Hyrum was gone at the beginning of the month. Whenever they train 'in the field' it means MRE meals. (Basically no real facilities except what they bring themselves.) One day Hyrum watched a helicoptor pick up a broken tank for transport. I should dig around on his phone more often.
A friend from our branch lives on a bit of a farm-- chickens, goats, cats, dogs. We went out to visit them for an afternoon to see their 1-week old baby goats. The kids were fascinated. They still talk about the mommy and daddy goats (who were outside the barn) and the baby goats. Mila held a baby goat, and then got scared by something and basically threw it on the ground. She's got some learning to do, obviously. It was quite a change of scenery from what they're used to, but the fact that they're still talking about it says a lot. Glad to have friends with animals so my kids can check that box.
While Hyrum was gone I signed my girls up for a few hours of day care while Tiago was in school, and decided to go hike by myself. Usually if I get a break I do laundry and mop the floors. I wanted to invest more in my own well-being instead. The nature part of it was good, and especially the alone time. But, I decided hiking alone in an area with black bears was not very relaxing. I was constantly looking around and listening to the smallest sounds. At one point I heard a large animal, and it was a deer, which only scared me a little. I'm glad everything else I came across was much smaller. Maybe next time I'll try some retail therapy instead of a nature walk.
Because Hyrum is gone so much, it feels like we try to cram in as much as possible on the weekends he is around. There was a social event at his unit that we went to. They do barbecues behind the main building, which is also nearby where all the vehicles are stored. (The "motorpool.") So of course Tiago wanted to go explore. Hyrum postponed work for a few extraminutes to give them the grand tour of Army vehicles.
We went to the temple one Saturday, and traded off watching the kids and going inside. I'm glad we get to do that. I'm glad our kids get familiar with the temple. While they were running around on the grass I started getting guilty feelings that I shouldn't let my kids entertain themselves like that on sacred ground, only to remind myself that was right where we should be, and if it meant they were going to spill broken pringles in the neatly manicured grass, so be it. I appreciated the people who walked by and said nice things, because I know it's also easy to be judgmental.
And we took a family walk before church at a nearby park.
Over the summer I started thinking about Halloween costumes. I initially thought about doing a prince and two princesses... until I realized we HAD to do Mary Poppins. My kids have seen that movie so many times, and we could do two Mary Poppins plus Bert. I made a few trips to the thrift store and enlisted the help of my mom for the white dress. I even sewed a bit! It came together piece by piece and I'm so happy with the outcome. They all look like perfect miniatures. More to come when I post about Halloween. Here they were just trying everything on once we got the last few things finished.
Tiago has become quite a little artist lately. His pen skills have improved dramatically in the last few months, and we love seeing what he comes up with. (He draws a lot on a magna-doodle, too.) We loved seeing these pirates he came up with. (He asked me once to draw a pirate hat, and he was so frustrated that I wasn't doing it right. This, apparently, is what it should have looked like. Now I know.)
We were bored on a Saturday, so we went down town to check out the Pioneer Museum. The museum is in the old courthouse building, which dates to 1903. When they built a new courthouse this building sat empty for several years and when they were about to tear it down the museum offered to re-house there. It's taken a few decades to get all the restoration done, but it's a really beautiful building now that showcases some Colorado history. They have an old court room that's beautiful with folding wood chairs and ornate woodwork everywhere. When I commented on it to the employee she said they get a lot of people coming there to film movies because it's pretty authentic to the time period. They also had an old fashion elevator that still works.
I was brave and took the kids to the zoo myself. We'd been once before, but these giraffes in your face never get old. The kids did pretty well, and walked the entire time. (We're in a new stage where I hardly ever get the stroller out in public.) At the very end, Tiago was begging for cotton candy (a friend had some.) I told him instead I'd rather let them ride the carousel. (Same price, and they were already asking to ride it.) My plan went perfectly. They forgot about the cotton candy and enjoyed the ride. But as soon as the music stopped, all three burst into tears. They were inconsolable. So I stood there at the ride's exit with three kids screaming at me and people walking by making comments and pointing at how cute they were. It was a long (loud) 15 minute walk back to the car.
First selfies. (Desperate for entertainment.)
The kids love this castle playground. They play princess/dragon/knight.
I don't remember the background here, but I do remember I made them cookies and we dipped them in milk after they had their pajamas on. I must have been compensating for laying on the sofa all day. (They're both of Siena.)
Amie came to visit in the middle of September, which I'll write about separately. While she was here we visited a pumpkin patch. Tiago started asking about making jack-o-lanterns. I told him we would do it when Hyrum got home. (He was out of town.) It seemed like a good delay tactic at the time. But like clockwork, as soon as Hyrum was home, Tiago came and whispered in my ear, "Okay Mom, remember how you said we could do that one thing..." I tried to put it off by saying we didn't have any pumpkins to carve, and we'd have to go to the store. The next afternoon he came and whispered to me, "Mom, remember how we had to go to the store to buy something..." So I threw them all in the car to go buy a pumpkin. That night we finally carved it (mid-September) and Tiago thought it was disgusting inside and didn't want to touch it. He drew the face; I carved it; and then put a battery-powered tea light inside. He played with it all week, and then we put it outside where it rotted. But he was pretty happy.
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