Huntsville Alabama - Part Two

The Lucky Duck Hunt. 

It took us a whole morning to do. After I spent the evening before doing the research to get us to the right spots on our hunt. 

The Visitors Center has a hunt for ducks. They give you a card with 12 clues. You find the duck at each clue and you get a special reward- a rubber duck riding a space shuttle. 

So we did the hunt. My kids loved it. 

Here's one of the ducks. 

Along the way we found some real ducks to feed too. These were seriously aggressive ducks. The little ducklings were cute. The rest I could've done without. 

As you can see, the ducks were all over. Hanging upside down, in the bark, in rocks.... Which made them a bit hard because of the brown color of the duck. 

But we found all of them!!! All 12. 

The ducks made great pool and bath toys. And we all got one!!! Even my and my mom. I'm not too old for fun souvenirs that are free and double as pool toys. 

Huntsville Alabama- Part One.

We were privileged enough to go to Huntsville Alabama last week. Nicholas went to space camp and Abby and I hung out with my mom. 

If you want to feel insignificant, go visit the Saturn V rocket. This is from over 200 feet away and I still couldn't get it all in the picture. They also have one laying down on it's side in the museum. You can walk under it and see each stage and the engines. 

We had the privilege of talking to one of the engineers who helped design the F1 engines on the rocket. He talked about how they had to deal with the heat, the sound vibrations.... It was really interesting. 

The Saturn V rockets launched the Apollo missions. In the plaza around the rocket they have plaques to each mission, pictures, and the footprints of the astronauts. Standing in Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrige's footprints was a little awe inspiring for me. 

There were a ton of simulators inside. I wanted to do the Apache helicopter one, but you had to be 13. My kids didn't want to wait so I didn't get to do it. They did get to land the space shuttle. My

Mom had a blast on that one. This was maneuvering the space shuttle in space. My kids loves those things. They didn't enjoy te reading and history so much. 

But standing in shuttle park, under the space shuttle.... That we all loved. 

Columbus Ohio trip.

Abby and I took a trip to Columbus Ohio to see my SIL Janis. Jon and Nicholas went to Itah for a BYU game and some cousin visits. 

We had quite the adventure getting there. Including bags possibly not making it. We got bumped flights and instead of it being a one stop hop it turned into a two stop hop. We totally came in and left from the two furtherest points at every terminal. Which sucks when having to cart Abigail from gate to gate. 

But all of that was alleviated when we got to Ohio. It was so much fun. We had two full days of art and shopping. We went to the zoo. Did I mention fabulous thrift stores? Abby got two princess dresses for two dollars. It was great. I got unused Cole Haan flats for $20. 

And did I mention the art? We did so much art. Janis was amazing in helping Abby learn how to use the potters wheel. And then in stepping back and letting her

Go. And never stop. Did I mention she didn't stop?

Emma - Abby's cousin- was clearly another favorite. It helps that Emma has red curly hair like Abby. Abby adores her. And clung to her like a second skin. 

It was such a blast. I can't wait until we go out there again. 

Rodeo Queen

Abby is currently obsessed with rodeo queens. We went to the rodeo in Preston ID last month and she can't stop talking about the queens. They wore sparkles and rode horses. So they were the best thing ever. 

Nicholas wants to be a cowboy. He likes the pickup riders because they didn't have to get on a bull. And the bills were mean. 

So now I find them practicing "roping"

around the house. They've made lassos out of pipe cleaners. Or string. Nicholas is learning his knots because he wants to tie one. Abby is learning to throw one. They often try to rope me. They've build a cow out of pillows and boxes to rope. 

It's also pretty cool. They play at this for hours a day. Nicholas doesn't know it yet but I got him rope. I went into the farm store and asked for rope to make a lasso. They looked at me kind of weird,but so it goes. 

I live my

Cowgirl and cowboy. 

Jon and Nicholas in Utah.

While Abby and I were off on adventures in Ohio, Jon and Nicholas went to Utah. There was a BYU game Thursday night when they got there. Shocker that the trip was timed so Jon could go to a BYU game. 

The next day cousins were in school. So Nicholas and Jon went to the Natural History museum at Thanksgiving Point. It should also be known as the dinosaur museum. Nicholas had a lot of fun. How Jon managed to get out of there without visiting the gift shop is beyond me. 

Friday night was spent eating pizza with his uncle, grandpa, and boy cousins. One of his girl cousins had girls over for her birthday. So the guys all went out to eat. 

The rest of the weekend was spent hanging with cousins. And taking Micah to the air museum. Nicholas loves that museum. And he likes Micah. So the two things were a good combination. 

When we all met up in Denver Nicholas was less than excited to see me and Abby. He didn't want to sit near us on te plane. It was kind of funny. 

Raspberry Days Festival

While we were at Bear Lake the cousins decided to go through some caves. It was going to be an hour and a half walk underground. With 440+ stairs down and up. I knew right away that Abby wasn't going to enjoy that event, so I took Abby and we went out on our own for the day.






We went to the KOA campground and played in their playground, on their air pillow, and in their sandbox. Then we went to the Raspberry Days festival - and had a blast!!!

There were pony rides, craft booths, and a petting zoo - Abby loved the animals in the petting zoo. We got a new dress, some new jewelry, and even some small gemstones for Nicholas' rock collection. There was a jerky booth, so we got Jon some flavored jerky - which he hasn't eaten yet.

And then we went out to lunch. Just the two of us in a day of madness. And then we took a nap. Abby badly needed a nap at this point, since she was getting 7 or less hours of sleep a night. Sometimes she got 8. But she was sleep deprived and behavior was really suffering. So the nap was good too.

She also loves posing for the camera. After all, she's my little girl who loves cameras and fashion shows.

Bear Lake

We went to Bear Lake at the end of July/beginning of August for the Wunderlich Cousin's Camp. It was a fun time. The family rented a big house - huge actually - and we all stayed together. The adults all had their own rooms and the kids had two big rooms - girls and boys. There were hardly enough bathrooms, but we got over that.

We had horses in the field behind the house. The kids loved feeding them carrots. 

The lake was amazing. We were there during Raspberry Days and Abby and I went to the Raspberry Festival - everyone else went exploring in caves. I think we got the better end of the deal. We ended our week there on a Friday with the Preston Rodeo. We went on ATV rides that day in Preston - and we got to see a cow giving birth.

The fun started when we left Bear Lake and realized our AC in the car wasn't working. To get home we had to drive from Utah to Las Vegas, and Las Vegas to Santa Barbara. Lots of desert and heat. With no AC. And two kids in the car. And a wife who hates the heat. You can imagine the recipe for disaster.

We made it home and the AC in the car still isn't working. I've had it fixed. Now it has to get fixed again since they clearly fixed it wrong the last time. I'm kind of hating that about the car right now.

I've got new appreciation and desire to cook and stuff after Cousin's Camp. Eric made home-made granola, and it was really good. So I'm trying out a bunch of recipes for our family. And I got a Vitamix finally because I loved how versatile it was at Cousin's Camp. And I came home to a blender that wasn't working.

All the cousins with the cow giving birth in the background.

I've included a bunch of my favorite pictures in this post. I'm sure I'll be posting others too.