The Castle Park III

Near the Silly Grandma's house is a "castle park" (so dubbed by the boys, years ago, but actually called "Discovery Park") similar to the one near the Far Grandma and Grandpa's house.  So while visiting Utah, we spent one afternoon there with cousins and then later went back at night to play laser tag.

The afternoon ended, naturally, with a large dog pile.

Easter 2012

We got to spend Easter at the Silly Grandma's.

The boys were so excited to be with their cousins again.

Walking on Water

During Spring Break this year, the kids learned how to walk on water.  They are pretty excited about it.

Okay, sorry for the goofiness.  On the way to visit Utah for Spring Break we stopped at the Salt Flats.  There was about an inch of water covering much of the flats.  It was amazingly beautiful.

It was also very hard on the feet.  The salt had formed a sharp, bumpy crust under the water.

The boys took this opportunity to film some shots for their next big movie.

Then we forged onward to our destination.

Lockdown

A week ago today, Buttermilk Sky did not come home from school at the normal time.  I waited a bit, thinking maybe he stopped in at the library.  When he still did not come, I got in the car and drove the short distance that Buttermilk Sky walks home from school.  As soon as I was about a block from the school, I could tell that something abnormal was happening.  Parked cars lined the streets.  I could see a lot of adults walking toward the school.  There were some police car lights flashing.  I parked in the nearest place that I could find and began walking toward the school, my heart pounding, with thoughts of recent school horrors in my mind.  As I neared the school, I could see that the grounds were blocked off and many black clad figures with helmets and machine guns were walking around.

Photo from carsonnow.org.  Go here for the story.

At the first chance I got, I asked some people if they knew what was going on.  I was told that a student had seen a couple of kids with a gun, so the school was locked down.  I joined the large throng of people standing around, waiting.  I ended up waiting for two hours before I was able to retrieve Buttermilk.

As it turned out, there was no gun.  The student (a sixth grade boy) made up the story. From what I heard, he was arrested.  There were around 60 SWAT team members dispatched to the school as well as much of the police force.

Buttermilk said the ordeal was very boring.  He said at about 1:10, the lockdown began and they had to get on the floor in their classroom and stay there for nearly three hours until they were taken to the gym to be released to their parents.  He said they didn't know why they were locked down until their teacher checked the news online.  He said one kid had to go to the bathroom so badly that he was almost crying and the teacher had him go in the trash can while everyone looked the other way.  Buttermilk said he was mostly bored and only felt scared when they heard someone shouting what sounded like "Get down!" out in the hall.

So, we are grateful that no one was hurt, and also disturbed at a few aspects of this incident.  Now we are looking forward to summer vacation even more, if that is possible!

Good Morning!

This is what greeted us outside this morning.

Eggs on Toast claimed he was not cold.  I said, "You will be.  You...will...be."

The Legend of Buttermilk Sky

What do you think of this?  (We'll come back to it in a moment.)

First I must mention that a couple of months ago, Buttermilk Sky had a birthday.  He really likes the Legend of Zelda (hence, the cake).

It just so happens that it was his 13th birthday.  Which means that he has now reached the rank of teenager. Which means that it is now time to reveal the LEGEND OF BUTTERMILK SKY (...LEGEND OF BUTTERMILK SKY...LEGEND OF BUTTERMILK SKY).

There once was a young child named Buttermilk Sky.  He was typically a happy boy, but he did have one strange habit.  He loved to twist his face into weird, sometimes funny, and sometimes disturbing expressions.  His parents told him that if he didn't stop, his face would stay that way forever.  Then one day, after making another one of his weird expressions, his face remained that way for 30 minutes, no matter how hard he tried to get it back to normal.

His parents said,  "See?  We told you so."  But Buttermilk Sky loved to twist his face into these goofy expressions so much, that he still continued to perform them daily, sometimes even hourly.  Then a few days later, after making a grotesque face, he was again unable to resume his normal expression and remained that way for nearly an hour.

At first this was a little disconcerting to Buttermilk Sky.  But then he thought, "How cool is this?"  And he continued making faces even more.

One day his mother found him in his room like this:

He remained this way for hours.

One day he showed up for school like this:

and stayed that way the entire day, causing the principle to suspend him for disorderly conduct.  Buttermilk Sky thought that was even more cool.  No school!

Thus began the trips to doctors, psychiatrists, and specialists of all kinds.

But Buttermilk Sky wasn't worried.  He was becoming who he felt he was meant to become.

Then one day, Buttermilk Sky walked into the kitchen looking like this:

He remained this way for the rest of his life, even growing some horns out of his head, and he soon became a very popular actor.  You may have seen him in a movie or two.

The End.

Happy Birthday Buttermilk!!

Hiking C Mountain

It is time to do some catching up!  I have many posts coming soon, and I'll begin with this one.

A couple of months ago, as soon as the snow abated, we attempted hiking to the "C".  It just so happens that similar to the "Y" Mountain in Provo, there is a "C" Mountain here and we live very close to it.  The path is a little more rugged and the "C" is much smaller, but still a very steep hike.

The boys have dubbed this outcropping of rock "Weathertop".  (They will highly esteem anyone who knows the reference.)

We had a great view of Carson City.

Below are many of the government buildings.

It turned out that on this hike we didn't actually make it to the "C" because it was extremely cold and windy after we got above the sheltered area and there was also still a lot of snow and ice.  Some of us wimped out (not me, of course--I would never do that).

Onion Ring's and Buttermilk Sky's friend came along.

Strangely, I never took any pictures of the "C".  Maybe next time!