When The Play is Better Than The Book

I really liked this book. "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" has a very interesting narrative voice. It's like a modernized "Catcher in the Rye." But the play really captures what a person with autism must experience when they are over-stimulated. I was on the edge of my seat. Well done, Pioneer Theatre Company. Well done.

Witch Fest

I had so much fun kicking off the Halloween season early at Gardner Village "Witch Fest" with these three. (We went early in the season to beat the crowds of middle aged ladies dressed up as witches that I've heard like to haunt the place in October.) We found all the witches on the scavenger hunt and earned our 50 cent sugar cookie prizes from the bakery. It was a crisp September night very well spent.

This Dog

I knew Rooney liked the park. I did not know how much he enjoyed slides. But he was loving life. It's tough to be Rooney, I'll tell you what.

Back to School in Style

I really do have the cutest nieces and nephews ever. I'm not just saying that. As evidence, I offer the following:

Exhibit A: Ethan killing it with his back-to-school jammies and backpack.

  Exhibit B: Kami and her too-cool-for-school band of brothers.

 Exhibits C and D: Ethan/Kami Combo (with Ethan still killing it in his jammies)

 Exhibit E: Aunt Biz reluctantly going through her collection of stuffed animals with her happy helpers.

Exhibit F: Tyler and his Catch-of-the-Labor-Day, including triumphant smile.
And speaking of smiles...

Exhibit G: Kami

I rest my case.

Labor Day Fun at Snowbird

The end of summer got crazy for us. In the midst of selling our house and buying/moving to a new one, we decided to take a break and enjoy Labor Day at Snowbird. 

So we didn't know Oktoberfest was going on until we got there (October, anyone?) but why not introduce the kids to a German drinking festival when you get the chance... Fortunately, there wasn't a lot of heavy drinking going on, as it was a Monday afternoon and all.

We really did enjoy the reason for our visit, which was the rides. The alpine coaster is my favorite. The smell of the pine trees is really fresh when you're on this roller coaster type ride through the side of the mountain. And the kids really like the alpine slide, which goes a little faster. Kind of fun to see what smart marketing people are able to make available at a ski resort in the summer.

After our pizza lunch, we rode the tram up to the Peruvian Tunnel, which cuts underground through one side of the mountain to another. We were told it was 10 degrees cooler in the tunnel than it was on the mountain, but it felt more like 20 or 30. It was funny to go from being in the blazing hot sun where we were sure we were getting fried to being freezing cold and wishing we had our jackets. Utah's extreme weather at its finest.

Oh Dear

Apparently it's been a looooong summer for little Miss Dee. Hopefully she's not actually expecting there to be meat.

Hi Kami

There aren't a whole lot of good reasons to make an extremely boring, unscenic four-hour drive to a medium-sized Idaho town on a Friday night after a full week of work. But these four make it worthwhile.

Especially this little stinker who, at 18 months old, has apparently already mastered the art of selfies. I'm not kidding that I left her with my phone for a few seconds thinking she might want to look through pictures and I came back to find her looking at this newly taken photo and saying "Hi Kami."