Thanksgiving Point

We wanted to do something fun with the boy before his daddy leaves the country, so we spent the morning at a really cool place called Thanksgiving Point. It has gorgeous gardens, shops, a farmers market, movie theater, dinosaur museum, and petting zoo.

At a little cafe we enjoyed a cheese steak sandwich, Tuscon chicken salad, and mini corn dogs. Unfortunately, Calvin had already caught a glimpse of the fun, so it was impossible to keep him sitting still.

Fun animal statues.

Andy chasing a giggling boy around the bears.

Hugging the bears.

Running through the garden mazes.

Visiting the baby chicks.

Mr. Cow and the little boy who wouldn't get out of our picture.

This was a fun scale. When all three of us stood on it, it said we weighed as much as a small pony. Please don't think about that in too much detail.

A wagon ride just the right speed for a little guy. The horses were massive.

Feeding corn to the llama.

The pony ride. Calvin giggled and chattered the whole time. He loved the ride until about 5 minutes in, and then he was just done. He flung himself from the horse, trusting that I would catch him.

Chickens. He kept trying to get inside the fence. We're going to need to tell his grandpa that he isn't allowed in with the chickens at his house anymore since it makes him feel entitled to socialize with all chickens.

Petting the alpaca.

The alpaca chewing on his hair.

When Calvin saw this statue he yelled, "sheep!" and then proceeded to pick flies off of his face and try to climb on his back.

A daddy assisted sheep ride.

Ducks.

Father and son doing some hard time in the territory jail.

Bunnies.

Walking back to the car with a butterscotch flavored lolly.

The ride home.

Fallen Princesses

I love this art project found here. The story behind why the artist created them is an interesting commentary on our culture. Or if you're not into that, the photos are great and speak for themselves. Here are my favorites:

Bridal Veil Falls

Today we took a drive up Provo Canyon and ended up at Bridal Veil Falls. We hiked around a bit, let Calvin wade in the bottom pool of FREEZING cold water, and then moved to the river shore to throw some rocks.

At the falls:

The bridge under which many rocks were thrown:

I love the boy's facial expression in this one. He would be completely content if we let him spend all day long throwing rocks into water.

This is how he looked when we tried to leave.

So we pulled off to a campground playground so that he could play for a while, and all was right with the world again. When we finally went home, he was tired and content.

Blue Baby

People always ask me how Calvin feels about our soon to be new baby. I tell them that although I try to explain it to him, he has no concept of what a baby is. Here's how I know:

I'm 80% finished with all of my Christmas shopping. Calvin was born in early November, and it was still so hard to finish up shopping that year. I wanted to cry every time I went out. This year, the kid is due late November, so I have no desire to even attempt last minute gift planning/making/buying. My in-laws are finished. My family is mostly finished. Andy and Calvin are finished.

Yesterday I brought home a game that I intended to give to one of my sibling's families. Andy thought it looked really fun, and he begged me like a four year old all night long to just open it and get them another one a different day. Finally I caved, and I'm glad I did, because it was a lot of fun and Calvin LOVED it. As we were pulling out game pieces, we were asking Calvin what each of them were. When we pulled up the alien from the picture above, he yelled "Baby!" (the first time he's ever said that word) and then said, "blue!". The small alien has been "Blue Baby" ever since. And he hasn't let him out of his sight. This picture is of nap time. When I put him to bed, he gently laid Blue Baby on the pillow beside him and went to sleep.

Counting

Yesterday Calvin counted to ten. He missed the 7, but he said every other number perfectly. I, of course, think he's brilliant. He has since counted EVERYTHING - his steps up and down stairs, sidewalks, etc., number of goldfish he's eating, number of flowers in the garden, cars driving beside us... and anything else he has come in contact with. He is very proud of himself.

On Sunday, the boy wasn't doing very well in church, so he came to class with me. I was sitting on the back row and when we had exhausted my supply of books and toys, he got up and started to wander. I let him loose a bit because he wasn't going far, but before I knew it he was at the front of the class. With the teacher still speaking behind him, he stood at the front and went down the row pointing at each woman, saying loudly "one, two, one, two," assigning each one a number as he pointed at them. Everyone laughed.

He loves to count.