Summer of Adventure

Braden used to love McDonald's play land. In med school we would spend hours there with friends. It provided exactly what we were looking for: good company, cheap food and cheap entertainment. Apparently we've moved on.

We began our summer at a family reunion in central Utah. Whenever you get 30 people under the same roof, you can expect a little excitement! We hiked Bryce, toured family history sites in Monroe, rafted down the Sevier River, and explored Cove Fort. The highlight was being together. Enough said.

What Braden wanted more than anything this summer was to go skydiving. But with an 18-year age requirement, it would have to wait a few years. It lit the fire in Ryan though, who found a few other tentative recruits, and pretty soon there was my husband jumping from an airplane at 20,000 feet, plummeting toward the ground at 100 miles per hour. Ryan's brother, Reggie, and my brothers, Brian and Daniel, joined him, leaving six spectators on the ground. I have a feeling though that a few of them might be climbing aboard next time around.

Skydiving was out for Braden, so we tried to make it up to him and found the next best thing... plummeting down a ski ramp. Braden enjoyed a couple days at the Utah Olympic ski jumping park where he learned quickly how to remain on his feet on a ski ramp, flip and twist off a jump, and swim in a pool with skis on. Apparently it hurts to fall on one of those things and it's difficult to swim with skis on. Who knew?

And me? I've learned my lesson time and time again. I enjoyed watching from the sidelines, taking pictures, watching "Broadway" shows at Lagoon, and cheering everyone on.

Seeking New Recruits for Dangerous Assignment

Having a pet is a rite of passage for a kid. It's a way to learn some responsibility and look after someone besides yourself. Pets of course come in all varieties, but the most coveted for every child has to be the dog. Not all kids are that lucky though, and they wind up having to settle for something else.

Yep, I had a gold fish.

So you'd think my kids would be grateful for their dog, but as is the tendency for all of us, they seem to only see what they don't have... and there are plenty of pets they don't have!

Because we as parents drew the line at one domesticated animal, though a 10-gallon fish tank some how made it passed, the kids continue to actively recruit undomesticated ones. They have found that crickets and beetles are easy finds and fun to catch and keep in cups or shoe boxes. A plastic water bottle makes a great home for a dozen or more cockroaches. Yes, the twins somehow managed that one! A prey mantis and a handful of crickets inhabit a reptile habitat that Braden purchased after we received an in-home visit from a gecko. Unfortunately they let it go, so Braden and Ryan are currently seeking a new, good-looking recruit.

Chanel has even joined the search and enlisted a baby bird for a few days this summer. Perhaps you would call it a forced enlistment, as she literally climbed a bush and knocked it from its nest, but the kids are not picky on how they join up. For Braden it brought back memories of his beloved Perry from our Ohio days (let's just say a few tears were shed) and for the girls it was another baby to be loved. Every morning the twins would run down to the bush to make sure the bird was in its nest. If it wasn't they would scoop it up and place it back in. They

must have decided that life in a nest by yourself was lonely though, because they began carrying it around and playing with it. It even passed a wonderful afternoon cradled in Hadley's hands watching a movie in the comfort of our air conditioned house.

Now Chanel could take offense at the kids' determination to find a suitable pet, but she doesn't seem to mind. In fact, I think she's happy that they're focusing their attention elsewhere, because unfortunately our recruits never seem to make it out alive!