All Aboard!

My favorite train engineer made an appearance today.  He cheerfully let his brother join him in playing with the train set.  Honestly, listening to "all aboard" and "woo woo" is music.

In no time we were ready for the pool.  Papa said, "All aboard," and Jonathan quickly corrected him.  "This is not a train!"

Jonathan is a natural in water.

Richie and the alligator had a heart to heart chat.  In the end, the alligator let Richie stay on.

Sammie and Bradley played volleyball for awhile.

Dads and kids, one of my favorite things.

My new pool toys got another good break-in today.

My camera was having trouble keeping up with everything going on.

I was delighted to catch this smooth move by Bradley.

And this even smoother move by Papa Ben.

My camera has found something new to focus on.

Bradley on my left catching throws from his dad...

Papa on my right entertaining Jonathan and Richie.

This was hilarious.

Honestly, I was mesmerized.

Jonathan and Richie loved retrieving them, over and over again.

Then it was time for lunch.  Today's entree was French dip.

We celebrated Sammie's birthday a week or so early.  He enjoying our singing.

He politely thanked me for my homemade card.

Once I learned that Thursday was the anniversary of Bradley's adoption, I handed him a candle and we sang, "Families Can Be Together Forever."

After a few naps, I set up these two with Dinosaur Train.

Then Bradley beat me at pool while using my newest cue.

 

Ooooh! Aaaah!

We've seen a Rufous at the feeders, but my camera has not been able to capture him.  This morning Dave saw him in the trees and the camera complied.

Next stop:  Cascade Springs!

We had a perfect morning.

Some of the kids explored at a scenic overlook.

Finally, we arrived.

I saw beautiful flowers.

Matt came along and had more fun than he expected.

These two have had a great time.  A sad goal today was to trade Bradley back to his mom.

In the meantime, someone, not me, spied a snake.  I handed over my camera.

I took it back to catch Jacob on top of the snake.

Julia kept pointing out flowers.

Kids don't hold still, but generally flowers do.

I truly love Cascade Springs because kids have fun here.

Adults have fun, too.

The weather was cool because the sun was behind clouds, but occasionally the sun broke through.

I suspect our drought has affected the number of flowers.

Soon enough we ended up right back where we started.

Not everyone was happy about my camera showing up.  And Nate's smile -- I'm going to miss that!

All of a sudden -- Jonathan appeared!

Richie was happy to see everyone.

The park is small enough that we easily went around again with the little boys.

Points if you find Melissa in this picture.

Hint:  her shirt is this color.

The little boys hid from the other hikers in the family.  This was pretty funny.

While they love running, Julia did a great job keeping up.

Dave actually did a great job keeping Jonathan up.

Papa found an interesting thistle.  No grandchildren were stung as this photograph was taken, even though one was between my camera and the thistle.

The scenery was incredible as we drove from the springs to Heber City.  Each time I asked the kids to look out the window, they appropriately ooohed.

Then they aaahed.  This was hilarious.

When we drove up to Granny's, Julia exclaimed, "I've been here before!"

This is how traditions are made.

Papa had a raspberry milkshake.  Trust me -- it was delicious.

While visiting with Melissa, I became fascinated with Jonathan's lunch.  Notice the dip on the end of his chicken strip.

It's his milkshake.  Hey -- whatever works.

In the meantime, Richie was getting cool guy lessons from his cousin and uncle.

Sometimes words fail me.

Back at the ranch, I beat Jacob on a technicality.  

On the other hand, Nate and I took turns winning.  This has been a fabulous vacation for me!