What I Did on My Summer Vacation, Part 2

Fun with Family

Because I tend to get too busy having fun, and forget to take pictures, we don't have photographic records of spending time with all of our cousins and family members.  We let Aunt Kris handle that on the Bionic side of the family, and on my side of the family....well....we have lots of happy memories stored in our brains.  My side of the family is genetically incapable of remembering to take pictures at family events.  But the few good ones I got, I'm posting.

One of the things we love to do when we visit out west is make a trip or two to Uncle Boyd and Aunt Lena's farm.  This is the view from Boyd and Lena's front porch.

 They have horses, which my girls just love.

Better yet, they have an Aunt Lena who lets them ride those horses.  Aunt Lena trains and sells horses, and she's very good at that.  She's also good at helping kids learn to ride.  

Besides horses, Aunt Lena and Uncle Boyd have boys.  Four of 'em.  Justone likes them more than he likes the horses.

When you are a boy with no brothers who lives in the 'burbs, it is very, very, very exciting to visit your cousins who live in the country, because they introduce you to things like sand surfin'.

Justone was in heaven.

We like to visit our cousins that live in the city, too.  They don't have horses, but they do have Ikea.

 We had lots of fun at Ikea with them, and luckily didn't lose anyone for more than 15 minutes.

I've noticed over the last few years that Poppy and Grandma are quite wiley when it comes to avoiding photographs.  So I made a point of getting a few of them before we left.  Here's a fun one with Poppy and a couple cousins.

And some cute ones with Grandma, too.

Since our little Lily is buried in Utah, near where my parents live, we make several trips to the cemetery during our summertime visits.  My children love to put flowers and special rocks on Lily's grave, and explore the cemetery.  They consider it a vacation highlight when the sprinklers are on near Lily's headstone when we stop by, and they get to run through the sprinklers at the cemetery.  (The cemetery is not exactly a place of quiet contemplation when we are there.)  I realized I didn't have pictures of Lily's headstone, so I took some this time.

(The strange stripe on it is me trying to practice internet safety.  Thanks for understanding.)

The Bionic Man and I tried to take advantage of free and frequent babysitting while we were there.

Ha, ha, ha!  I just read that again and thought I should make a clarification.  We like to take advantage of the free and frequent babysitting we can get while we are in Utah visiting family, NOT while we are at the cemetery.  That would be a great story, though.  

By the way, if any of you thought that view from my brother's farm looks familiar, there is a good reason.  Here it is again:

 Now take a look at this:

And this:

Then go vote for Pedro

because prolly the awesomest  thing about Preston, Idaho (other than being the place where my brother and his family live) is that it was the location for Napoleon Dynamite.  (I threw that in just for Sarah, who will appreciate it.)

Hey, Napoleon. What did you do last summer again?
I told you! I spent it with my uncle in Alaska hunting wolverines! 

Did you shoot any?
Yes, like 50 of 'em! They kept trying to attack my cousins, what the heck would you do in a situation like that?