A Trip and a Field Trip

We got to go spend the weekend with the Pauls in northern Utah last week. We all had a great time! With Ryan's dad and sister, we visited a couple of museums in Park City. First, was the Park City Museum. Lincoln, Marina, Will, and Ryan posed for this photo there. The kids got backpacks and helmets, just like the first miners in Park City (almost).
We learned how miners would have to go down amazingly long elevators, how some underground transportation happened, and had a great time!
Next, was the Alf Engen Ski Museum at the Olympic Park. The kids tried out the sled, just to see what it was like.The kids were really good in the car - they really rode in style!

While we were driving, we asked the kids what they would wish for if they had a wish. Marina said she would want a fairy costume and an Easter party. Then she said she wanted to be a mom with two kids, named rainbow and unicorn. Nice. Lincoln's wish was that we stop endangering animals. Very nice.

Lincoln got to go on a a fishing trip with his grandpa, aunt Melissa, and cousin Will. He had fun but his favorite part was when the boat went fast. I don't think you can catch many fish that way. They didn't catch any.

We had so much fun - thanks for a fun weekend!

We let the kids watch movies to go to bed on weekends, on trips, and other exceptions. Marina has caught on to the idea of exceptions, and she asks for one almost every day. Only she asks for an "exsheption." It's so cute the way that she says it, it's hard to say no!

Lincoln had a field trip last week too. He got to go to the Shakespearean Festival's Bard's Birthday Bash. He got to celebrate Shakespeare's birthday by having cake with queen Elizabeth (the first, he emphasizes), doing a maypole, having a tug of war (and winning), and learning about swords and stage combat. He even got to see some other second graders do a 10 minute version of Twelfth Night. We was so excited about that field trip, he got up at 6 a.m. that day!

Family Fun

Things have calmed down a little now that Lincoln's play is finished. Marina came with me on a work trip to Salt Lake. She got to see her cousins Carter and Ella.



Carter does not like to pose for the camera. Carter has a little play house in his back yard that had to be swept out for the spring. In Carter's and Marina's minds, it was not a chore to be done. They had to repeatedly take turns sweeping.

It was a very fun trip. In fact, Marina also got her first driving lesson. Here is a video of the end of it. Just to set the scene, she had run into the house right before this.




She did not want to drive anymore after that. It's probably OK that she waits a few more years.

Lincoln got some new Sunday clothes . Here is his belated Easter outfit. Lincoln has two extremes when it comes to photo smiles. I went with this one, because his serious look could be mistaken for a scowl. Marina has been wanting to have curly hair for a while. She asked enough times that I finally bought her some curlers. Marina looks so cute in curlers, and the end result was definitely curly!




She asked if she could have bigger curls next time. I guess it's back to the store for me!

Marina still LOVES dress up. Here is an interesting combination of princess dresses and accessories.

This is Marina in another princess dress performing a song she made up.



My brother, Steve, and his family also visited this month. The kids loved playing with their cousin Kyle. Kyle is not even two years old, but those three kids loved running from one end of the house to the other yelling at the top of their lungs. Marina and Kyle are here on our swings.



We also took the kids for a walk along the canyon trail here in Cedar City. The kids amazingly walked almost two miles, pushing their cousin's stroller for much of the way. They are a couple of amazing kids!

More Lorax Photos

Here are some of the professional photos taken and Lincoln's Seussical performance. What an awesome little actor!

Bunnies, Seuss, and more!

Lincoln has been busy rehearsing almost every day in March for Seussical Jr. He had eight performances (three in one day!), and loved every minute of it. He even got to be interviewed by the local newspaper about performing (see the middle of the second column for his quote).


Lincoln made the best Lorax ever, and thankfully had a costume that was different enough from everyone else's that we could keep track of him on stage.






We could not take any video (due to copyrights), but we should have some more photos of the show next time. I will also try to get the kids to sing some of the songs. Marina has been re-enacting her favorite parts. She sings, "the biggest blame fool in the jungle of Nool." and "How lucky you are" and just about everything she saw the birds do.

All the talk (and singing) about Seuss renewed the kids' interest in Dr. Seuss books. I have read several of them to the kids recently (especially The Lorax, of course). Marina also loves to look at the books to go to sleep. So cute!



We all attended a performance called Crayon Court, which was a puppet show that taught about colors. We had fun, and when it was done, we all had a degree in Colornometry and got to meet the cast.



Marina's favorite was Miss Black and White (a black and white puppet) and all the girl puppets.

We had lots of family come to see Lincoln in Seussical - thank you!



While the Pauls were visiting, we did an easter egg hunt for the kids - at Frontier Homestead Museum, since there was snow on the ground.



Ryan and his coworkers dedicated a sawmill at the museum a couple of weeks ago. It was the sawmill that was used to cut the timbers of Old Main at Southern Utah University over 100 years ago. Of course, when there was a crowd, the cranky thing did not want to work. One of the descendants of the family who had the sawmill said that was pretty fitting since it regularly did not want to work. So, they sawed a log by hand, and when everyone went home - it started right up!
This photo is of Marina, hanging out in one of her princess dresses. She likes to play the piano and sing songs that she makes up. She is very talented!


We cleaned Lincoln's room today, and found this school project from Martin Luther King day. Lincoln was supposed to talk about how he dreams that the world could be a better place. Here are his own words: