Fun at the Pool

 Saturday we decided that for our extended family activity (Family Home Evening) we would go to the Sports Academy pool together.  Jared couldn't make it, but Adrian and his family could.  Here are the girls posing before Adrian and his family got there.  Brittney brought along a friend, Abigail.

 Avril had a blast using a frog float device.

 McKel had a life preserver with a seat in it.  She loved the water.

 Here the girls are, waiting for Adrian and family.
Finally the whole crowd joined in the fun - Abigail, Avril, Brittney, Arleen, Adrian, McKel, and Alicia are shown.

Some September Fun

 

It's great having Adrian, Arleen, and Brittney nearby.  They help out a lot.  In the case above, Avril is lending a hand to assist Arleen in washing Alicia's car.

We recently implemented a standing FHE whereby any of our family (who are now all in town) who are around can gather once a week for a family night.  We kicked off the new tradition a few weeks ago and included the great grandparents as well.  This first time we had a dinner also.

 Here's a shot of Brit, Jared, Arleen, and Adrian.
Here are some of us at the other end of the table.

The activity that night included some water balloons.  Here is Brit with some she got ready.

Gayle with the two youngest grand girls.

 

And Avril loves being outdoors.  She likes the flowers.

 We played water balloon volleyball.  Brit learned the game while at her ward's Youth Conference shortly before.

Gayle and I made a good team.

 Adrian and Arleen, with McKel a bit unhappy at the moment.

 We gathered and made the trek to the Hogle Zoo in Salt Lake City on Labor Day.  The baby carrier (the apparatus, not Brit) is a very useful item.  Here Brit shows how she carried McKel much of the zoo visit.

Here's the whole family at once at the beginning of our Hogle Zoo fun.

 McKel got to see her first elephants.

 Here are some of us observing the elephants.

 Avril and I watched from the upper level.

And here are what we were looking at.

 Avril on top of a rhino statue.

These were the real deal.

 Avril likes to refer to her drink in the lion.

We were observing some napping Bengalese tigers here.  Very large indeed!

 The trip wouldn't be complete without the carousel.  Cousin Brit helps Avril.

 A bit of down time for a frozen treat.

More folks enjoying the frozen stuff.

 Here's a later FHE (9/12) for which one activity was to help Brit start learning how to ride a bicycle.  The helmet is important!

Papa is about to attempt to teach bicycle riding.

 Avril insisted on riding her "bicycle" also.

 

Avril loves to participate.

This FHE was also fun.

 

We're about to launch into a two wheeled adventure.

A Busy Week in August

 Tuesday, August 16th, was Gayle's and my 34th anniversary.  We chose to celebrate it by enjoying family.  We went with Brit, Arleen, Adrian, Alicia, Avril, and McKel up to Tony Grove, a mountain lake high above Logan.  We had an evening picnic and proceeded to hike around the lake.

 

 McKel was impressed by the watermelon.

 Avril has become fast friends with Brit, her cousin who recently moved from Azusa, California.

 I was assigned to cut the watermelon.  Everything is a bit more work when carrying a baby.

 Gayle and our eldest, Adrian, relaxing on the wall before our adventure.

 McKel discovering a new favorite food, watermelon.

 We weren't the only ones looking forward to a picnic.  We eventually shared some of our pistachios with this friendly chipmunk.

 Avril had a blast and actually walked nearly the entire circumference of the lake on her own, hanging out with Brittney.

 Several folks were fishing, and we got to see a guy pull in a nice trout from the shore.

 Looking at the south end of the lake.  That's Alicia, Brit, me wit McKel, and Avril.

 Of course Avril insisted on sticking her hand in the water.  She wanted to go in.

 Grandparents with their youngest grandchild.

 Heading around the west side of the lake, just under the crest of the mountains, and thus in the shady zone.  This is the side with the spectacular wild flowers.  Even this late in the year, and probably because the of especially wet winter and spring, the flowers were very beautiful.

 A snippet of the view of flowers.

 Up closer.  The flowers are small, delicate, colorful, and pretty.  And there is a very wide variety of them.

 More.

 And some more.

 The next day I was able to take Avril to the ward Primary's water day at the neighborhood park.  Avril was a bit young for it, but still had lots of fun.  Here she is with Ellie and Julie, two of Alicia's recently added piano students.  They are the Stockers' grand girls from Japan who are staying here this summer.

 Avril, examining the ball we used (I helped) to put someone into the water in the dunk tank.

 Checking out what the other kids were doing, as she stands by our mode of transportation to the park, the big red wagon.

 Avril didn't quite get the whole water balloon thing.  She just wanted to squish them and play with them.  She didn't want them to break.

 I should mention also that we had a new car delivered to our house on our anniversary.  It's a Honda Odyssey van, so we can haul around more family members now that they all live in Logan.  Here are the great grandparents with Gayle in front of the new vehicle (and the color is Mocha - with gold specs).

 Jared gave me a hike with him for my Father's Day present, and we've been trying to schedule it ever since.  After several postponings, we finally did a Wind Cave hike up Logan Canyon on the 17th after he got home from work.  Fortunately we were quick hikers and made it down before it got too dark to follow the trail.  Here's Jared just as we were about to hit the trail.

 The view south, across the canyon, looking at the cliffs below the Crimson Trail, another great hike.

 Jared, en route to the Wind Caves.

 We're in the second half of August and there is still snow up above Third Dam.  This is looking south/southwest from the trail.

 Jared has lifted weights over the years and is more buff than I am.

 It was dusk, so it's a bit harder to see, but you can tell that this rock is hollow.

 And from another angle.

 Me, resting before the trek down.  It's only a 1.3 mile walk, but it goes up 900 feet in elevation, so it's not exactly a walk in the park.

 Averl with Laurel and Taggert Rapp, Amy's children (Amy is one of Alicia's friends from high school).

 

Today, the 21st, we drove our new van on its maiden voyage.  We, along with Adrian and his family and mom and dad with Robert, Tracine, and Spencer Lee,  attended the blessing of Kelly and Trish's triplets.  Robert blessed Edison and I blessed George.  Parker was blessed by Kelly's friend.  Afterward we had a nice family reunion and luncheon at Kelly and Trish's home.  Here's a group shot, minus Spencer Lee, who took the photo.

And here's just the Spencer K. Parkinson family.