The End of Summer Blitz

Last week everyone tried their best to get one last hurrah in before the start of the school year. It was a wild week, but we had a great time.

Tuesday night the MPA program at the U hosted a welcome back party. I figured that since I have been in the program for a year now, I should probably introduce Kate to some of the people I go to school with. Up to now she had no verification that I was even in school. Now that she has met my cohorts, there will be no more accusations that the money I spend on tuition is actually supporting my mistress…

Anyway, the party was held at the mill in the Tracy Aviary. The food wasn’t spectacular, but the kids had a great time exploring the aviary. The two highlights were the bald eagles and the bird that pooped right in front of the kids.

Thursday night we attended St. Mark’s Hospital’s summer party. And they know how to throw a party. The park was filled with blow up slides and bounce houses for the kids. They also had booths with games where the kids could win little trinkets. Kate got there before I did, and the moment I arrived Whitney begged me to come watch her battle her friend Lucas. She had already beaten him, and wanted me to see the rematch. As you will see from the video, it didn’t go as she had planned. The battle between Patrick and Samantha also ended badly for both of them, when they clonked heads. The party also featured a mini-golf course, and Bean found herself in heaven. Her golf methods look more like shuffle board than anything else. Kate and Whit also had a great time on the rock wall.







The party was catered by famous Dave’s, which was great. It has been a long time since I last enjoyed their Devil’s Spit barbecue sauce. I also ate cotton candy for the first time in years (I only got one little tuft of it before someone who will not be named [Pat] got a hold of it). We didn’t think we would be there very long, but I felt bad when Kate dropped off Lucas at nearly 10:00. The hospital had a host of prizes to raffle, and they ended up doing it by flashlight. I was hoping that Kate would win the Wii, but she ended up with a car wash and detail, which would come in handy after the weekend.

Friday I took the day off so we could get one camping trip in. We tried earlier in the summer, but got rained out. Getting the campsite was somewhat of an odyssey. The sites at Tanner’s Flat that could be reserved were all booked. The rest of the sites are first-come, first-served. The web site says that you can get there to get on the list as early as 6AM. I raced up the canyon and got to the check in ten minutes early, only to find that the web site is wrong. They open at 7. So after waiting for an hour, the host came out and informed me, to my delight, that he had sites available. However, since I was not expecting to get a site right away, but being added to a list, I had no cash. He agreed to hold my spot while I went to get cash. After finding an ATM I learned the hard way that my debit card expired at the end of July (see how often I use it?) After going all the way home for a check I was able to secure the camp site. The extra effort was worth it. The site was great.

Because it was a Shirley camp trip, we had to have a hike. Stretch spotted a waterfall from the road, and we decided to tackle it. Little Cottonwood is a culinary watershed, so you can’t just tromp through the creek, and we had no bridge to get across. We found a fallen log and used it to cross over. There was no trail, so we picked our way through the brush. It was steep, and at times we were simply pulling ourselves up with branches. Dad, Shared and I were working pretty hard, and I decided that I need my head examined for letting Patrick come. But he was a trooper. Side note: Patrick was told to pack his own clothes and ‘forgot’ to pack skivvies. And because his pants are usually halfway down, I spent most of the hike with his bum in my face. We all ended up with scratches on our arms and legs from the hike, but he’s the only one who got them on his rump.

The waterfalls were amazing, and we’ve already decided to go back next year and continue up to the source.



Samantha and Whitney had a great time playing cards with Kat and Shared. I don’t know if Kat and Shared enjoyed it as much, but they pretended to.


The camp trip wouldn’t be complete without my bread pudding and banana boats. I also brought a bag of Rhodes Rolls and made Navajo tacos for dinner on Friday and scones for dessert. As usual, we ate like kings and ate way too much.

This week Kate took the Bean in for her birthday pictures. I think they turned out really well.


Now it is time to settle in for the school year. Soccer games start this Saturday for Samantha and my little Whitney is in 6th grade. Crazy!

Baby Did a Bad Bad Thing

Last Friday night Kate and I attended the Chris Isaak concert at Red Butte Gardens. If it seems that Chris Isaak is a little out of character for us, it's because it is. I am not a big fan of Isaak, and before the concert couldn't name more than one of this songs (Wicked Game, of course). Kate's Dad bought the tickets, then couldn't use them and offered them to us.


I didn't know what to expect, and when he came out on stage in a sequined suit, I thought he seemed like a real Elvis man. When he covered Elvis' 'Love me Tender' the thought was confirmed. We had a great time. Isakk puts on a fun show. He came out into the crowd and sang while walking around shaking hands with people and allowing people to take pictures with him. (The tickets said no cameras, so I left mine in the car, except for my phone, which is why the pictures I have suck). In addition to the Elvis song he covered Roy Orbison songs, and I found that I recognized more of his songs than I thought I might.


We felt a little out of place at the concert. We were among the youngest people at the show. We also left our picnic basket, wine bottles and wine glasses at home. Almost as entertaining as the show was the host of middle age people getting freaky. That's right. The couple next to us were probably in their 50s, but during the dance songs, and especially during the romantic songs they were getting down right nasty. And they weren't the only ones. The woman in front of us (also in her 50s) had to be helped into her chair because she was so blitzed she couldn't sit.


The venue is amazing. The scenery there is beautiful. A rain storm passed through just before the show started and cooled things down. Another upside to attending concerts there is the fact that the parking lot is the same one I use while I am at work. I parked at the end of the lot, right next to the main entrance to the concert. I then hiked over to the hospital to work. After the concert we walked out of the gates, got in the car and zipped out of the parking lot quickly. It was nice.

The show was great and so was my date.

Bean's Big Baseball Bash

I've always said that Kate deserves a lot of credit for the effort she puts in to our kids' birthdays and holidays. She always downplays the effort, claiming that she does nothing special. She and I will disagree on that point especially after yesterday. Kate worked hard to pull Bean's 4th birthday party together. To employ some baseball parlance, Kate hit this one out of the park. Lauren is into sports, and since we did a basketball birthday last year, we went with a baseball theme this year. We went with Mexican food, since we weren't in the mood to barbeque burgers and dogs again. Kate spent most of the party making tortillas on the griddle. This after spending all day (and part of the previous day) making cakes, cupcakes, Cafe Rio salad dressing and chicken, as well as her apple dumplings. Bean absolutely loved all of her birthday presents. Except for one. She opened an outfit Kate and I geve her, looked at it and very matter of factly said, "I don't like that." Say what you will about Bean, she's honest.


Kate was worried that no one would be able to tell what was portrayed on top of Bean's cake. I told her that anyone who didn't had been beaned by too many fastballs...

Bean decided to sing Happy Birthday to herself, and even brought the microphone...

Some jerk (me) overbaked the cupcakes, so if you tried to pull the 6-4-3 double play with them you would end up with a balk...

The party coincided with the final game of a 4 game series between the Yankees and the Red Sox. Derek and the boys delivered a win for the Bronx Bombers, and later dedicated the last game of the series sweep to Lauren.

This was the first year we used a real bat for the pinata. And after some near misses and a couple of 'foul balls' it will be our last...

Kate was worried that the pinata would break too easily, so she reinforced it. So much so that she had to break out her 'big guns' and go 'Albert Pujols on it.

The pinata was as big as Barry Bonds' head...

It was a great party. A good time was had by all. Bean was so tired after the party that she fell asleep without even taking off her new Yankees Crocs. She and Kate expended so much energy on the party I may have put both of them on the DL for a while...

Pioneers, Parades and Peril

Last weekend we celebrated the hard work and sacrifices of the pioneers who settled the Salt Lake Valley by taking a day off work and stuffing our faces. As usual I took the kids to the parade on the morning of the 24th. It was plenty hot, and the nice lady in front of us put up a giant umbrella that gave her and her kids some great shade, and completely blocked our view of the floats and horse poop. She got a little irritated when my kids began to crowd around her, trying to see, but as you might imagine, I did nothin about it. Last year the parade started with an F-16 flyover. So many people complained about the afterburner that rattled windows and made little kids cry that they changed things up. Instead we were treated to a flyover from a KC-135 refueling tanker. It was somewhat of a letdown.

As you can see, Bean didn't really get into the parade...

Whitney was the only smart one, finding a shady area to watch the parade.

You may recall this picture from last year of Samantha enjoying the fireworks.


Contrast that picture with this one from this year, in which Patrick had to hunker down while Jeff tried to make the neighborhood look like a war zone...

As usual, Paul came to the barbecue at Alley's house loaded with glow in the dark toys for all of the kids. It was a great time, and no limbs or eyeballs were lost...this year...