Moab

During Fall Break from school, our family along with Grandma & Grandpa Ericksen, F’s Brother and his family went down to Moab, UT.  I have never been here before and was looking forward to going to Arches National Park, Canyonlands National Park, and Dead Horse Point State Park.  We ended up with beautiful weather for the tree days we were there (in the 70’s).  It all began on Friday morning.  Since all of us were coming from different areas, we met just off the freeway at a mall parking lot, and began our caravan down toward Moab, stopping in Price for lunch at Wendy’s.  When we got to Moab, we checked into our hotel.  The rooms were small and brightly decorated.  Florescent greens and pink, bright purples – including a purple fridge, bright colored towels and sheets. Nothing I have ever seen before, but is also refreshing for where we were.  After getting checked in, all of us headed to Hole in the Rock.  Inside this rock, a husband and wife chiseled out a house for them. We took the tour with a goofy guide, but it was really interesting to see their house, how they added more rooms, separated the existing rooms, and learning how the home stays at a constant temperature (I think in the 60’s) all year round. On the property are a few shops including Native American jewelry and items, gorgeous! There is also a exotic animal petting zoo.  We went through and fed zebras, camels, raccoons, an ostrich, and several other animals.  Some of the group “kissed” the camel by putting a carrot in their mouth and then feeding it to the camel.  I was not part of that group.  For dinner we went to Pizza Hut, and got ready for the next day. Saturday, we got up ate breakfast that we packed, then loaded up the vehicles and drove to Arches National Park.  On the way there we detoured to Fisher Tower.  We climbed up and the kids explored the rocks and so did the adults. By the time we made it to Arches and up to the visitor center it was nearly noon.  Behind the visitor center are a few picnic tables and not many places to eat farther in the park, so we ate lunch and browsed around the visitor center.  Our first stop inside the park after lunch was the windows.  Both B and her cousin T had fallen asleep in the car, so F and M stayed back at the car while the rest of us walked up to the windows and turret arch. Next stop was upper viewpoint of Delicate arch.  When we pulled into the parking lot, there were only a few spots. We pulled into the first one we found, which happened to be next to a man (about the same age as my in-laws) with his windows down and jamming out to some loud techno music.  B was still asleep, so F’s dad tried to get this guy to turn down the music, his success was short lived.  M’s wife and F’s dad stayed with the little babes back at the car, while the rest of us walked up the trail to view Delicate arch.  It was beautiful!  One of these days, we’ll make the hike to the actual arch. Just by the viewpoint, there was a large mound of rocks, with an opening just large enough for L to climb and look through another opening.  It looks as if he got trapped in large rock slide! M’s family suggested we go to Sand Dune Arch.  It was amazing how in the middle of all these large rocks there is a wonderful playground of sand.  We let the kids play in the sand, we climbed up some rocks and had a great time….that is until L got sand in his eye. Then emt M stepped in and helped flush it out.  At this stop, we all had taken so many pictures that all of our phone and camera batteries were dying, which was terrible timing, but we got a few pictures at the dune.  M and his family headed back into town to get dinner, while our car went onto Landscape Arch.  We made the walk to the arch and luckily I remembered we had our iPad with us. I was able to use it to capture the pictures at the arch and the trail.  On the way back into the parking lot, K found a $10 bill, there was no one around to claim it, so we did let her keep it. She was pretty excited about it, and used it to buy a little stuffed animal raccoon at a visitor center the next day.  Dinner was at a little place called Milt’s Stop and Eat.  It was yummy! They have no indoor seating, you order and pickup through a window. To the side of the building, there is a patio with chairs, tables, and a condiments bar.  Definitely a must!!

Sunday morning we ate breakfast, packed up the cars, checked out and made our way first to Dead Horse Point.  It was incredibly windy – forgive the crazy expressions and hair, we were nearly knocked over by the wind.  I couldn’t believe that the people used to leave the horses out at the point to die – why not just open it back up and let them run free?? We ate lunch at the picnic area right by the visitor center and headed for our last destination before driving home…Canyonlands.  In Canyonlands, we stopped to see Aztec Bluff, Orange Cliffs Overlook, Grand View Point, and Buck Canyon Overlook and at Upheaval Dome – I really wanted to go up, but we were running out of time and little B was once again sleeping in the car.  I took the other two kids and a few of the other family members made their way up, too.  K, L, and I hurried as fast as we could up the mountainside, much of it seemed to be natural rock stairs.  We made it and enjoyed the view.  Just as we were starting our way back down, the rest of the group were reaching the top.  At one point on the way back down, L stopped at the bottom of a large rock, turned around and held out his hand.  He wanted to help me step down from the rock.  What a gentleman!  We had hurried so that if F wanted to go up he could, but he didn’t want to. As soon as the cars were loaded up again, we drove home, making a stop again in Price for dinner at Wendy’s.  It was a great trip and I am looking forward to the next time!

Lego Birthday Party

For L’s 6th birthday, we did a Lego themed birthday party.  Thanks to Pinterest, we had a load of great ideas to choose from.  I had a great time putting everything together and I think all of the boys had a great time, too!

Here is what we did.  I borrowed the large box of Legos from my parents… with three brothers, there are quite a few Legos.  I separated out body parts.  Heads, torsos, legs, and hair/hat accessories. The boys were able to pick out and built a Lego guy, which they took to the table where they could color a picture of their Lego minifig.

Then they could free build with the Legos.  I had these set up on a big queen sized bed sheet on the floor of our living room. 

After all the kids arrived, we ate some little snacks.  Chips, grapes, rectangular shaped Jell-o Jigglers, and some graham crackers filled with a little frosting topped with colored marshmallows to look like Legos. I made the banner from cardstock and made them look like Lego bricks.I added little Lego smiley faces to the side of each cup and also wrote their names on the back (I hate when I lose my cup in the sea of  cups at a party!) 

Next…games.  The games we played were: Pin the head on the minifig,

Lego toss game, simply tossing Lego blocks into the rings.

Find the minifig head: hiding the several heads from the previous game.

Lego scavenger hunt: To pick teams for the scavenger hunt, we had separated out two colors of Lego bricks.  One for each kid and having equal of each color. Let each kid blindly pick a block, determining their group.  The prize at the end was a bag of Lego brick crayons that I made earlier in the week with a mold and old broken crayons.

Last but not least, a Lego brick piñata.

For the cake: we had cupcakes instead.  Along with the brick mold, I bought a Lego minifig mold.  I used candy melts in different colors (yellow for the head/hands; blue, green, red for body and legs). I had made these earlier in the week too.  I used one to top each cupcake and displayed them on a cupcake stand. 

Party favors: I cut circles and hot glued them to the front of bags and filled them with stickers, little ninja guys, and other Lego items found at a party store. Attached a tag with the name of each boy. The font I used is from dafont.com called LEGo hic.

And as a little thank you, I used the yellow candy melts to cover marshmallows on sucker sticks. Wrapped those in little cellophane bags, attached a ribbon and thank you tag.  I don’t have a picture, but I drew a little Lego face on the cellophane bags (I didn’t have a edible writer, or I would have just drawn it on the candy.)

When everything was done, the boys went back to building Legos in the living room as parents came to pick them up.  It was a great party!! I had a fun time putting everything together and I think L had a great time too!