eagle, bat, and crowe

Olivia is fascinated with all the production that goes on at Grandma's house. Grandma had bought too many oranges so she had Olivia help her make this delicious juice. I keep trying to think of ways to get rich making juice...too bad I have no head for business...and no orchard.

That was last week...may have even been Wednesday and Olivia was still wearing her church dress. I wish I could be a child in summer again, sleeping in my Sunday best, waking up Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday morning to the sound of a lawn mower, The Price is Right, or in this case, the juicer. So Wednesday must have been the day we went to the zoo with Bekah, though maybe it was Tuesday.

We packed a lunch again. Sam is growing resentful of lunch meat. I love this picnic spot across from Hogle Zoo. The grass feels so lush, though we have to watch out for a big pile of horse poo that has been sitting there over a month. The river runs yards away. With William we're at the stage to avoid that, but Ben could spend hours by a river. Here's Aunt Bekah and the cousins.

I posted other pictures of this spot, and the zoo, in June, so no need to go on and on, but of course that won't stop me.

We always get stuck at this globe. It was a good thing, we ran into our friends, the Evans, from the Beijing branch.

The day was considerably hotter than June, and the teen and preteens were less possessed by their whimsical inner children, than their bored and uncomfortable inner adolescents. That is, until I said even the big kids could ride the carousel, and Sam went tearing off to find his favorite creature like a kid at Christmas.  Nine carousel tickets add up you know, so of course I had to document the fun.

Will looks bewildered here, but I took a hard punch in the ear for taking him off when the ride ended.

Bethany is one of my biologists and wasn't bored a bit.  There were several things that she wanted to photograph.

This eagle because she loves "symbols of America."

This random squirrel.

Every one's favorite, the fruit bat.

It's impossible to leave without the train and a picture like this.

So last week what else? Aunt Courtney took us to her Uncle's factory, Utah Truffle. He was very gracious.  The kids were skeptical at first but got excited when we opened the door and the smell of mint and chocolate met our noses.  We left with a couple of bags of truffles, raspberry and mint.  I didn't take any pictures because I've seen Willy Wonka enough to know better. ("No one ever goes in and no one ever goes out.")

We got a fun "summer package" from Grandma Martha.  Got ready for our trip to Colorado, more on that next.  Sam continued his obsession with getting his hands on a copy of A Beautiful Mind. We found one at Walmart.  It's always a relief when Sam is satisfied.  So when Grandma Julia cut Will's hair the boys were all impressed that he looked just like Russel Crowe.  What do you think?