Buckeyes

Back in the Buckeye State, natural buckeyes strung into necklaces abounded in stores and craft fairs everywhere. Sadly, we never ended up purchasing any. However, we've been granted a second chance: here in Utah, our neighbor has a buckeye tree, and Amanda has been diligently collecting them on her way to and from school this week. Anybody know a good way to pierce buckeyes for necklaces? :)

The Van :)

Hello, all those of you who have been wondering whether the Muffins dropped off the face of the blogosphere . . . Yes, yes, we are long overdue for a traditional picture post, but today we have genuine news which must be shared (in Mom's opinion), lack of pictures not withstanding:

Our van goes BOTH forward AND backward again!!!!!

This concludes our blog post for this evening. Thanks for reading!

A Visit to the Castle (library)

"Castle!" said Curtis excitedly, yet matter-of-factly, as we approached the library today to go to story time (this was the boys' first time going there). While Jared attended the bigger kid story time, Curtis and Lydia played very nicely with a library toy:
Or at least they did for a little while; then Mom made the mistake of suggesting that maybe we should check out the younger kid story time also in progress, which led to Curtis spying a huge stuffed dragon and being sad that he couldn't take it home with him. *sigh* Nevertheless, it was quite a productive outing, because Mom found a friend from waaaaaay back when while we were there, and also one of our newer friends. After story time was over for Jared, we headed outside to see a little more of the "castle." Here's Curtis thinking about going a little higher:
He decided to continue his climb and was rewarded with a great view from the balcony/rampart:
And, last but not least, here we have Jared, also exploring the "castle" and showing of the letter D he got from story time.

Muffins out and about in September 2011

Soccer! Ever since he sat on the sidelines while Amanda played, Jared has been eager for his chance. Now, thanks to a league put together by some amazing ladies, Jared is a proud member of team 3, all decked out in the very same jersey Amanda used back in her soccer days. He got to play for the first time last week and enjoyed it.

That same day was also a big day for Amanda. BYU hosts a "Triple Crown" one mile race each year for the elementary schools around, and when Amanda heard about it, she decided she wanted to do it. Here she is before the race with her number pinned on:
And she did it! She ran all the way! She did it in about 12 minutes 24 seconds, which is not too shabby for a six year old running with seven year olds, and at high altitude, no less (we won't say how much she beat Mom's old junior high time by). Yay Amanda! (This picture shows her nearing the finish line; she's the one with jeans and a long braid out behind her.)

Meanwhile, Lydia and Curtis keep busy exploring the world. Most recently, Lydia is discovering slides. So fun to have so many double slides in the area for photo ops like this:

And, last but not least for this post, we all went for a family outing for family home evening recently to feed the ducks. Not only was it Amanda and Dad's first time at the pond, it also produced enough photos to motivate Mom to try her hand at collage-ing them in Picasa for the first time ever:

(One more note that Mom's throwing in just because: Dad just had another article accepted for publication [his third!]; Yay Dad!)

A Parade of Parks

C-ville Park:
What is Lydia so excited about? Ah, yes, an outing in the park! Or, as the case may be, several park outings. In the spirit of that classic July 2011 Muffin News post "Tales from two and a half parks," we now present "A Parade of Parks," summarizing our recent adventures exploring the parks in our new locale. We begin with C-ville park. Mom and Dad had unknowingly passed this park dozens of times back when we used to live here, which made it all the more fun to discover it. The boys are in this picture of the playground there, in a "Where's Waldo?" sort of way.
We've probably spent more time at this park than any other. It's got a couple of pavilions, a quarter mile paved loop path, and real bathrooms! (Actually, pretty much all the parks seem to have bathrooms here, but it's still a pleasant surprise after our Wyoming outhouse adventure.) We've even taken Grandma and Grandpa there for a picnic dinner. By far, though, the most interesting item at this park is the zip line. Here's Amanda using it.

L's Park:
The day after we found C-ville park, we had a chance to go to L's park. We didn't spend quite as much time playing there as at C-ville, but the kids still loved seeing the little river/canal anyway. It was definitely topped the playground in their opinion.
Our reason for visiting the park was a very nice one: a yummy dinner! Here are some Muffins enjoying:

Bc Park:
The next park we discovered was Bc park. Mom loved that the playground was set up so that you could easily see the whole thing from any of the benches around it. The kids liked the playground for awhile, too.
However, the park is also very close to the base of the mountains, and there were some highly intriguing hills behind the playground. Jared and Curtis made several trips to the edge of the trees and back. And, as you can see, their idea was rather popular. (The Muffins are somewhere in there; Curtis is the whitish figure.)
Lydia didn't hit the hills, but she did enjoy checking out the mulch and the sidewalk:

RC Park:
Our next park was RC park, located on the side of a hill/base of a mountain. We went there right after Mom had found some fun marshmallow "ice cream" cones for 50 cents. Here are the boys enjoying.
Lydia liked the cone part best.
One of the main features of the park was a large assortment of very large rocks. Here's Jared trying to climb one.
He had better luck with this one.
There were also lots of acorns at the park, which Jared collected and brought home. Dad and Amanda weren't there the first time we visited RC park, but they did get to go another day when there was a party to attend there. Actually, there were several parties there that evening. We saw a sign saying ours was at the top pavilion. So, we headed to the highest pavilion we could see, and there we found hot dogs and hamburgers on the grill. As we ate, Dad searched the crowd. Finally he said, "I don't know anyone here." Mom didn't recognize anyone either, so Dad headed farther up the hill and found our "real" group. We were full by then, though, and the Construction Management club didn't seem too upset that we crashed their BBQ and let the kids play in their blow-up bouncy house.

R park:
It's a little funny that our next park took as long for us to get to as it did. After all, R park is right next to Amanda's school! (Probably helps that Amanda rides the bus and the rest of us don't get over there much.) Here's Amanda gracefully descending the "stairs":
Jared and Lydia enjoyed snacking at the park.
On our way home, we found the end of the sidewalk.
Jared took a picture of Mom helping to make sure a reluctant Curtis got home, too.

NG:
And, last but not least, we have our most recent park discovery, NG. It used to be private property, with a small house and large grounds. After changing hands a few times, the city bought the place and restored it to approximate its original grandeur. It really is a VERY nice park, and the kids enjoyed it right along with Mom. Best part, though: the ducks!
Here's Lydia watching the ducks while munching a snack and holding the Elmo ball, on loan from Curtis while he was busy duck watching.
We brought a lunch with us to the park, and of course we ended up sharing with the ducks. The second in line duck (after the leader heading for the pond) was especially fond of Mom's sandwich and took pieces right from her hand.
The boys also found some dogs to play with at the park. Well, there you have it. Six parks down, many more to go.