Too Tired

This is Conner right after church. Nursery can really wear a guy out.

Our Canadian Getaway

Last week Reed left to go on a 50 miler with his scout troop so the boys and I decided to go up to Canada to visit with my parents. We were royally spoiled - my parents took us to the Calgary Zoo and to Calaway Park (an amusement park). Unfortunately my camera battery died early in the trip so I don't have many pictures. The first day we went to the zoo. We went to see the elephants first and listened to a presentation. Then we saw the carousel. I thought the boys would really enjoy that but here is Conner's reaction to it:
He did not want to get on that camel. He and my mom finally found a spot that he liked:
Alan found a similar spot and enjoyed the ride:
At this point I was worried that we were going to go to the amusement park the next day and spend most of the day looking at the rides (turns out I shouldn't have worried).

Conner looking at some animals

One of their favorites was the hippos. We would sit and watch the tank and sometimes you would see a head pop out for a minute and then go back under. The boys got so excited when we saw one.

Alan in front of the flamingos

My 2 little "joeys"

The boys had fun looking at all the different animals but my favorite part was the prehistoric area. The zoo has a big section of dinosaurs that they recently updated. Now some of the dinosaurs move their arms, tails and heads and roar. I failed to warn my children. As we walked down the path this is the first dinosaur we saw:
It was being still (the dinos have sensors on them so they only move sometimes) but even so Alan froze on the path and stared at it. Finally he leaned over to me and whispered "Mom, that dinosaur isn't in a cage!" About this time Conner got bored of staying with me so he ran ahead until he was right beside the dinosaur (Alan and I were still 40 ft back). Suddenly the dinosaur turned on: it lifted its head and roared. Conner froze and stared at it and then he let out a scream and started running back toward me, darting around other people's legs. Alan was still frozen and his eyes were about as big as saucers. I explained to both of them that the dinosaurs weren't real, they were just robots but I don't think either of them believed me. Here is a picture of Conner as he looked at the dinosaur roaring and swinging its tail and waving its arms:
We had to wait for the dinosaur to turn off before we could pass it. The next dinosaur was a triceratops that didn't move so we went up close and let the boys touch it and look at it and after that they seemed a little more comfortable.

Grandpa Pitcher with Alan and Conner

We got to a spot on the trail where the path went right between a huge T-rex and a long neck dinosaur. The T-rex was roaring and moving and the boys were a little intimidated, but you could tell they were also fascinated. After we passed it Conner and my dad stayed behind to watch it. My dad said that Conner got behind him and pushed him until he was standing right between the two dinosaurs and then he backed up to watch what would happen. It was as if Conner wanted to use Grandpa as bait and see what would happen.

Alan standing by another dinosaur

Some of the dinosaurs had buttons that the kids could push. The kids could make the dinosaurs roar and move their arms, heads and tails. Alan and Conner thought that was pretty cool.

Posing on the metal animals at the entrance
Mom and Dad on a zebra

Alan and Conner with Grandma and Grandpa

And finally a group shot

That night we stayed in a hotel in Calgary. The next morning we got up and had breakfast and went for a swim in the hotel pool. Then we went to Calaway park. Unfortunately I forgot to charge my camera battery while I was there so I don't have any pictures of the amusement park. The first rides that you see are little kiddie rides so both of the boys rode on little boats and airplanes. I think this gave them some confidence because as we went further back to the bigger rides they both wanted to go on the rides. Conner surprised me by wanting to ride an airplane ride by himself that lifted 10 ft in the air and spun around. I was worried that he would get on it and when it started he would start crying but he grinned the whole time. As we went further back the rides became bigger. Alan completely shocked me when he said he wanted to ride on a ride that spun around really fast and the little cars that you were on would suddenly fly out to the side at a 90 degree angle. He was sure he wanted to go so he and my dad went. Alan smiled ear to ear the whole time. When he got off he bounced over to us and asked to go again. Unfortunately none of us wanted to go again so we found another ride to try. Alan's favorite ride was the big ship. You sit in it and it swings back and forth until it is almost vertical. I remember riding it when I was older than Alan and freaking out because it felt like you were coming out of your seat. Alan went with Grandpa and loved it. As soon as he got off he wanted to so again so Grandma went with him again. Conner really wanted to go on it to but he was too short so I took him over to a train ride. He was the only one on it so he got to sit in the engine seat and he was pretty thrilled with that. Alan really wanted to ride the adult roller coaster that went upside down and he was pretty disappointed to learn that he was too short to ride. He did ride the kid roller coaster though. For Alan I think the highlight of the trip was getting cotton candy. He was SO excited. He got a big bag of blue cotton candy and he ate most of it during the afternoon. The day was quite cold so the lines weren't long which was nice although we got a little cold.

We spent the rest of the time in Lethbridge. We took the boys to the spray park one hot afternoon. We picked apples and raspberries. We all went swimming one evening. My dad took the kids to a nearby field to fly kites on a windy afternoon. We played at the park. My dad took us fishing at a nearby pond. I went out for dessert with a couple of friends. And of course we just had fun playing with Grandpa and Grandma's toy castle and marble works track. I really appreciated the help since my energy levels are starting to decline. The boys would have had a boring week without their grandparents. Thanks again!

The fishermen: Alan and Grandpa. They had fun even though the fish weren't biting.

Oh, and on the last day I got to go with my parents to do some family sealings in the temple, which was very nice. Thanks again Janae for watching my kids!

Pitcher Family Reunion

This story starts off with the worst drive we have ever taken as a family. The reunion was up in Alberta at my Aunt and Uncle's farm. The fastest way to get there is to take a different border crossing called Del Bonita (we normally take the Coutts border crossing). We thought that the crossing closed at 11pm and we left home at 6:30 pm so we had lots of time. We arrived in Cut Bank and decided to ask just to be sure. The guy told us that it closed at 10 pm and we figured we were going to get there at 9:30 pm, so we were still going to make it in time. We drove all the way to the border to discover that it actually closed at 9 o'clock. So we sat there trying to make a plan - this crossing is in the middle of no where and there are no towns close by and it would take about an hour or more to back track and go to the Coutts crossing (which was to the east of us). I have mention that that is what I wanted to do. Reed looked at our GPS and saw a place further to the west of us that looked like it crossed the border as well so he decided to try that. Pretty soon we were driving on a dirt rode in the middle of an Indian Reservation. The road got rockier and bumpier the further we went. Finally it looked like we were driving on a farm road and we ended up in someones front yard with a herd of cows blocking the road and the home owner looking out his front window at us suspiciously and talking on the phone (probably to the border patrol). We flipped around and headed back. We knew that there was another border crossing further west but that it closed at 11 pm. We typed it into the good ol GPS and it said we would get there at 10:55 pm. So Reed decided to try it. We ended up on a dirt track, not even a road, it had weeds growing in the middle and it was just 2 dirt tracks with a ditch on each side so that you couldn't turn around. The track was incredibly rutted and rocky, not really the kind of road that our mini van was meant for. So after a couple of miles we agreed to turn around and find a way back to Cut Bank. Oh, and I have to add that the whole time both kids were awake. Alan was not only awake but very vocal. The whole way we can hear his persistent voice from the back seat: "Are you guys sure this is the right way? It doesn't look like the right way to me. Why is it getting dark? Why is the road so bumpy? Are our tires going to get holes in them if we hit a rock? Why are there rocks on the road? When are we going to get there?" and on and on. Finally I said something to the effect that we should all be quiet for a while. After about a minute I hear Alan say "The next time you guys go for a long drive on a bumpy road in the dark, I want to be babysittered." I can look back and laugh at it now but at the time I thought I was going crazy. Anyway we finally made it back to civilization and decided to stay the night in a hotel since it was so late. Unfortunately all the hotels were full. So we kept going to the next city. The first hotel informed us that all the hotels up to the Canadian border were completely full. So we headed up for the Coutts border (which is open 24 hours a day). We crossed the border at about 1:30 am and found a hotel on the other side in Coutts. So in conclusion the drive to Coutts usually takes about 2 hours but this time it took 7 hours - a new record. The next morning we finally arrived at the reunion.

Conner really liked playing with the dogs and cats

Alan had a blast on their tramp

On Saturday we all went for a ride on the ferry to the other end of Waterton Lake. The view was beautiful and we learned some facts about the history of Waterton

In the middle of the ride we got off and looked around.

Alan took a picture of one of the mountains on our ride

During the stop Conner spent the whole time sitting on the beach throwing rocks into the water.

Reed and Alan went for a walk along the shore. I really enjoyed visiting with my cousins and aunts and uncles and grandpa and seeing some of my extended family that I don't see often.

Family Pictures

A few weeks ago we got to see my grandparents from California. Since that doesn't happen very often we took a few pictures.

Here is one of Reed and I, Conner, Drew, Alan, Grandma and Grandpa

Here is Alan, Conner, Dad, Mom, Grandma and Grandpa Elzea

4 generation photo: My mom, Alan, Carissa, Conner, Grandma and Grandpa

Giddy Up Horsie!

Here are some pictures of Conner playing "horsie" on Grandpa Pitcher. He loved wearing the hat although towards the end he made a game out of knocking the hat off and then wanting it back.

He kept putting the hat on sideways

Ride 'em cowboy!

The hat is kind of big but who needs to see where they are going, anyway?

ps. the big bruise that you can see on Conner's forehead in the first picture is from when he put a toy construction hat on and pulled it over his eyes and then started walking around. He walked right into the corner of our wall - OUCH! It started to swell and turn purple immediately and he hates it when I put ice on an injury so it swelled up pretty good.