Author: magrilless

Transported Neighborhood

This last weekend the neighborhood (plus a few honoraries) picked up and relocated in the Utah desert. 


It was the first time we’d camped with a significant number of other people, and definitely the most number of kids in a campsite I’ve ever experienced. 

Obviously the kids were in heaven. 

And Bill and I had fun too. It was a good reminder that camping isn’t always about communing with nature and being serene and quiet. 


Sometimes it can be about friends and fun and rowdiness and beer and not knowing where your kids are for a few hours. 


So we celebrated our community in the most amazing playground that could ever be found. 

Fall!

We carved pumpkins on the first day of fall. Felt like the thing to do since Mother Nature provided us with a nice gray cool rainy day. 

Turns out, a drill (versus a knife) is actually a safer way for small hands to carve a pumpkin. In my opinion, now that I’ve tried both. Although, it does kind of shoot little squiggles of pumpkin all over the house. But the final product was cool!


We also made ourselves a fire in the fireplace and cooked hot dogs and marshmallows while gathered around the hearth. The cozy season has begun!

Kids in Charge

Bill and I put the girls in charge of dinner tonight. We told them, “You guys make dinner tonight. Just make sure there’s something for protein and vegetables.” And they did all the rest. (Well, we did take a break from our crossword puzzle to open the pickle jar.)

 

Maggie made special Halloween-themed family-style dishes. You can see her pickle Frankenstein, peanut butter bat with tortilla crackers, string cheese mummy, and apple monster in a pool of blood (we were so relieved it wasn’t ketchup but just apple peels). Tessa made individual plates for herself, Bill, and I. Although Maggie did make an adjustment to them after Tessa brought them to the table. Originally Bill had a whole tomato and I had a whole carrot; Maggie split the two in half so we each got some tomato and some carrot. 

All in all we had a fairly balanced meal. We could hear the girls in the kitchen saying things like “Oh, dairy! We forgot dairy!” Which made us proud that our young children are aware of a lot of important nutritional information that we weren’t at their ages. At least it wasn’t a disaster of a meal! Bon appetit!