bike fever

The youngest is already catching bike fever. He studied this magazine for quite a while very seriously.


You're never to young to study BMX tricks.

ewww.

A few weeks ago we decided to rip out the old rotten boardwalk on the side of the house and put it out front for free large-item pick up day for trash. Scott and I just reveled in the time and hassle we saved in finding a truck to take a bunch of stuff to the dump. Scott cheerfully sawed the planks into 4 ft. pieces and I skipped them to the corner. We've always had fun together doing many things, but I think our joy over avoiding a trip to the dump is really interesting.

During the chore, Scott discovered this Seattle sized slug. It was about 5 inches long! Slugs are fascinating creatures. I learned And Scott captured this disgusting thing beautifully with the camera. Good job, Scott.




Okay, that's not really the color. I gave him a makeover in Photoshop.

From what I can google, I think this is a genuine Limus Maximus.

Some interesting facts I found from www.slugsandsalal.com:
• A slug's jaw is a solid structure that drops "like a guillotine -- to latch onto a lichen, leaf, or whatever. The mouth, bearing as many as 27,000 sharp, backward-pointing teeth, rasps at whatever it is feeding upon. Like sharks, slugs routinely lose and replace their teeth.
• You may have noticed a peculiar property of slug slime. It's really difficult to wash off your hands. Field Guide to the Slug explains why: "Slug mucus absorbs water, helping to prevent dehydration -- a serious threat to any terrestrial creature of aquatic ancestry. "This is one reason that slug slime is nearly impossible to wash off. Rubbing your hands under running water only makes it worse; the slime should be wiped off with a dry towel before you wash. Or try rubbing your dry hands together, in much the same way you'd remove rubber cement. The slime can be rolled into a ball and discarded."

A conversation on Tuesday

Me - Let's go, boys. I need to go vote today.
Trevor - Okay. Are we going to stay on the shore?

he's back!

I have been watching for our little friend and finally saw him his napping spot this morning. He's sooooo cute!! I don't know why I can't get over this little bird's cuteness. Even I think I'm weird.
I heard and saw a couple of these Western Screech Owls a few weeks ago. They sound like this:

http://www.owlpages.com/owls.php?genus=Megascops&species=kennicottii

hair

One morning I woke up and thought to myself, "Keri, you really don't put much effort into Trevor's hair. And wouldn't that be fun today?"

And 2 minutes later, after I added some product and ...... height, I was accused by Mr. Swan of giving my son a false sense of fashion.



It was time for Joel to get his lovely locks cut for the first time! I'm pretty sure they will stand up again if we cut them short enough. He sat perfectly still....



a lot more still than Captain Wigglypants.

Tough guy

If you've seen the boy lately you already know the story, but here it is anyway. Trevor took a little tumble running to catch up with his friend down the sidewalk. He tripped and skid on his face. I heard the wind up to the cry, watched him pick himself up and cry for a bit. While crying he brushed his face and elbow off and through tears announced "I'm brushing it off ...I feel better!" Pretty soon he was back in action. I told him he had a nice little battle wound just like Greg! I think he liked that.

Thought provoking

I had the pleasure of loading Scott's ipod for a long drive to Moab and found some interesting podcasts by Bob Lepine. I've only heard one of nine available, and I liked it.

Mr. Lepine interviews Daniel Radosh who says:
"If you really want to be part of a culture I think in many ways there doesn't need to be a subculture at all. One guy that I talked to says, "The problem with the church is that it's more of a subculture and not enough of a counter-culture. A subculture really accepts most of the values of surrounding society but just puts a different spin on it. You know, we take the same products the rest of the world has and we, you know, put the word Jesus on it. But a counter-culture really challenges the values. Not just the things that a lot of Christians battle about ---you mentioned homosexuality and abortion --- but consumerism and materialism... and a lot of the rest of the country can accept that Christian subculture will go along with mainstream values in ways that are really fundamental..."

In this same interview he talks with a funny guy who calls himself Prodigal Jon. Good stuff there, too. Listen/Download:

Bikerman tour

Below is the most impressive tour ever taken by a toy. Scott takes his job as the family coach and sports director seriously and sent all of these very nice photos with his phone to show his love to his boys and add enthusiasm for biking.
The first time he sent one I was pretty confused about who was in the picture. Is that Greg?

Bikerman having a fun ride on Amasa back!


Bikerman @ the creek crossing.



Bikerman on Slick Rock

"Bikerman on Porcupine Rim - it's time to get extreme!"

Makayla

Trevor adores his cousin Makayla who is almost 6. And this picture sure shows it.
He has been pretending to be Makayla for the last couple of weeks. I don't mean for a few minutes. I mean everyday he tells me, "I'm Makayla, okay?"
When he is Makayla, I am always "Keri" or "My-mom-whose-name-is-Wendi." He did this the first time by putting his little hand on my cheek and looking right in my eyes for emphasis.
I said, "Okay, my daughter," which totally confused him. Daughter is not a word used here much and apparently it didn't sound very good because he answered, "I'm not a daughter I'm just a sweetie."

He's just gotta gotta gotta get up

to get down.