Hannah's Cabin Birthday Weekend

            

Beth and I were invited to spend the weekend at our friend's cabin to help celebrate their oldest daughter's birthday.  We had a fun time.  We left on Friday afternoon and got there in the evening.   David and Alton went early and warmed up the cabin and had dinner waiting for us (yeah for the boys!!!).  The next day brought snow in the morning.  By mid-morning it had cleared up and we were able to go on a hike to Beaver Pond.  We got to see the industrious workings of the beavers and stand right on top of their lodges.

              

When I asked Beth about the trip when we got home she said her favorite parts were catching the two fish we ate for dinner on Saturday night and snuggling with the Denton's dog Ruka.      

 

Thank you to the Dentons who shared their wonderful cabin with us.  We had a great time!

Sushi and Truckin'

I got to go down to Utah last week to help with some family stuff (moving estate stuff from my grandpa's house). My mom and dad have been tackling most of it, but it all kind of came to a head and so the kids got to come pitch in a little. It was kind of a whirlwind event and I wasn't in Utah for long, but it was great to see everyone. Most of the time was actually spend driving across the country with my dad and brother to help him get stuff back to North Carolina. Utah time was spent moving all day (8AM ebelskiver breakfast to midnight peach pie dessert with lots of boxes in between) followed by a 7AM departure in a 26 ft Penske truck bound for the East Coast. I did get a little sushi in for lunch which has for me become a Utah necessity. We usually go to Takashi downtown. The “magic dragon” roll is amazing. It was sad to see my grandparents house so empty, but it was an amazing memory lane trip to go through all their stuff again. My sister and her adorable daughter were also there and family time is  gold no matter how hectic.  I wish we had more time with them and my mom (or that they could have come on the road trip with us, but unfortunately they were headed in the opposite direction with their own truck).

The road trip was the quickest I had ever been on. It should have been the longest given that we literally were on the road for 16-18 hours for the two days with no radio/music and a bench seat for the three of us (middle guy had a huge parking break to fight with). The radio/music thing was by choice as somehow we found a way to talk all day long. Politics was a frequent topic with occasional sports and religion mixed in. We did some Subway, some Wendy's and lots of chocolate covered raisins. The scenery was mostly flatlands but we actually had some dramatic clouds the first day going through Wyoming and Nebraska (see photo at top of post). We spent the night somewhere on the Nebraska/Iowa border after unfortunately driving too far past Omaha.  It was around  midnight, so we had to stop, but the accommodations were a little tough.

The second day was mostly rainy and gray. We did Iowa, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio.  My brother had us timed to make sure we moved along which really was helpful as I never realized how much time it takes to stop even to fill up and get a quick drink. We had a hard time getting lunch and a fill up in under 45 minutes (it seems like we should be able to do it in 15).

The end of the trip for me was in Columbus, Ohio. I had to fly back to work so I had to leave my brother and dad to finish the trip. Carol and I moved from Columbus to Alaska and have many a happy memory in the buckeye state. We drove by our old house and stayed in our old neighborhood. I hadn't been back there since moving and it was really nice to see again.

I made it back to Alaska tired, but happy...lots of miles, raw fish and good memories.

Denali Camping

Praise to the intern that came up with the Junior Ranger program at Denali National Park! Carol and the kids and I went down to Denali National Park a couple of weeks ago for a little campout. Fall colors had arrived (somehow I'm still surprised by this up here when the leaves turn at the end of August) so we thought the park might be nice.

We headed down on Saturday after piano and dropped by the Wilderness Access Center at the park to see about bus rides. There was a bus at 2PM to the new visitors center so we signed up. Basically there is no access into the park except on the bus system. The road is a pretty well maintained dirt road and the bus system works pretty well. They do take a while to get back into the park, however. An 80 mile trip takes about 6 hours (12 round trip). We were going about 60 miles in for an 8 hour round trip adventure. We hoped the kids would do okay and for the most part they did.

Before heading out, we went by the visitors center to pick up the Junior Ranger pack. This is a great program where any kid for free can sign up to be a Junior Ranger and get a fully stocked backpack with compass, binoculars, magnifying glass, books on plants and an activity book. It is a great program. The activity book is also very well done and has the kids ask rangers questions and write the response, identify animals they see on the trip, etc. I'm sure it was the brain child of some intern and whoever that may be, I would just like to personally thank them for a great program. At the end, the kids turn in their workbooks and have a swearing in ceremony with one of the real park rangers. They get a pin on badge and lots of great memories. The video of the ceremony is here:

The bus ride was next on the agenda (the kids kind of did the Junior Ranger thing throughout the whole day). We left with food in hand for 8 hours (no food/water provided), the activity stuff from the Junior Ranger pack and some extra stuff we brought from home. The kids actually did very well for most of the trip. We had a few meltdowns, but really they did quite well. We saw a moose, a bear, lots of ptarmigan and some sheep. One of the bears actually walked right around the bus and then sauntered off and played in the road. It was great. Usually at Denali the bear viewing is at quite a distance, so this was a real treat.

We almost made it to the visitor's center, but we actually decided to jump ship and come back one stop early (you can basically get off the bus at anytime and hike or catch a ride back on one of the other buses). Denali (Mt. McKinley) was visible and “out” for our drive down to the park, but as we were going in on the bus, it clouded up. We probably would have pushed on if there was any chance of seeing it, but once it clouds up, it takes a while to clear. I've been into the park 4 times and I've really only had a clear shot once. It is beautiful when it's out, it's just hard to predict when that will happen.

After getting back to camp, we set up our new 7 man Kelty tent. It's not quite as easy as our Sierra Designs 3 man which I personally think is the greatest tent made (easy to set up, great rain fly, very sturdy). It is very roomy inside, however and Carol and I can both almost stand up inside.

We roasted hot dogs and marshmallows by the fire and then went to bed. The night was fairly uneventful. I didn't put the rainfly on which is always an invitation for disaster, but fortunately it didn't rain. My sleeping pad didn't work, so I was tossing and turning quite a bit, but it was still a great time. The kids slept fine and Carol did battle with Owen a little, but we all managed a little shut eye.

Here's another video if you're up for a little Hammond overdose:

Back to School

This is kind of a strange year for me as far as having the kids back in school as Owen started preschool and I now have 3 hours every  morning to myself.  I have always heard people say that those 3 hours go by really fast, and it is true.  I have tried to be productive and accomplish something before I pick him up, but it seems like I barely have time to shower and get to the store, or stick a load of laundry in before I have to leave to get him.  He enjoys school a lot and so that makes the transition into having my baby gone in the mornings a little easier.  Beth and Isabel are really loving school as well.  Beth is still in Paul's class and Isabel is now in Lyn's class.  Both of them have already been on three field trips, two to Creamer's field (a bird conservatory), and one to Calypso farm.  We also had a fun picnic and camp out with all the families from Chinook.  The kids had a great time with their friends.  They did surprisingly well in the tent,  although Tom didn't have such a great night as he was stuck with a faulty sleeping pad (sorry Tom!).  I skipped out on the camping out part and took Owen home to get some rest in a real bed.  The activity was a  great success and the only scars from the event were some monster mosquito bites!  Izzie got one right on the eye and it looked like she had been punched in the face.  It took about week for her to look back to her beautiful self.      

Update

So I'm a little behind on my blogging which I had conveniently blamed on the Olympics but unfortunately that excuse won't work this time. I'll try and catch up in the next week or so. My brother-in-law is amazing in that his blogging pauses are ended by a deluge of seven or eight posts...alas I am not that talented.

My first item of note is that school has started and Owen is now plugged in to the system. He has begun what was for me 22 years of learning pleasure and horrible pain. He's at the local Montessori preschool where Beth and Isabel had gone. The first few days were a little rough, but with some long morning talks and minimal bribery, he has done very well. He now goes running in with hardly a second thought as long as his play buddy is there. They have some great activities including the first annual trike-a-thon on Friday.  They basically ride in circles in the parking lot until they turn to butter.  Laps are sponsored and go to St.Jude's.  I thought it a pretty nice idea.

The girls also started at Chinook (their elementary school). They are now in their routines and have play date requests pending through 2015. The highlight of the year for me was an all-school camp out. Yes, someone at the school decided to invite all the students and parents to camp on the school lawn, eat  burgers and have a genuine bonfire (complete with fireman escort). My sleeping pad didn't work which made for a long night, but overall we had a great time. The girls played soccer until midnight and ate about a half pan of brownies each. The mosquitoes were out in force and Isabel got a good ol' bite right on her eye, but there was  no stopping the fun. I have to admit I had my doubts at the beginning, but it really turned out well.  Carol has some photos in her blog post.

Every time the school year begins and ends, I'm sure I go through the emotions all parents feel...that time goes by to quickly and the kids are growing up to fast. This year was no different...time really does fly...better make the most of it!!!

The Binki Fairy

 

Alas, the time has come that Owen no longer requires a binki in his mouth 24/7.  About a month ago, the binki fairy stopped by our house.  While Owen was sleeping, she collected all the binkis that could be found.  When Owen awoke to discover there were no more binkis, he was told that the binki fairy had come and taken them all to brand new babies who didn't have any.  Unbelievably, he accepted this with little complaint and at the ripe old age of 3 and 1/2, Owen is now binki free.  Earlier attempts to rid Owen of the binks had failed when, thanks to his older sisters examples, he quickly discovered that his thumb was a viable alternative.  Tom and I have paid special attention to make sure the thumb has stayed out of his mouth and after a month, I believe we now have one child who is suck free.  Now if we could only have a thumb fairy for the girls!

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad!

43 years

and what do you have to show for it?

43 years and so much to show
Lots of good food and love with which to grow
9 amazing children, 7 amazing spouses add to that
2 more to come in the future
Little bros. you’re up to bat
Then to this Cook Clan comes the very best part
14 little joys that have melted our hearts
Oh yes, 43 short years and you continue to grow
43 years and so much to show

43 years each one of us has learned from our dad
Comfort, security, and lots of love we have had
Countless family trips to Palmo, St. George and, of course, Disneyland
Tennis, swimming, eating at Garcia’s
Too much fun to count on both hands
Little wormies who knew just how to tickle dad’s tired feet
Running through sprinklers and getting sprayed with the hose
Drawing on dad’s beautiful bald head in Florida’s hot heat
Oh yes, 43 fun years we have had
Comfort, security and lots of love from our dad

43 years of the greatest mom known to man
Talent, beauty and great driving skills with a stretch van
When mom is at home there is always delicious food on the table
Sewing, painting, a love of America and so much more she had taught us
There is no one in the whole world that is more able
There is always time for each person in her life
Lots of time for fun and love and making each one feel so special
With each endeavor she pursues, for perfection she does strive
Oh yes, 43 wonderful years driving the van
Talent, skills, love and beauty; the greatest mom known to man

43 years and so much to show
43 years and the love continues to grow
More good times, good food and good laughs are on their way
More times to learn and love
The Cook Clan is here to stay
Oh yes, 43 years of love with which to grow
43 years and so much to show!

HAPPY 43rd ANNIVERSARY MOM AND DAD

The Cabin

After a record snow fall in Utah this past winter, my parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles went to open the cabin for the summer season and discovered that the original river rock chimney had succumbed to the pressure of the snow and had fallen. This led to an inspection of the cabin, and to the very sad discovery that the cabin is not doing so well. The cabin is, for me, one of the most peaceful and lovely places on earth. Over 60 years ago, Grandpa Edmonds built the cabin as a place for his family and him to get away from the summer heat of the Salt Lake Valley and spend the summer in the cool mountain air. Grandpa Taylor, with the enlisted help of Mel worked tirelessly for an entire summer to make the cabin into the beautiful retreat it has been for our family for over 20 years. The broken chimney was an eye opener for me to realize that this wonderful place may not always be there for me and my family. I was lucky enough to be able to spend almost a week there this summer with the kids. The first night was spent with Linda, Scott, Grandma and Grandpa and Sarah and Kate. The kids had so much fun together swinging on swings, taking walks and wading in the river. The rest of the week brought Grandma and Grandpa Cookie up for work on the grounds and yard. Grandpa led the clean up efforts and everyone enjoyed helping. Owen especially enjoyed it because it meant he got to help push the wheel barrow.

Even with all the work, we were able to get in a couple of rounds of Beth's current favorite game, Monopoly.

Beth, Izzie, Owen and I had a lot of walks picking wild flowers and throwing rocks in the river. And every night the kids and I read and told stories while snuggled together on the Hammock.

It was a beautiful, peaceful, cherished time and the only thing that would have made it better was to have Tom there with us. Thank you Grandma and Grandpa Taylor for sharing this wonderful place with us! It has to be one of my very favorite places on this whole earth!!!

Summer in Utah

So I finally made it through all the photos from our trip to Utah this summer. It was a great trip...the kids are still talking about it daily.

We started with the standard overnight flight to Salt Lake. There is a direct flight from Fairbanks in the summer which is nice, but there is nothing easy about flying all night. The kids did pretty well and we all managed to be semi functional on the day we arrived. Cousins were there in force from day one which was nice. The kids really love their cousins and can't seem to get enough of them. We had them from both sides of the family...kind of a cousin paradise. We also had the grandparent infusion which we really miss being so far away. We have such a great family!

Anyway, I guess I'll just start at the beginning...

We had been to the Children's Museum before and the kids really love it. They got addicted to children's museums in general when we lived in Ohio and went to COSI (great museum in Columbus). The Salt Lake version has an actual helicopter for kids to climb in, a great arts/crafts area and they're developing an area where you can basically make your own production videos. Owen and his cousin Jacob climbed all over the helicopter for well over an hour before I dragged them off to some other play area. The other cousins made their own slide, various art projects and sculptures. There was also an air powered ball contraption that was popular with all the kiddos.

Just next door to the Children's Museum is the Planetarium. I remember going to the old Hansen Planetarium downtown and watching the giant pendulum swing (shows the rotation of the earth). The pendulum is in the new Planetarium as well along with some other great displays including an area where you can walk on a simulated moon and Mars. There is also a weather broadcast station, an IMAX theater and models of all the planets. They also have the largest elevator I have ever seen. Owen and Jacob spent about a half hour staring at a very intracate ball contraption that is basically like a Rube Golberg Machine. It is multilevel and pretty neat-o.

Both the Children's Museum and the Planetarium are in Gateway which is an "off-downtown" development. It's a great place to go for indoor stuff but they also have a great fountain that we went to later in the week. We were there with cousins and the combination of water and music is tough to beat. The water is there at a pretty good display level for most of the day and then every once in a while, they juice it up a little and blast high energy music. All the kids in the whole area immediately look like they've all been attacked by bees and start jumping and running around. My kids were no exception.

Gram had some great dinners and get together's with the Cooks throughout our weeks there. They've started a great tradition of discussing some gospel topic each month as an extended family. I've always wanted to go and so we had one while we were there. Carol actually led the discussion and it was great to see and be a part of. It was also really nice to get to spend some time with Carol's family. I really don't get to see them as much as I'd like and I got to do that a bit more this time as I had a few extra days in Utah. It still wasn't enough time, but I'll take what I can get. Carol's sister just had twins this year and they have become such beautiful girls (not that they weren't beautiful before). The cousins of course had a great time being together as well.

Carol and I really love being able to see family when we come to Utah, but we also get to see some of our long lost friends. This trip we got to hang out with some of our Ohio friends as well as some old high school friends. Ohio night out was at a little place by the river near Sugarhouse Park (I forgot the name). The food was good, but mostly it's nice just to talk with old friends. The high school night was a little dinner and marshmallow roast up Millcreek canyon. I'll write about that in another post, but it was great to see everyone. Our kids also enjoy all the new playmates they meet as we drag them from family to family. They also love seeing their old playmates and somehow seem to pick up right where they left off even though they haven't seen each other in a long time.

One of the favorite days had to have been our trip up to Eden. No, it's not that Eden, but it really is a beautiful spot. My uncle lives in Eden, UT which is a small farming town by Pineview Reservoir. The surrounding mountains are absolutely beautiful and the lake is right there for additional recreation. He has a small fishing pond fed by a natural spring stocked with little swimmers and some very patient horses for riding (Tennessee Trotters I think). My cousin Rich helped with the fishing and then my uncle taught us all how to clean a fish. Eliza (cousin number one on the Hammond side) took after the fish cleaning with reckless abandon. Beth jumped in there and cleaned away as well, but wasn't quite as excited about the whole thing. Horse riding was a hit for everyone and even the little kids got to ride. My sister, sister-in-law, father and Carol all jumped on as well.

After Eden, we decided to try out the new Frontrunner train that just started service from Salt Lake to Brigham City. It stops in Ogden by the train museum and having lots of train fans, it seemed like a perfect spot. The ride up was great and really quite quick. Ticketing is pretty much automated and the stations are clean and pretty well laid out. The train museum in Ogden is fantastic. There are a bunch of retired trains to climb on and the kids can all go crazy pulling on the levers and whistles. The museum gives a good history of the trans- continental railroad which of course was completed at the golden spike near Ogden. There is also a car museum there which has some amazing old cars in tip top shape. We were up there for a couple of hours but there was still a lot we didn't see. We'll have to make another trip back soon.

One thing we always try to do anytime we're in Salt Lake is make it up one of the canyons. Carol's grandparents have a cabin up by Kamas and my grandparents have one up Big Cottonwood Canyon. The kids love going up for a change of scenery and the adults love it as it's about 15-20 degrees cooler up there and it's a great way to get out of the Utah heat. The kids went up to both cabins while they were in Utah, but I only made it up Big Cottonwood. We went up there and hiked around Silver Lake which still has a lot of leftover snow from the good dumping Utah got over the winter. Snow and warm weather always makes for a great snowball fight and shoe skiing (glissading?). We also played a bunch on the swings, went hiking around, threw rocks in the stream, etc. The river was a little high this year which prompted memories I have of my grandmother telling me about all the championship swimmers that had died after falling in the river and how careful I should be. I now see the reason for the story as I have to admit I get quite a bit of anxiety when my kids get next to fast moving water. I think my dad my not have had this fear as I remember him taking my rock jumping in the same stream in which the aforementioned swimmers had perished. I somehow survived, however and I can only hope my kids are as fortunate to make it through childhood and adolescence with similar statistics.

Our final adventure for my portion of the Utah trip was an excursion out to Thanksgiving Point. I had played golf out there before (great course...definitely in my top 3 for Utah) but hadn't really seen much else. All I can say is that it's a GREAT place for kids. We first went to the gardens that boasts the largest man made waterfall. The waterfall is pretty nice, but the gardens are amazing. Acre after acre of flowers and fountains...it's like you died and went to France. Everything really was beautiful and there's lots of space for the kids to run around. The better kid attraction, however had to be the adjacent play area. It opens with a scaled down replica of Noah's Ark complete with bronzed animals and multiple fountains. The kids got soaked and loved playing around in the water (who wouldn't at 100F). After the fountains, we explored a maze, a cave and some play houses. There are more bronzed animals hidden throughout the park that the kids loved finding and climbing on. Apparently there's also a dinosaur park which we never made it to. This is another place (like the train museum) that we'll definitely have to come back to.

Our final day was spend with Maama and Popop in a birthday/baptism celebration for Hannah who was soon to be 8. We had a big dinner and the kids actually put together a whole production including dancing and singing. They even made custom programs to hand out! They really did a good job and Beth and Isabel still sing the song they learned for it. We all enjoy ed fresh strawberry pie with lots of whipped cream and said our good byes. The time went by fast and it will be great to see everyone again so on. The kids still talk about all their cousins every few days and they really can't wait to get back. It's so wonderful to have the incredible family that we do. It really is an amazing blessing to us and our kids. I'll see if I can get Carol to post something about her adventures after I left (that's when the REAL party started).

See you all soon!

As far as photos go, I'll just say I took a lot. I separated them on our photo site by location and then I made a "best of" for those of you who don't want to go through 700 photos. I'll put links to both below.

Link to all photos categorized is here.
Link to "Best of SLC" is here.