Onion Ring is making a little money this summer selling french bread of his own baking to some of our neighbors. Check out his recipe here.
Doesn't it look good? It is!
Monday, June 28, 2010
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Into the Woods
Yesterday we made it up to the mountains for an evening jaunt of campfire cooking and woodsy fun. We went to one of our favorite spots in Santaquin Canyon. It was good to go back since we never made it there last year. Santaquin Canyon is a small canyon with many steep cliffs interspersed with thick, beautiful forest with tall trees and a small river running through. Of all the canyons around here, it is my favorite.
The boys did some exploring,
Brandon rigged up the swing,
and the boys waded in the creek. (I don't know what creek this is, but it's not the larger Santaquin River that runs through the whole canyon.)
We roasted hot dogs and cooked a most awesome dutch oven dinner. (Check out the recipe here.)
These monkeys are somehow always hanging around.
We roasted marshmallows...
...and threw magic dust (sawdust) into the fire.
See the magic? Pre-dust above, post-dust below.
The whole evening was great fun but probably the biggest fun was the talent show which the boys treated us to, unexpectedly, of which I posted in the prior post. View at your own risk!
Impromptu Talent Show
While we were "camping" last night (just an evening trip up the canyon for a campfire dinner) our boys staged an impromptu talent show. Our boys are not usually willing performers, so this was particularly surprising. Although not so terribly surprising when you see the content of their performances. Be forewarned--you may not have ever seen a talent show of this caliber before. Know that this is a mere sampling of the talent that was displayed.
Can you name that movie?
End of show quiz: How many of the above performances included the words; bum, fart, or some form of violence (ie; blasting or blowing up?) either stated or implied?
Thought provoking question: What are the implications of the answer to the above quiz?
Maybe we can just chalk it up to "they're boys", right? Right????
Can you name that movie?
End of show quiz: How many of the above performances included the words; bum, fart, or some form of violence (ie; blasting or blowing up?) either stated or implied?
Thought provoking question: What are the implications of the answer to the above quiz?
Maybe we can just chalk it up to "they're boys", right? Right????
Friday, June 11, 2010
The Brave and the Bold
Onion Ring looked up at the dizzying height of the roller coaster. He saw the people strapped into the little seats which were attached to the tracks by...who knows what. He heard the screams. He felt the pang of fear deep in his innards. He heard his father's coaxing.
Could he do it? Would his heart, which desired to experience the exhilaration and prove his bravery, convince his mind to will his legs to move him onto the platform and into a little seat to be strapped in and hurtled in all directions at great speeds? Or would the pang in his innards paralyze all else?
The battle raged within. And then, miraculously, he took one step forward...then another...and another. Then he was in the line with many people, inching forward bit by bit. Step after step and then soon he was in the seat, securely strapped in. He was beyond the point of no return.
The buzz of excited voices were close around him. Then came an explosion of speed, rush of air, hum of the tracks, screams, (some of the screams were his own) and he shut his eyes, then peeked out, then shut them, then opened them. His stomach was having an out of body experience; it was still at the platform. Then he felt it as it caught up with him and did the same dips and turns that the roller coaster did, only a millisecond after. His breath came in gasps between screams.
It was over in a few seconds. His blood, which had all but stopped during the ride, began rushing as though on it's own roller coaster ride through his body. He felt dizzy, giddy, shaky, and thrilled all at once. He had triumphed! He could hardly stop laughing.
"Let's do it again, Dad!" he exclaimed.
I didn't get any good pictures of the ride, "Wicked", (in the above picture, you can see the tower for "Wicked" on the left side) on which Onion Ring's bravery was tested, but if you want to check it out, go here; there is even a video.
Buttermilk Sky also made great strides in overcoming his fear this year at Lagoon. In the picture below you can see his face right before going on the "Spider", a roller coaster in which the car that you sit in rotates around as it speeds along the track.
Buttermilk Sky's greatest feat was going on "Colossus", the double looping roller coaster.
However, after going on these big, scary roller coasters, Buttermilk Sky said that the old white one was his favorite. Although last year when he went on it, he screamed non-stop, close to tears, that he wanted to get off and refused to ride it thereafter. So maybe next year Colossus will be his favorite.
Could he do it? Would his heart, which desired to experience the exhilaration and prove his bravery, convince his mind to will his legs to move him onto the platform and into a little seat to be strapped in and hurtled in all directions at great speeds? Or would the pang in his innards paralyze all else?
The battle raged within. And then, miraculously, he took one step forward...then another...and another. Then he was in the line with many people, inching forward bit by bit. Step after step and then soon he was in the seat, securely strapped in. He was beyond the point of no return.
The buzz of excited voices were close around him. Then came an explosion of speed, rush of air, hum of the tracks, screams, (some of the screams were his own) and he shut his eyes, then peeked out, then shut them, then opened them. His stomach was having an out of body experience; it was still at the platform. Then he felt it as it caught up with him and did the same dips and turns that the roller coaster did, only a millisecond after. His breath came in gasps between screams.
It was over in a few seconds. His blood, which had all but stopped during the ride, began rushing as though on it's own roller coaster ride through his body. He felt dizzy, giddy, shaky, and thrilled all at once. He had triumphed! He could hardly stop laughing.
"Let's do it again, Dad!" he exclaimed.
I didn't get any good pictures of the ride, "Wicked", (in the above picture, you can see the tower for "Wicked" on the left side) on which Onion Ring's bravery was tested, but if you want to check it out, go here; there is even a video.
Buttermilk Sky also made great strides in overcoming his fear this year at Lagoon. In the picture below you can see his face right before going on the "Spider", a roller coaster in which the car that you sit in rotates around as it speeds along the track.
Buttermilk Sky's greatest feat was going on "Colossus", the double looping roller coaster.
However, after going on these big, scary roller coasters, Buttermilk Sky said that the old white one was his favorite. Although last year when he went on it, he screamed non-stop, close to tears, that he wanted to get off and refused to ride it thereafter. So maybe next year Colossus will be his favorite.
Monday, June 7, 2010
Lagoon 2010
I like antiques. Lagoon has some antique rides, one of which is this white roller coaster. I like it.
Riding it makes you feel unsure that it will hold together. Rickety is a good descriptive word.
This video clip will give you a glimpse of the experience. Enjoy the artistic cinematography technique that I used at the end--it's called "accidentally-pushed-the-zoom-technique"--yes, I'm a natural.
Here are photos of other antique rides at Lagoon.
I wish I had pictures of the old fun house that was taken down due to safety and liability issues. Here is a description of it (that I took from this site): "(The) fun house ... featured such attractions as a multi-lane giant slide; mazes, mirrors, obstacle courses and mystery rooms; a large turntable which flung its riders off at great velocity; revolving barrels; and the ubiquitous jets of air - activated by a human operator - which startled those who were unfortunate enough to stand over them." I remember getting an awful floor burn from being flung off of the turntable when I was a kid.
Junior really liked "Bulgy the Whale".
Lagoon affects people in many ways. It brings out a wide spectrum of emotions and behaviors--at least for our boys. This year Lagoon made our boys...
scream like little girls,
laugh,
cry,
feel like they were going to be flung over the edge (anybody else familiar with the "Wild Mouse"?),
wish they hadn't ridden this ride (Junior is center of photo),
wonder why their mother put them on this dumb ride,
experience powerful centrifugal force,
pose in front of a giant spider,
take aim at innocent by-standers,
ascend to great heights (while eating saltine crackers),
fall asleep,
and something else we won't mention except to say it involved bodily functions.
What a great day!
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