March 2012 continued

Alicia and I recently started biking more.  She also got a trailer to haul the girls with her sometimes.

Ready for the maiden (in both senses) voyage.  Note the helmets and harnesses!

 Heading out to visit grandma Joyce yesterday.

 First stop en route to grandma Joyce's was First Dam at the mouth of Logan canyon.  A perfect opportunity to feed some bread crusts to the fat ducks, geese, and seagulls.

 It was an overcast but mild March day and even though it was windy, it was not unpleasant.

Gayle and I met up with the girls at great grandma's.  Avril likes to "read" with grandpa.

 Meanwhile, McKel set the table all by herself and even pretended to pour drinks in the cups.

 McKel loves riding the rocking horse at grandma Joyce's.

 Alicia and Avril relaxed in a soft chair in the basement.

 A random shot to demonstrate what we find all over the house.  Avril, and now even McKel, love to take dolls and stuffed animals and "put them in bed," wrapping them in "blankees" and putting pads under them and sometimes pillows to sleep on.  Here's Elmo right next to our front hallway.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And here's an Android phone shot Gayle took of her gradually changing bruise marks from her blacking out last week.

Another parting shot of Gayle's lovely chin and skinned upper lip.  Make-up doesn't quite hide it either.

Ugly Mugshots!

 We feature unflattering shots this week.  I shaved off my remaining goatee this week.  That gave me the chance to play with the "look" as I did it.  I did not leave the house with this look.

 I did actually wear this scaled down version of a mustache for 2 days before shaving it off entirely.

The next series of shots requires an explanation.  Gayle took mom Parkinson to see War Horse at the theater last night.  She had helped Alicia earlier this week while Ali had a short-lived but intense flu bug.  Gayle suddenly became very sick while watching the movie with mom, so she got up to go to the restroom.  As she turned the corner out of the theater room, she apparently passed out, hitting her face on something as she fell (maybe the concrete wall).  Some theater workers helped her to the restroom where she seems to have passed out a second time.  She does not know what she hit, but she got serious "soft tissue" damage.  Fortunately, she broke no teeth and no bones (to the best of our knowledge).  She called me and I went to take her place with mom.  Once she felt better she drove home to recuperate.  The following photos are not for the squeamish.

 This doesn't do justice to the swelling under her bottom gum. We can't help but laugh although it is painful.  Would make a good Halloween mask!

This helps put it into a little better perspective.  By the way, this is with make-up on.  Her chin is turning quite purple right now.  In fact, Avril said nana had "marker" on her face. (We bet you are laughing by now!)

 Another angle.

She managed to skin up her upper lip as well.  Dr. Mark Firth, our neighbor, checked her out and believes it just involves soft tissue, so we're hoping it heals up quickly.  She was very blessed that nothing more serious happened.

Just moments ago, we heard Alicia break out laughing downstairs.  McKel had just walked into the living room wearing the potty seat cover as a sombrero.  We try to keep the bathroom doors closed, but it doesn't always happen.

It's so fun to be a kid!

You've heard of potty mouth, right?  This is a potty head.

Too cute.

Avril had to model the new look also, once she heard how everyone loved it.

Some More Shots

 One day after day care school, Gayle took the girls to the Cache Valley Mall for some entertainment.  McKel is excited to finally be driving, but Avril seems a bit bored.

One afternoon, when the weather started getting a bit nicer, Alicia, Gayle, and I took the girls to see the goats down the street.  They live behind a neighbor's house. There is also a pen for a couple of chickens, and there are cats around too.  Here are the two goats.

 Gayle is the photographer (using her phone).  You can see her shadow as she shoots McKel playing in the still cold garden, and the rest of us watching.

 Avril admires the goat statue in the garden.

We walked on down to the park not far from Jared's house to play on the jungle gym and slides.  Jared came over to visit his nieces awhile too.  You can see that in the shade there was still a lot of snow.  The girls had a great time.

Early March, 2012

 I took March 2nd off to spend the day with Gayle on her birthday.  We enjoyed eating out and going to a movie later.  The next day, Saturday, there was some fresh snow, so Alicia took the girls tobogganing at Old Main Hill.  Here the girls are in a parking area near  Old Main hill.

 Sitting on the toboggan (and McKel ready to eat more snow).

 The cool temperature really made McKel's cheeks redden up.  It's great to have snow clothes!

 Avril is growing up so fast.  She loves to have fun in the snow.

 Earlier today, Saturday, March 10th, Alicia ran a 5K at Skyview in Smithfield.  It was called Spencer's Sprint, for a young boy who had a heart transplant.  It was a fund-raiser for the family.  The weather was clear and sunny, but it started around 9:00 a.m. so it was still pretty crisp.  Later in the day she got a road bike so she can ride with Trish in a cancer ride later in the summer.  This same afternoon Alicia and I rode up the Logan Canyon so she could do a 25 mile training ride.  We got about 9 miles up and my tire started going seriously flat.  So we turned around and eventually Gayle had to meet me just below the trail head to the Stokes' Nature Center with a pump.  Ali then went on to finish about 25 miles and I tried to go a bit farther as well, but didn't get a full 25 miles in before the tire went low again.  I was on a mountain bike, by the way.

 Ali at the end of her 5K.  Her iPhone goes everywhere she does.  In fact Gayle texted her and she responded while she was running!  It is also an iPod, of course, so she listens to music when she runs or cycles.

 A shot to show the finish line area and some of the crowd.

 And this shows the snowy Wellsville Mountains and the pretty day.

You should always replenish your nutrients with something healthy after a race!