Alaska 2014, Day 1

More than a year ago, Jonathan signed up to go on a trip to Costa Rica (I'll post some cool pictures from his trip next, or soon).  I was jealous and decided that I needed to go somewhere awesome during the time Jonathan was in Costa Rica.  I decided that an Alaskan cruise would be awesome enough.  My only cruise stipulations were that it was a round trip cruise from the US, and that it was over the dates that J was to be in Costa Rica.  There was one cruiseline that met those parameters, so we booked a cruise out of Seattle on the Carnival Miracle.

We flew into Seattle on the day of the cruise, which honestly causes me a bit of stress.  We miss the flight, we probably would miss the cruise.  Our flight arrived as scheduled; then we boarded a shuttle and headed to the pier.  We got to the pier, checked in without a delay, skipped the embarkation photo, then got in line to get on the ship.  We watched the loading of the ship while we stood in line for just a couple of minutes.

We boarded, found our room, then headed up to lunch.  We watched the sail away from our balcony, then wandered around the ship.  It was a lovely, lazy day.

Miles' Busy Summer

Miles' schedule is busy, and I have no one to blame for that except for myself!  He has swimming lessons twice a day, cooking class on Tuesday, and Soccer on Wednesday, then he's with me for all the fun errands I get to run.

Swimming lessons... Why twice a day?  Well, it's because he's not learning much from the lessons he takes at the city pool.  They are great for his social life, but that's about it.  So he also takes from a girl in our neighborhood.  She's a "pusher"- she says "back float" and expects the kids to do it.  Yesterday she told Miles to "swim" and guess what?  He did!  It wasn't pretty, but he swam across the pool.  Today I took a quick video clip of him swimming.

Last summer, Miles took a cooking class.  I didn't think he enjoyed it much, but he asked for "more cooking class" this summer.  So far, his favorite thing to make was a Minion cake.

Today he made mini-corndogs and was quite proud of himself.

So now he thinks he's an awesome chef and wants to help me cook.  On Saturday I was making brownies and Miles told me that he needed to "open the eggs."  This recipe called for 8 eggs.  Miles didn't get a single shell in the batter.  Then I made Lemon Bars, and Miles had to "open" those eggs too.  He went 12 for 12 in "egg opening".

Miles' BFFs visited this weekend.  When he saw his Grandma, he gave her a big hug then told her that she needed to watch "Frozen" with him  Miles knows that Grandpa is always good for games.  They played Miles' versions of Chess, Dominoes, Triangle Dominoes, and Candyland.

Finally, yesterday Miles and I dropped Nolan off at EFY.  After we got Nolan settled in, there was an hour before my hair appointment.  I had to find something to fill the time, and since we were at BYU, I decided we should go to the Bean Museum.  Miles had a great time.  He was feeling brave and taking pictures of animals that when are alive, are quite scary... animals like butterflies.  He liked the elephant the best and found the warthogs interesting.

Las Vegas 2014

My parents celebrated 50 years of marriage in June.  The entire family gathered in Las Vegas for Memorial Day weekend to commemorate the event.  We spent a lot of time hanging out at the pool,

and in and around the house,

and catching up.  

The grandkids became friends.  

We got to meet Squishy!  

We ate a lot.  

There was a birthday to celebrate.  Happy 19th Jonathan!  

We went to Hoover Dam.  

We found a Thrify's Ice Cream place that had the same flavors we ate and ice cream scoop shape as we had as kids.

We hiked in Red Rocks Recreational Area.  

We ate some more.  

We took a family picture too!  

We had a fun weekend.  Thanks, Mom & Dad, and here's to you!

Oh, check out the shower that was in my room at the house we rented.  Amazing.

Soccer Season

Miles has been asking to participate in a team sport.  He wanted to play baseball this spring, but we missed the sign-ups.  Then he caught World Cup fever and wanted to play soccer.  Hesitantly, I signed him up.  Factoring in his anxiety issues, I assumed he'd be more of a "dandelion picker" than a soccer player.  Yesterday was his first practice, and he was a crazy man.  I know it was only a practice, but the kid can kick and dribble.  At one point the coach wanted the kids just to chase he around the field (like they were practicing playing "bunch ball"; most of the kids (the ones who weren't hanging onto their moms and crying) ran after the coach.  Miles, however, not only chased the coach, but did so while dribbling the soccer ball (and he was still the fastest!).  So maybe the season will not be a complete bust.  Maybe he'll love the game and become the next David Beckham.  Or perhaps when seven other kids are bearing down on him during a game, he'll find the dandelions much more appealing.

Jonathan's Mission

Jonathan reported for his mission today.  You can read about his mission adventures at elderjonathanbelnap.blogspot.com .  It will be updated regularly (hopefully weekly).

Canberra Rock

There's a rock that sits out where our subdivision starts.  It proclaims that the neighborhood is "Canberra", and below the name of the subdivision are the words "The Gathering Place."  Whatever.  I'm not the biggest fan of the rock, but it is useful with giving people directions to my house; I just tell them to turn at the rock.  Some people take great pride in the rock, as if it were a part of their identities.  Evidently there's at least one other person who feels as I do about the rock.  This morning I turned at the rock to go home and noticed an addition to the rock.  I started to laugh and had to circle back to admire the addition and photodocument it.  I love it!  My mom says everyone needs a bit of "whimsy" in their life; the rock has now been whismyfied!

Food!

The picky one has decided to try foods.  Miles has been tasting so many things lately.  Things like guacamole, and jell-o (which is best through a straw), hotdogs, and cereal with milk.  So far, the biggest winner has been the cereal with milk.  He's my only child who will eat cereal with milk.