Mountain Man Festival

I was so excited to go see all of the interesting sites at the Mountain Man Festival in Tooele. Grandma Shar and Grandpa Danny took us and it didn't disappoint. The people watching is beyond description. One has to see it to believe it, WOW. I really wanted to get a bullet necklace for Nissa - Logan and Castle got one too. They also came away with wood swords, tomahawks, reed flutes and of course home made root beer.

Grandma did her best Harry Potter impression. Grandpa didn't seem to be enjoying himself but he was a great sport.

Castle School Pictures

Castle had his class pictures last month. I read the sign notifying parents of the event, but I never took a note. Well we sent Castle to school wearing a super hero shirt, cargo shorts and sandals. The good news is that his hair was clean, though not brushed. The pictures did not turn out badly. The picture above is just soo sweet. You can't even see the horns.
My favorite picture is the one with him sitting next to a Christmas Tree. The company even gave an option for us to purchase it as a Christmas card. I don't think that is going to happen - but it is worth a look and a chuckle.

Last Camping Trip of the Year

We went camping for what is likely the last camping trip of the year, sniff. "Steve" and um, "T", fixed the razor and this was the first time he has ridden it since Logan crashed it. It looks good. they did a terrific job. They reinforced the frame by adding an additional support to the frame on the floor, front bumper and skid pad, rear bumper and reinforcing the roll cage. That coupled with "Steve" adding harnesses the kids will have to try pretty hard to hurt themselves badly. I think they are up to the challenge. I didn't capture the best stunt on film for all of posterity, or DCFS, but.. Logan was driving on the road - which was a no no when "Steve" saw him. "Steve" was able to get Logan's attention and indicate that he was to get his butt back to the approved track NOW! The road was elevated from the field that the kids were riding in. Logan took a hard right off of the road, taking the razor to two wheels - OMG! He landed, wheel side down and kept on riding like nothing happened. Seriously we are in trouble!

Logan had been riding his dirt bike with the training wheels. The deal was, if he learned to ride his bicycle without the training wheels, he can have them taken off of his dirt bike. He held up his end of the bargain. So "Steve" removed the training wheels. But no one said anything about the throttle stop - it is still adjusted so he can only go up to a certain mph. Logan took off - it was great, I am not sure if he was paralyzed and that is what kept him up, or if he was in total control of what he was doing. Either way, he rode, crashed, rode, crashed and on and on. He did great.

Logan and "Steve" after the first solo ride

"Steve" loaded up the Jeep for Castle to ride - he had a blast, he would get stuck often and stop so "Castle fix it.". I asked "Steve" and "T" how Castle thinks that he has to stop every few minutes to "fix" his toy so it will work. Personally, I think he has learned by watching those two fiddling with every piece of motorized equipment they bring camping. But hey boys will be boys right.

We camped near Vernon Reservoir and all the kids wanted to go fishing. Logan, Castle, Bridger, Garrett, "T" and "Steve". Feeling brave, "T" let Garrett drive Bridger and himself to the Reservoir, Logan drove "Steve" and Castle and I drove the four wheeler.

"Steve" and the Wildman "T" Checking for a Valid Drivers License

Garrett at the Wheel

Our team of seasoned and patient fisherman had a great run, a few fights with some big fish, the total catch for the day was....

the exact number is zero.

STAR WARS

Logan has become a huge fan of Star Wars lately, most of what he learned was from playing Star Wars Lego's on the Wii. It is amazing how much of the movies he understands now. I am not up to par when it comes to Star Wars discussions as he says "I have not read the instructions.". "Steve" purchased the first three movies, you know IV, V and VI and we watched them all in one weekend. Auntie Dena came over and watched V and VI with us. She told Logan that she has a friend, Jeff, who is a huge, Star Wars fan. Huge is an understatement, but he knows his stuff. He has been collecting since the original movies came out. Dena arranged to take Logan over to Jeff's house so he can ask and expert all of the questions that he had been asking over the course of several months.

Naturally I was not invited to the party, but I was told about it in detail. Jeff pulled out all the stops. He really made this an event that Logan will never forget. When Dena and Logan arrived at Jeff's house music from Star Wars was playing. He had set up a few scenes from the movies for Logan to look at. He even let Logan touch the displays and figures. Jeff had two movie clips set up for them to watch. Dena said Logan was all over the place asking questions faster than they could be answered.

Logan seemed the most excited when Jeff brought out the original ATAT (big dinosaur-robot looking things from the Hoth planet). Jeff has had the ATAT since around 1983, amazing. Logan saw it and his eyes lit up and he said "No way!".

He had a lot of fun figuring out what the accessories were on all of the guys and transport vehicles -- even showing Jeff secret compartments in one of the toys that Jeff hadn't discovered yet. Dena said she was nervous when Jeff let Logan play with a "real" litesaber, it whooshed and clanged like the movies.

Jeff gave Logan a Star Wars bag filled with "duplicate" figures and instructions to watch episodes I, II & III so he can come back and play again. Since then Logan has been trying to arrange for the viewing of these shows. He can not wait to go back, he is constantly on the look out to find something that Jeff does not have or has not seen.

We are very lucky to have such a wonderful Auntie and wonderful friends to take time out of their day to entertain us with such flare.

Thank you Jeff and Auntie Dena!

The Hero of the Year Jeff

Auntie Dena and Logan with all of his new toys.