The leaf blower still delights!

After mowing yesterday, Skyler helped blow the clippings off the driveway all by himself!

Doing a great job!

His orange shirt matched the orange on the Stihl blower!

"I bet we're doing' 90 miles an hour!"

We met up with Mark & Klara last night and went for a bike ride on the Parkway.  Skyler was on the tag-a-long bike and would shout out "I bet we're doing' 90 miles an hour" at various times.  We were really moving along on the way back in the dark!

Headed South.  Mark was enjoying an adult beverage as we rode.  :)

Looking back at the boy an Mommy.

Moonrise.  We got caught in the dark due to a damn goathead thorn in my rear tire.  :(

We came back to our place to enjoy some barbecued Greek Shiskabob.  The charcoal was making a nice plasma  glow as the coals were lighting off.  Sorry, no pics of the delicious meal.  It was such a nice evening with great friends we didn't get to bed until 1:00!  Skyler crashed on my chest around 10:00.

Round Valley summer version.

We loaded up the truck with bikes and the boy and headed up to Park City yesterday to ride around the trails at Round Valley.  It was great!  Perfect temperature and great trail conditions.  Even though the trail-a-bike warns to not use it off road, it worked great on single track!  Skyler was having a ball, screaming "faster" on the downhills and standing up over the rough spots.  I got a pretty good workout hauling him up and down the mountain.  I sure can't wait for him to ride his own bike someday...

Up the hill.  Mommy's view of us.

Land of Oz in the wintertime.  Looks like the Osguthorpe family is getting their second crop of hay off.

"Sheep?"  There were some sheep across the field.  Smart dog!

"Something smelly right here guys!"

Remember the tire swing from last winter?  Skyler did!

29+ was the ride of choice today.

Too bad the Deere dealer can't sponsor a trail.

Park City in the distance.

Happy desert single track.

Post ride playground time.

Who loves to go to school?

This guy!!

He started calling the car the "race Fiesta!"

Murray Park.

Sunday afternoon we took the boy and the dog to Murray Park to get them some exercise.  I was shocked to see just how nice the park was and it reminded me of a certain park in Kearney, Nebraska at times!

Looks like Nebraska!

Or Las Vegas?

Soaptree Yucca.  We just planted one in our front yard this Spring.  I bet this one is over 50 years old.

Back to Nebraska?

Or even Iowa?

Run up the hill!

I have no idea where all the soil for this hill came from.  It's huge!

Looks like a Microsoft Windows computer background.

Other side of the hill.

Getting ready to race Mommy to the bottom.

Maizey dog is in the lead!

Success!

Skyler LOVED his first day of preschool!!

This is going to be tough.

I'm dropping Skyler off at school this morning.  I knew this day was coming but right now I'm feeling  like Marlin, Nemo's dad in "Finding Nemo" when he drops Nemo off at school.  It's hard to believe he's in school now!

Pretending to fly an airplane 50 feet up at the Museum of Natural Curiosity Saturday during Mommy's company party.  I nicknamed the museum the Museum of child Hell...

Getting ready for school.

Skyler starts school at Montessori school tomorrow.  We got to go meet his teachers and get all signed in on Saturday.  I was feeling a bit nervous about him wanting to go, but he fell into his element in the hour we were there meeting and talking to his teachers.  I think he's pretty excited to go now.

He instantly found the farm toys!

Playground time!

He was playing with a little girl on the teeter totter.

Next!

Running down the hall!

Checking out the gardens.

This is why we love this place!

Exiting the gourd teepee.

Goodbye old friend.

Getting my new Fiesta means I had to get rid of my trusty 1994 Ford Aspire.  I had that car for 14 years and it was probably my favorite car until now.  I listed it for sale Friday evening and in less than 24 hours, it sold!   Skyler wanted to watch it drive away and I couldn't.  I went inside and thought how lucky I was to have had such a reliable little economical car.  The new owner is an 18 year old kid who is going to drive it to the community college.  I think he'll be pretty happy with it too.

The last view I had before it headed away.

20 model years apart.  I can't believe how dated the Aspire looks next to the Fiesta.

Happy Birthday Dad!

Today is my Father's (and Grandpa's) birthday.  I have to say our lives are a  lot better having Grandpa live so close and help out all the time.  Wednesday's are Skyler's favorite day because he gets to hang out with Grandpa for a few hours.  I am just lucky to call him Dad.  He's always been there and I look up to him every day.  Thanks for doing such a great job teaching me things and always being there Dad.  Happy Birthday!

Even on the hottest day of the year, he came out to watch Skyler participate in a triathlon.  :)

:)

New (to me) car!

I didn't really think we'd be buying a new Ford Fiesta yesterday after posting the "Top Gear" video but that's exactly what happened.  I've wanted a Fiesta since they hit the market here around 2010.  Mommy always was saying that it was "too small" for me and we wouldn't all fit.  Except we do all fit!  I saw this car online Tuesday evening and thought the price for the miles was too good to be true.  2014 model, 35,000 miles, ex-rental car, nearly half price of a new one.  Sold!  It has the SE package and the Ford Powershift 6 speed transmission.  The best description of the trans is think what's in a tractor.  Multiple clutches, and it can shift automatically or be shifted manually.  It's the almost the same color as the car it's replacing, the 1994 Ford Aspire that I've had since 2001.  Skyler said the Aspire would be "sad" now that we have a new car.  :)

Looks like a mini Aston Martin!

Just one of the many reasons a Ford Fiesta is the car for me!

New shoes!

We headed to Target first thing yesterday to get Skyler some new "Paw Patrol" shoes that we saw in the ad Sunday.  We both didn't realize it in the store, but the shoes have lights in them!

PAW Patrol!!!

One of the few time he was stationary yesterday.  Blinky shoes means lots of stomping and jumping!

Holy smoke!!!

We returned from camping to find the Salt Lake valley filled with smoke.  Fortunately, it's not from fires here in Utah.  There are dozens of fires burning throughout the West and the smoke has been blown in as a result.  Nearly every available wild land firefighter is deployed.  And every fire tanker aircraft is flying too.  If this was your place, you'd be pretty grateful to see a DC-10 flying like this:

How cool is this!?  They normally don't fly this low unless a house or property is in jeopardy.  Talk about heroic!

In case you wanted to see what it looks like from below, click here!