Elliot rides a bike & Loses a Tooth

 I've been trying to persuade Elliot to ride a bike for about 3 years now. We tried bribery. We tried peer pressure. What finally worked was seeing Annie zip around on her strider bike. He couldn't stand for that! As soon as he expressed a slight willingness to learn, I borrowed a bike from the Sevey's and made a sticker chart. Riding the bike around the gym when we were there for volleyball/playgroup would earn him screen time. Then there were four challenges at the end for increasingly long routes around our neighborhood. 

I can't give Elliot too much shade for his bike avoidance since I learned just a month before him. I made it 3 decades without learning how to ride a bike. My mom got hit by a car while riding a bike when she was 16 and spent a year in a wheelchair, so there is some understandable bike trauma there. My siblings all learned somewhat at scouts or neighbor's houses, but I never got on a bike until my college roommates pushed me around the Helaman Halls parking lot. It was terrifying. I went on a bike ride with 9 year old Blake that summer. He left me in his dust while I crashed into various rocks and then walked the bike home. Aaron got me on one once, but I never got past the point where I was in constant panic mode- until this year! My friend Bethany Mulder gave me her old bike before she moved away and gave me some lessons. She deserves a sainthood for her patience. Now I can ride and I love it! 

We learned in the church gym. He didn't have training wheels. At first I would hold/push him back and forth while he got used to peddling. Then I would let go for the middle part before helping him stop at the end. Then he was able to ride and stop by himself after an initial push. Then a few sessions later he was zooming around all by himself while my heart did these little pride explosions. 

The grand prize was for riding his bike all the way to Stanley the rock snake and back, which is a little over a mile. Wild Katz proved to be well worth his efforts! 

One of the few pictures I got of Elliot at Wild Katz- he was running all over the place exploring while I kind of kept up with the littler kids.

Isaac absolutely did not know what to do with this clear floor panel on the upper level of the jungle gym thing and it cracked me up.

In other news, Elliot lost his first tooth! It got loose when he was eating a burrito on our campout and fell out a week or so later when he was eating some cantaloupe. He instructed me to document the food related details of this experience for the blog, so here it is folks!

Camping

We finally made it camping again! There was supposed to be an unofficial ward campout in July. Unfortunately pretty much everyone who said they wanted to come ended up being out of town or scared off by the monsoon weather predictions, so it ended up being just us and the Nelsons. We managed to downgrade to a smaller campsite. It was predicted to be a rainy weekend, so the campgrounds were emptier than I've ever seen them.  

Just a little cutie on a stump

Isaac approves of camping. We stuck the baby in a pack and play in our 2 man tent by himself while the rest of us slept in our bigger tent. Worked like a charm. 

These kiddos loved exploring the campground and climbing on all the things. Meanwhile, the other kiddo worked hard to eat as much dirt as possible while his parents cooked dinner. 

Annie now sticks out her tongue every time someone points a camera at her

Elliot was constantly asking me to "take a picture and put it on the blog"

Sad that he couldn't eat more dirt, but happy to be carried around

It started dumping rain right as we finished our short hike. Elliot put on his rain jacket and had a great time making a dam with rocks in the mini rivers in the dirt road. The rest of us hid in the car like a bunch of wusses and the Nelsons headed home with their sleepy baby. It wasn't long before the rain passed, so we went out to play some more.

One of the prettiest places I've ever made sandwiches! That creek was pretty much dry a few hours earlier. 

I was kind of annoyed that Elliot wanted to just wander around the picnic area instead of going on one of the trials, but our wandering ended up being my favorite part of the trip. 

We found 5 forts! They were all unique and all big enough to fit two kids. The biggest fit our whole family. It was an absolute blast wandering around and saying "maybe we will find a fort over here" and then finding them! Big thanks to whoever took up fort building as a pandemic hobby. 

Elliot is quite proud of his rock climbing abilities. 

The ol' pine moustache

And the classy pine unibrow paired with some chewed food

There's that stuck out tongue. Again. 

Temple Square and Mini Reunion

This summer we learned that you technically can fly without a driver's license. We were most of the way to the Phoenix airport when Aaron realized he forgot his wallet at home. We would have missed the flight if we turned back for it. Some frantic googling told us that some alternate  forms of ID may be accepted. We did manage to get him through security with insurance and other cards in my wallet that had his name on it, but it took way longer to get through security. It was not an experience we wished to repeat. 

Fortunately, Stephen and Claudia were driving up to tour Salt Lake City before spending a few weeks at Elizabeth's house. They broke into our house to grab Aaron's wallet and took it up with them. We met them in Temple Square to pass it off. It was good to do a tour with the kids, even if a big chunk of temple square is closed for renovations. 

 

Once I learned that I would be in Salt Lake for an afternoon, I texted my BYU roommates in the area and asked if they were up for a last minute meet up. Laura and Kristy were. It was so good to see them! Yet another example about how the best friendships are ones where you can pick up right where you left off, even if its been years since we saw each other. 

The best part of the mini reunion was when Laura sat in some dog poop and had to wash her shorts in the stream. Classic. 

Kristy immediately won over my kids with her humor and snail catching skills. 

We had an hour to kill before we made our way to the airport, so I found a park called Liberty Park on google maps. Elliot claims that this last minute stop was his favorite part of the whole trip and that it was "more fun than Minecraft," which is the highest praise that boy can give. 

In his defense, the playground/obstacle course was pretty boss

It is fair to say that good times were had. 

All the Lakes with the Allsops

 We got to go on an awesome trip to visit the Allsops who moved to Syracuse last year. It was great catching up with them... and mooching off all their adventure equipment! Alyssa's parents have a boat with wakeboards, tubes, and all that fun stuff.  We dodged rainy weather and got a half day of boating at Willard Bay and a half day at Pineview Reservoir. 

Aaron managed to get up on a wakeboard on his first try and stayed up for like 3 seconds, but then wasn't able to do it after that. The first day was a total flop for me, but by the end of the second day I could get up in a crouch- just not all the way up to standing. We were not completely shocked by our lack of strength and coordination. We got to watch Erick do some awesome jumps, and we assume that Alyssa tears it up when she's not 7 months pregnant. 

Elliot was so brave on the boat. He was the first one to go out on a tube, and he went all by himself!

Buoyant boat boy 

Look at him go!

Annie's face expresses the perfect balance between joy and terror. She was laughing but also freaking out the whole time, but then asked for another turn as soon as we were done. 

What do babies do on the boat? 

They tumble around when the boat rocks. Fortunately life jackets make great padding. 

This little guy worked diligently to push the stereo buttons and try to drive the boat whenever the driver's seat is vacated. 

When they are lucky, babies get to eat the silt and rocks by the shore.

The storm cloud that forced us off the lake early. Also pictured is Elliot rocking the tube. 

Annie hasn't napped for a few months, but boy oh boy did she have some awesome car naps. When we got back to the Allsops house, Aaron could lift her hand and drop it and open her eyelid without her waking up. 

BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE! Alyssa's parents also have a timeshare on a cabin in the Uintas that we were able to use for a night. It was so peaceful and beautiful up there. 

Lunch on the deck

The garage was full of 4 wheelers and skimobiles. Erick and Aaron managed to get one to run after jump starting a battery and developing a vigorous rocking technique. 

Annie was the only kid who wanted to ride on one of the vehicles that actually turned on. 

I love the roar face phase she is in. 

A very scenic slide

The kids spent an hour gathering lambs ear to make a bed. Perhaps it would have been more comfortable if it wasn't directly on gravel. 

Another day, another lake... this time with paddle boards! Paddle boarding has been on my bucket list for years and I was super excited to finally try it out. 

Me pretending to be strong enough to pump up the board

It was all sorts of serene

Proof that I stood up, although I decided it was overrated. Kneeling was more comfortable and faster. 

Aaron's turn

A very friendly family offered to let us take out the kids in their extra kayak. Utah is a great place. 

We ended our trip with a Quiznos trip that was years in the making! I always thought of Quiznos as the lowest tier of sandwich places after having a couple of gross sandwiches. Alyssa's dad owns a franchise where Alyssa worked for years. She kept telling me that if we were ever in Salt Lake together then she would take me to her Quiznos where she knows they do it right and prove to me that their sandwiches are delicious. 

The best of all Quiznos joints

The verdict? I had a tasty sandwich. Alyssa, I take back all those mean things I said. 

It is hard having friends move away. There is something special about having friendships that last past the point where you live close by each other. The Allsops sure are keepers.