Per Diem

This week David went to the Rocky Mountain Modern Language Association Conference as one of the presenters.  

He flew in with his friend Chris, also a PhD student at USU, Wednesday evening.  (Mt. Hood)

Oops!  He convinced Enterprise to up their rental to Camaro Convertible.  

Then they went to Podnah's pit, where he enjoyed the best blue chees brisket salad he has tasted (Tex Cobb).

Then they drove to Vancouver for the conference. 

The next morning he presented.

 

And answered questions.

Then he and the others in his cohort ate at the Portland Grill on the 30th floor of a Skyscraper in the center of Portland.  He loved the cheese platter appetizer and the crab vinaigrette salad. The Filet Mignon was fine.  But the waiter took away his sourdough when he said to leave it, which hurt his tip.  

Don't mess with the sourdough. 

The next evening they ate at a Peruvian restaurant.   This was his first experience with Peruvian food by his memory.  Salsas came with bread.  The first was a peanut salsa.  The second, a mango/starfruit/pepper salsa, and the verde salsa included some new peppers he never tried before.  

Yet again, he ordered the large cheese appetizer.  This one came with starfruit and a Peruvian popcorn that pops within the kernal.  He snuck some of these through airport security so we could try them.  

His lamb was fine, but the fried yukon potatoes were "the most amazing tater tots in the world."  

 

His dessert  (Canutos de Quinoa Y Maraguya) included his first edible flower, which was "amazing and fragrant."

Mr. Big Sniffer

"Mom, something in my room smells like mint," Ami complained.

"It's just the peppermint oil from the foot massage, the fan is blowing it into your room." 

"No, seriously, my room smells like mint."

I walked into the hall to see Tim making breakfast in the kitchen.  "I need Mr. Big Sniffer to find out where the mint smell is coming from."

Tim paused, realizing that both he and his father got the bloodhound noses from the genepool.  He turned around, saw me looking at him...

...he circled his head to the side, down, and then up looking to the other side.  His hands balled into fists and came to his hips as his legs moved shoulder length apart, completing the 1940's comic book pose.  He flashed a momentary monster grin, but quickly stifled it, realizing that was un-superhero-like.  He blew the air in his lungs out of his mouth, and inhaled a massive scenting breath.

He started walking around the house tracking the smell.  Final diagonsis:  Ami's sniffer is broke, the coconut oil is the primary source of the smell, even though it was mixed with peppermint, she should be smelling both.

Bryce Canyon / Tuacahn Vacation

For our summer vacation, we went to Bryce Canyon National Park, then down to Saint George to see "Mary Poppins" and "Mulan" at the Tuacahn Amphitheater.  We could not have asked for better company, better views, and better weather.  The Stoners and one of our mature nieces joined us.

We arrived Monday and set up camp.  Our campsites were large with excellent trees for climbing and playing.  We made sandwiches, and invited a Dutch family over for dutch-oven brownies.  They had never heard of a dutch oven.


On Tuesday we hiked Queen's garden / Navajo loop.  Susanna - unlike last year - wanted to be carried almost the entire time.  After a nap, we went to the evening astronomy program and went outside to look through high-powered telescopes at stars, the milky way, and Saturn.  It gets very dark in the park, allowing for amazing star gazing.

On Wednesday we went to Rainbow point and hiked the briscone loop.  Gorgeous views and great fun continued.

On Thursday we headed through Zion's national park on the way to Saint George, just so one of the kids could get car sick and puke on her cousin.  After recovering, we cleaned up, got pizza, went swimming and crashed.

Relaxing Friday with time at the pool, our favorite Thai/Sushi resturant "Benja's" and Mary Poppins. The performance was great, the story is - as you know - the biggest problem.


Saturday we packed up, visited the temple and Brigham Young's winter home, and then were blown away by "Mulan;" it was an absolute riot with amazing singing and comedy.

Three of us made it through the week healthy, the others crashed as we drove home.  Great time, great kids, great company.   

Geared up

Above the rim

Lunch snack

Vogue

 

 At the bottom of the "canyon" (Bryce canyon is inappropriately named)

Love the deep blue sky - no photoshop here

 

Getting carried for hours is exhausting

The kids loved dead trees.  They pointed out every one and wanted pictures.  ???

 Don't step back

 Selfee

Shameless Gatorade plug

 

 Cheetos fingers on the cooler...

 Tim learns how to grill steak.  Guess who's missing arm hairs?

 Chipmunk stalking

 Who needs monkey bars?

 

 Ami's favorite part is meeting the cast

Cast poses were awesome.  Recognize Mushu?  (David LaMarr)

Same guy who we saw as Sabastian!  He made both shows awesome!

 More great cast photos.

Lots of fun.

Drive-in

The activity days leaders planned a father-daughter drive-in.  Maggie made a "Harley Daviddaughter" side car and we enjoyed a well-planned, fun evening!  Movies, games, and popcorn.

From Reward To Extortion In 2 Weeks Flat.

David really likes his sunglasses.  They are polarized, fit, and safety-glass spec. 

On Friday, they went missing from the top of his dresser.

Two weeks ago, the family started an "offer a reward if you lose something important" option.  If someone lost something important, they would offer a $0.50 reward to the finder.  Since then, Tim paid Ami for finding his Leatherman.  Maggie paid Tim for finding her iPod. 

Susanna wanted to get paid.

After looking around carefully and asking all Saturday if anyone had seen or touched his glasses, David finally offered a reward for finding them. 

Susanna perked up.   "Money for sum-gwasses?" 

"Uh-huh."

"YES!  YES! YES! YES!  I gewt yur gwasses Dad!"  She gleefully screamed.  She then ran to a drawer in our room, pulled out an old glasses case, and pulled the glasses out of the case.

What is more disturbing?  Extortion, or that she realized that by hiding them in our room in a glasses case, she could not get consequences for taking them.

"Tay was put away Dad."  She said with a smile and an outstretched hand. 

First time he ever paid up for extortion. 

And it was done by a 3 year old.

This is a cow patty. This is a cow patty all over you. Any Questions?

So David lead us on one of those no-notice-mini-vacations.

He was kind enough to give me two hours to pack this time. :)

We grabbed the camping gear Friday night and went up the canyon.  Found a nice campsite near a brook and spent the evening in the crisp outdoors.

The first thing we did at the campsite before taking a hike was show the children what a cow patty was, and informed them emphatically that they were not to step near these under any circumstances.

 

Tim completes Cub Scout Requirement to lead a hike. 

 

Susanna gives up on hike after 3 steps.

 

The pasture summit

 

Girls identified plants on the way (Silky Lupine)

 

(Could not determine)

 

(Finally determined it was Ami)

After the hike came the fail.

Though it might not have been his fault.  Tim thought it was a boulder.  It was four feet wide (1.5) and 10 feet tall (2) and the outside had solidified.

But the inside was still foul mushy.

David saw the danger of Tim jumping towards it too late...

Time slowed...

"N...N...N...N...O...O...O...O...O...O...O...O...O...O...O...O...O...O"

crap. crapitdy crap crap, a crap, crap.

David picked Him up out of the warm filth. 

Tim went shoeless for the rest of the trip, except to borrow sandals to go to the loo.

ugh.

Only salvaged the trip with strawberry S'mores (or as Susanna says: sta-ar-bur-dy!)