Little Mermaid - Granddaughter's Trip

For so long I have wanted to take my grandchildren to a stage production and so several months ago I decided to take them all to Tuacahn in St. George to see "The Little Mermaid." A date was set for August 7th and I got tickets for Gabby, Bailey, Drew and Tru. We looked forward to it for several weeks and finally the day arrived. Very unfortunately, Bailey had to drop out because of a scheduled tonsillectomy she so desperately needed. As it turned out, the operation was rescheduled, but I had already invited Greg and Becky's daughter Morgan to take her ticket. I'm so sorry she couldn't come, but we had a fantastic time... I hope the girls will always remember.

We left on Thursday morning the 7th, and the girls were so good all the way. We stopped in Fillmore for lunch and made it to St. George before 3:00 p.m. The first order of business was to go swimming and we had fun in the pool. I don't think I have gotten into a pool for 10 years, but I did! I even swam underwater and jumped off the edge! Pretty good for fat grandma! Drew and Tru are little tadpoles, and could have just stayed in the pool all night! They could even dive for objects at the deep end.

 McDonald's Happy Meal cut-outs

 Beautiful Gabby loves her fries and chicken fingers!

 Can't even begin to describe how magnificent the production was... with all the water features,

water running over the stage and special effects. Mermaid was AMAZING!

 Morgan Rogers, Gabby VanAarle, Tru Rogers, Drew VanAarle and me!

 Ariel and Ursula

 Ariel and Prince Eric after the show. Back at the Claridge Inn, we were all dead at midnight.

On Friday wee decided to take the scenic route home... over Cedar Mountain and

through my hometown of Hatch. The mountain, back sideof Cedar Breaks 

and my girls are BEAUTIFUL!

The kids got a kick out of my two-room schoolhouse in Hatch. Some of the

same playground equipment is still there and they had fun on a merry-go-round type

contraption. The girls have wonderful parks and playgrounds at home, but they were having 

so much fun they wanted to stay in Hatch! 

We ate lunch at the Galaxy Diner on the corner of our old property (east side).

 I had so much fun telling the girls about my childhood, about my parents and the things 

I used to do. I wish I had taken more photos of the old property, 

but I got distracted and didn't.

     The owner of the Galaxy Diner was a Young, and it was his grandparents that my folks bought the west side of the highway from. I got to talk to him for a few minutes while we had lunch. His mother was an Evans, and Bob Evans was his uncle. So he was first cousin to one of my childhood friends, Mike Evans.

     It makes me sad to see the run-down condition of the properties, and sometimes I really don't like going back. But this time I did...to share with my granddaughters. The best part of the whole trip for me was what Drew and Tru said at lunch. They were absolutely amazed at how many times we stopped and got out of the car and weren't in a hurry to get from point A to point B. Tru was saying something like, "We just eat breakfast in the morning (when we go somewhere), and then drive and drive until we get there."This is what I call a "REAL" vacation!" Drew exclaimed. She said this was the real thing! 

     They just loved stopping and learning and wanted me to tell them more stories. I think Gabby really had fun too and she asked me questions about things. Like I told them on Cedar Mountain that they were on top of a volcano! We talked about lava and also that the largest living organism in the world are the Aspen trees up there. 

    On the way home, we stopped and got ice cream in Fillmore and then played 20 Questions for quite awhile. I was sad to see it all end.... I dropped Tru off to her Dad just off I-15 and 12300 South, then took Drew and Gabs to Kaysville. I was tired when I got home, but so, so happy we had this adventure together.

I'll Never Catch Up

Such a fun and busy summer! So many things going on and I'm so very far behind in documenting and blogging.
I have had so much fun with Drew and C.J. this summer. We have done quite a few fun things, but now school will be starting and Drew won't be coming on a regular basis. I'm so glad these cousins got to play together and get to know each other better.

 One Friday we went to Kangaroo Zoo in North Salt Lake. The kids really had fun

and C.J. ran the whole time! He has so much energy it exhausts me!

The next Friday we just had a fun Hot Tub day, running through the

sprinklers and a picnic in the yard.

Garden Producing This Year

The garden has finally started coming on like gangbusters. Cucumbers and green peppers are the stars this year. I always try to grow peppers and they are always small and few. This year, I started them from heirloom seeds and they are huge and prolific! I'm so happy. I'm learning how to collect the seeds so I can plant them again next year. One cucumber plant is growing 12-15 inch cukes and they are running out of my ears! I have been giving lots of produce away, and that makes me happy. I also put in a strawberry patch this year. The fruits aren't large, but fun for smoothies and putting on my cereal.

This year we have most of the standards... tomatoes (also started from heirloom seeds), cukes and peppers, including Anaheim, as mentioned, onions, zucchini and yellow crook-neck squash, green beans, Swiss chard, Hubbard squash, pumpkins, and watermelons. The watermelons didn't work well... there are four tiny ones. But despite my skepticism, the pumpkins and Hubbards did grow even though they are up against the fence and don't get as much sun as they should. It's too small an area as well. I grew basil, cilantro and cherry tomatoes in pots.

We have also been trying to reclaim a couple of areas in our yard where the soil has been depleted and they were eyesores. So I'm trying this "Lasagna Composting" method to see if it works.

I put down green grass clippings, then covered them with sheets of cardboard.

After the cardboard comes a layer of newspaper.

Then 3-4 inches of good compost on top.

 It looks good, anyway...

we'll see what happens. 

Now I just need to keep adding more layers and get it 6-8 inches deep.

We'll leave it until next spring and then see what we can grow!

Happy Birthday to our Bug

Miss Bailey B. turned 13 today! What a cutie pie she is and how much we love her! She plays piano, is learning Spanish, is going to be a famous baker some day; she loves the color aqua/turquoise, loves to make and eat Cronuts, the musical Wicked, and is excited for Girls Camp next week. Happy Birthday sweet granddaughter!

 Only the lovely Miss B would have such an original birthday cake!

With the Grandpa...

 With G'ma Di... I think she liked the Chinese Shard necklace and shirt we got her.

With some of the other shady characters in our family!

It was too bad many of the family were sick or out of town, but we had fun with just the grandparents, Uncle Marc and family. We can hardly wait to see what the coming year will bring for Miss B.

Fabulous Friday

Many Fridays I have the opportunity to tend and play with a couple of my grandbabies. This week C.J., Drew, Papa and I (Nana to C.J.) went to Liberty Park in Salt Lake. I haven't been there for YEARS.

We enjoyed the beautiful day, the sunshine, the geese and each other's company.

Papa joined us and G'ma packed a picnic. The kids ate every bite of their ham, cheese and cucumber sandwiches!

C.J. had the most fun chasing the geese! Wish I had that energy!

Look on the face: pure joy! If you look closely, there's a goose C.J. scared into flight.

Miss Drewby looking sassy... and so much like her mom!

C.J. "The Boy"

Fun at the Splash Pad was a cool break!

Summer fun really is the best! Love all my kiddos!

Mutt and Jeff

...better known as Wobbles and Maxie (short for Maximillian), our cute and wacky pets. Wobbles is about to celebrate his ninth (or is it 10th) birthday. After our beloved cocker Cosette died, Zachary begged and begged for another dog, so John and I finally caved. We even paid $100 for this pure-bred Cockapoo. Imagine our surprise when we took him for his first puppy exam and the vet said, "What a cute terrier mix." But it was too late to put up a fuss with the sellers and too late for a bobbed tail.

The puppy was so adorable, but for awhile we even wondered if he was crippled. He sometimes would drag his hind legs behind him and when he tried to sit, he wasn't very steady on his hiney - kind of reminded me of those Fisher Price toys "Weebles." Remember, "Weebles wobble, but they don't fall down?" That's how the moniker Wobbles was derived.

Now Maxie was originally Guapo (Spanish for "handsome"), when he belonged to the next door tenant. When the renter moved to a new place, he could only take one of his two cats, and Guapo was up for adoption. The landlords wanted to take him, but they already have five wild cats and so we said, "Yes." I re-named this elegant, long, lanky, loving animal and he has been a part of our family for almost two years. We are always covered with cat hair, especially in the spring... so we vacuum alot, and buy lint rollers by the dozens. They are standard equipment for every room in the house and both cars.

Have you read and heard stories about how animals have a certain sense about when people have medical problems, like having a heart attack? Well, Maxie always knows when Wobbles is hungry or needs to go out to do his business. Really. He wakes us up meowing in the mornings and keeps jumping up on the bed annoying us until we get up and let the dog out. He continues to advocate for Wobbles until we feed him. No kidding, you'd have to see it to believe it. In fact, when we go to let the dog out or get the food to feed him, Maxie runs ahead to make sure we know where the door is or where the dish is! When Wobbles is outside, Maxie waits and watches by the window until he comes back.

These guys won't snuggle or sleep together, but they check each other out and seem to be so happy to make sure the other is doing okay. One of their favorite napping places is at the top of the stairs, where Wobbles makes his place on one side of the landing and Maxie makes his spot on the opposite wall - not too close, but not too far away.

What can I say... we are softies and even though we hate all the poop and hairballs, our four-legged friends bring us comfort and joy.

NOTE: JUNE '14  I can't remember when we had to put Wobbles to sleep. He gave his life protecting Maxie. He already was lame in one hind leg and one afternoon a bad cat was attacking Maxie down in the yard. I ran outside to the screeches of fighting cats. Wobbles heard it too and ran past me out the back door and down two flights of patio stairs and tore after the cat that was fighting with Maxie. Watchdog to the rescue. But when it was over, Wobbles came back dragging his hind quarters: he had broken the other leg. He suffered for a couple of days and couldn't even get himself outside to relieve himself. John took him to the animal shelter. We were heartbroken. Maxie was heartbroken and mourned and missed his friend for a very long time. I need to add some photos.