bit much for her little legs right now.

Instead, Papa Kay drove all the way out from Omaha to stay with our little girl.  While it may not have been backpacking, they certainly had adventures of their own.  Here they are at the Farm at Gardner Village.  Grandpa even splurged on the long pony ride.

The lambs are growing!

Plus, the alpaca got a haircut.

Annie hunted for roly polys in the backyard...

...and got treated like a princess at Burger King.

Quite the social creatures, Annie and Papa Kay enjoyed a taco truck celebrating a neighbor's graduation from the U of U's MBA program, played with some across the street neighbors, Tommy and Mikey, attended church, and walked home from church with her down-the-street bestie, Ari.

There were puzzles, tic tacs, and impressive bouts of scootering.

The highlight of Annika's "staycation," however, was undoubtedly the fishing at Cold Springs trout farm in Ogden.  Annika's talked about it every day since.  In fact, I'm pretty sure the entire neighborhood knows.  Her joy and enthusiasm for life is unparalleled.

After an hour and a half of patiently trying out her new fishing pole, Annika finally caught her first rainbow trout, then proceeded to catch three more.  She was elated!  Papa Kay said she tackled her first fish to the ground like a football player just to make sure it didn't get away. 

 

First fish!  Thanks for making her dream come true, Papa Kay.

That night Annika and her Papa Kay enjoyed a trout dinner that she will remember forever.  I'm so glad these two got this special bonding time.  Annika has her Papa Kay wrapped around her little finger.  She even conned him into sleeping on the bunkbed so that she wouldn't be alone at night! (She slept in a nest on the floor since the top bunk is a bit hard for Papa Kay to maneuver.) My only regret is that I don't have any pictures of the two of them together.  No fear: I made up for it a week and a half later when they were reunited...in Alaska!

Spring Catch-Up

Continuing on with our spring catch-up, at the beginning of April Brooklyn and Talia headed back to in-person school at West High.  At long last, a first day photo!

We wrapped up our ski season with a few lovely spring ski dates.  I talked Brooklyn and Talia into spending one of their asynchronous school days at Brighton with me.

While we would have enjoyed it under and circumstances, some fresh pizza from Milly's made it particularly delightful.

Here's Annika savoring a ski lift snack on a different day.  Spring skiing may be a little slushy, but I love the warmth.

Alas, all good things must come to an end.  Here are Jason and I on our way up to Snowbird for our very last ski date of the season at the end of April.  Hardly looks like ski weather!

Fortunately there had been a good storm a couple days earlier and the snow was great.

Riding the tram to the top.

Thank you to Utah's canyons for sharing your beauty all year round.

Other random sights: after many months of staying away while they cleaned up fallen trees, I meandered back into the SLC Cemetery.  I love seeing our church from this angle.  Church service can be demanding at times, but looking at this beautiful old building from the context of a pioneer cemetery puts everything in perspective.

Most of the trees have been cleaned up, but there are still a few startling remnants from the storm.  

This grave for Bernardo Palacios Carbajal is closely tied to the Black Lives Matter movement. He was killed by police violence.

Speaking of Black Lives Matter, Jason took these pictures from his office this spring.

On a less serious note, I came into Annika's room one morning and found this confusing sight.

Here she is again, telling Jason all about how she's being eaten by a Killer Toilet.  (All credit to Grandpa Charles for the original epic tale.)

And...her stuffies.

Spring was an intense season for recitals.  Here's Brooklyn  performing her Suzuki Book 5 recital, accompanied by Dr. Posey.  We are really proud of all the dedicated practice both Brooklyn and Talia commit to their string instruments.  They are making so much progress!

The girls' passion for music is rivaled by their passion for frisbee.  Both Talia and Brooklyn LOVE playing Ultimate and did really well this season.  I'm afraid that I'm at terrible sports photographer, so I don't really have many amazing photos.  Here are a couple from a game against Timpview.  They were playing directly beneath the "Y" so we made sure to celebrate with some Creamery ice cream following the game.

Other major milestones: Brooklyn's first car!  A 2004 Toyota Corolla courtesy of Uncle Justin finally upgrading to something a bit snazzier.  We've managed to squeak by as a one-car family for the past four years in Salt Lake, but I will say the convenience of having a second vehicle and an extra driver has been amazing.  Thank you, Justin, Brianna, and Ruby!  We hope you're loving your new wheels as much as we love your old ones.

As you can see, Justin made off like a bandit from the transaction.  The grimaces may come mostly from having a teen driver on the road.  (We love you, Brooklyn!  Thanks for being so responsible and safe.)

A few more odds and ends:  Annika made this pottery planter in Brownie Scouts and is delighted by the spiky hair.  

As for me, I was pretty delighted by this caramel spike when Jason and I went out to eat at Cucina.  (Next time remind me to dress up a bit more for fine dining.)

Evening strolls through the Avenues, plus a glimpse of my favorite tree.

Come morning, you'll find our neighborhood trails covered in spring.  I adore these bright daisies.  These ones were found along the Bonneville Shoreline Trail.

A week later, I hiked Ensign peak and found the mountainside covered.

A sure fire recipe to bring out the brightest smiles.

Fauna for the Flora

 If the last post was all about flora, this post is all about fauna.  

As most everyone knows, Annika loves animals.  This spring we took her back to the Farm at Gardner Village where she got to hold baby lambs.  I confess, I was positively smitten.  One nuzzled into my neck after giving me some lamb kisses and fell sound asleep.  I could have snuggled forever.  I can understand why Papa Kay says that the lambs were his favorite animal on the farm growing up.

Brooklyn liked the animals as well.  I was impressed that she was brave enough to pet the feisty alpacas.

Here's Annika a couple of weeks later at the Hogle Zoo.

Eli and Talia joined us for the trip as well.  Oh, and I guess the flora followed us there too.

Seeing eye to eye with the seals.

Since our zoo pass was expiring shortly, I pulled a Papa Kay and splurged on a large dippin' dots for everyone to share.  We normally don't indulge for fear of setting bad precedent.

This mama gorilla and I share a special bond.  I gave her a wave through the window and she looked right at me, then wandered all the way across the yard to sit right by my window.  It felt like she was bringing me her baby to admire.  (The shade may have also had something to do with it.)

As for Dad, well, he was just chilling and showing off his hairy arms.

Our next zoo trip was the last for this Hogle pass.  No better time to feed the giraffes!  Annika and Eli were a bit grossed out by the slimy tongue.

Bye bye elephant!  I'm sure we will meet again soon.

While you might expect to find a baby zebra at the zoo, I was shocked to meet this one at Clark Historic Farm in Grantsville, Utah.  I'm pretty certain he's a temporary visitor.  I was amazed by how soft the zebra's fur.  I expected it to be kind of coarse, but it felt more like a puppy than a pony.

We also met a red wallaby...

...and this cute fellow, which happens to be a wallaroo--sort of a cross between a kangaroo and a wallaby.

Bonding with a capybara.

This camel was a riot.  It seemed quite content to chew on anything, including its own sign.

While this photo of momma pig and her piglets may not seem that fascinating,  they were actually my favorite animals.  Once the piglets got momma to lay down, they were the most energetic nursers I've ever seen.  Poor momma just lay there, wishing she could nap in peace.

With that, this mama's gonna get some zzzs as well.  Sweet dreams to people and creatures alike.