Last year, when we fed the ducks, Sylvia was able to lure a really cute one (that she even named "s'mores") onto her lap. She kept trying that this year, but her plans were foiled by a gang of four geese that kept trying to barge their way in and knock her over.
Ephraim got a kick out of luring the ducks to him, and then making them "jump" for pieces of bread like we do for our chickens at home. It is pretty funny to watch ducks try to jump.
Here is Sean doing the international symbol for "Go away geese, I don't have any food!"
Another on the must-do list is to get read to by grandma. She is the best reader. She makes up voices, askes questions, and really connects with each child she reads to. It is a calorie-free sweet treat.
A not-calorie-free type of treat are all the snacks around! It is a bit like living in Willa Wonka's factory. My own grandparents had a cookie far full for us kids, but my parents have a pantry full of snacks and baked goods. It is a whole new level of granparent sugarland. It is a good life for a kid here.
Ephraim loves checking grandma's garden. Tomatoes, strawberries and corn were all part of his discovered loot. I think Ephraim alone ate through half of their corn crop in the two days we were there.
Sylvia loved the flowers. My mom and dad do an amazing job with their flower gardens.
Here is the last bloom of my mom's favorite rose bush in her garden. When I look at my mom's roses, it reminds me of my grandma Judd's amzing garden of roses.(My mom's mother.) I wonder if flower tending is something that carries down generations. It will be interesting to watch my kids and their kids to find out.
It is especially impressive if you know that they start almost all these flowers in their green house from hundreds of tiny plugs in late winter.
Sean and I went up to the Rexburg Temple while my mom and dad were serving one afternoon. It was touching to see my dad all dressed in white, walking through the foyar to his station at the entry desk, looking very much like how I expect he will look in heaven down the road.
We took the kids to the Henry's Fork of the Snake River, just a short walk from my parents house. I used to fish in it as a kid. (Also the place I would go to hang out if I was skipping high school classes, and the place my brother and I had to get rescued from at night by a search party. Ahhh.. the memories.)
It was running low, and the perfect spot for learning to skip rocks. I don't know why it is so tough in Wisconsin to find good river rocks along the banks of our rivers. They were plentiful here!
Sylv got rock-skipping lessons from Sean, she is now a pro. Ephraim caught his first crawdad, and was soooooo excited.
He decided to sketch it in his nature journal, before letting it go.
The river was also a nice cool place to hang out and read books or paint during the hot afternoons.
It was good to see Sean out his paints and easel. It has been a while since he painted. He is hoping to refresh some of his painting skills while we visit the coast.
We also baked brownies for the family reunion, and my mom surprised my kids by joinging them in licking the spatula, bowl and beaters. She is still a kid at heart, despite the wrinkles.
We had lots of time to sit and visit, as well as spend an evening with Daniel's kids. I don't have pictures from that, because I was too busy schooling Eli and Spencer in the ways of flag football. (Ok.. not really. I may have ended that game laying on the grass, gasping for air, and calling a permanant time-out.)
I had fun with the nephews, and the kids had fun with a few cousins. Little did they know, Cousin-pa-looza 2019 was just around the corner!
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