After school special.

Skyler was thrilled to be able to have a garden picnic and help out with movement demos last night after school.  We even toured the golf course beforehand.

Ham and cheese sandwich with a side of "scooby snacks"!

In the garden.

Running across the driving range.

Skyler and Artemis doing a 3 legged obstacle course.

Later, they made themselves a hut.

Skyler's art that he made for the school art gallery.

Working hard.

Skyler is enjoying school again after missing 2 days last week.  Tonight, he is staying late to demonstrate the Montessori teaching methods for a school open house called "discover the details" from 5:00-6:30.  :)

Working on some Montessori Math.

'Speed Check'

Trumpworld...

How much longer do we have to put up with this assclown??

The new trail North of "The Narrows."

We took advantage of the unseasonably warm weather (again!) yesterday and headed to the South end of the valley to walk along the newest section of the Jordan River Parkway.  This is a pretty isolated area and we never saw anyone else while we were on the trail.

Vietnam?  We found this strange chicken shack setup along the trail.

On the new bridge next to the strange chicken shack.

Looking Southeast.

Train tracks with an exceptional view of the many gravel pits.

Clay cliffs.

The peak above Corner Canyon was especially picturesque.

Skyler and Mommy climbing the hill on the way back to the truck.

THIS is January?!

We had a wonderful time outside in the sunshine and clean air yesterday.  Parkway walking, and porch reading, the temperature was 55 degrees!  We're going to be screwed for water this summer if this weather pattern doesn't change soon...  :(

Reading the engraved rock, he shouted "rotary!" as in the Union Pacific Rotary snowplow.  :)

Old Sharon Steel mill ponds.

Jordan River was low.

Walking with Mommy.  Look how tall he is!

Basking in some vitamin D sunshine.

This looked terrifying!  Life Flight helicopter and the Cessna looked as if they were about to have a mid-air  collision!

Everyone on the front porch in the sun.  Mommy was reading "A Wrinkle in Time" to Skyler since the movie is coming out in March.

We started to watch the movie "Bullitt" last night while he was puttering around in his room and loft.  It got quiet around 7:35 and we walked in to find this!  Uh oh!  We let him sleep up here for 2 hours and then it was an atomic meltdown to get him to come back down to go to bed in his actual bed.

A loft for Skyler.

Part of the room cleanse included cleaning out the "loft" above the closet.  I always wanted to make it a place that one could sit and read, it finally happened yesterday!  Skyler was thrilled when he got home from school and saw the ladder leading up!

Through two lenses, my lease here..

What Mommy saw through hers.  The step ladder is temporary, I have a rope ladder coming that will complete the "play space".

Clean!

I was told that I needed to clean out the front room to make room for guests, and to make a place for Skyler to eventually do homework.  I started on Wednesday morning, worked on it for 7 hours, and finished after another 6 hours yesterday.  Skyler was quite thrilled to discover new items and even walked away with a few trinkets of his own.

Oh my god!  This was about 2 hours in on Wednesday.

Finished!

Complete with neon!

Bookshelves migrated downstairs. (And according to my phone, 146 trips up and down the stairs!) Much better!

Under the weather.

Skyler has developed a cough and today is running a slight temp.  He stayed home from school yesterday and is home again with me today.

Yesterday morning...

Yesterday afternoon. Quite a difference!
 I might take him in to school late if he's starting to feel better again.

Learning about the human body.

Ms. Karla took this picture of Skyler's class studying hard yesterday afternoon.  I love how much is going on in class!

Circle time!

It really is Grand!!

Our favorite part about winter,  watching Amazon's "The Grand Tour" every week.  Here is Jeremy Clarkson emulating Ken Block!

Escape to Park City!

We have had yet another inversion in the Salt Lake Valley this past week and that has meant I couldn't walk the dog every day like normal.  We said enough is enough yesterday and headed up to Park City to walk freely and breathe some fresh air.

Gorgeous day!  The old Osguthorpe dairy barn.

Looking at the little pool.

Ice formed above the running water.

Our snow packed trail.

Beaver dam!

Snow covered beaver lodge.

Pretending the fence was electrified.

We even found a playground.  Here he is relaxing on the hammock.

Mysterious bright object that provides light and warmth in the sky...

At the Utah Food Bank.

Mommy signed up to volunteer at the Food Bank.  Karen and Matt joined them as well.  Skyler apparently had a pretty good time sorting cans.

New facility.

That's a lot of cans!!

New Year's Day.

We walked around the Redwood Nature Center during the daytime, and walked down to G & G's to celebrate Karen's birthday 2 days early.

Frozen.

He didn't want to walk at first.  A headlamp made him think otherwise!

New Year's Eve.

We were invited to the girls' house to celebrate this year.  They always put on great parties and this was no exception.

Enjoying some carrots.  Note his water cup with light up ice cube!

Going back for more carrots and some pizza.

Last day of Christmas break.

Tuesday was Skyler's last day home before he went back to school. I had suggested at the beginning of December that we clean carpets once the tree was down.  Well, he remembered that Monday evening and requested that we clean the carpets!  We did.  After the carpets were cleaned, we headed to the store where we found a Lego Ninjago set on clearance.  That pretty much made the day!

Playing with the Lego snowplow from a few years ago that he got the last time he was home and we cleaned carpets.

Building his new "water strider".

Happy Birthday Karen!

Today is my Sister's birthday!  She is a master of writing just the right thing and a lover of all things living.  She enjoys the outdoors, (particularly Millcreek Canyon) sewing her own clothes, and the arts.  I'm happy to call her my sister and Skyler is thrilled to call her his Aunt.

Earlier this year riding the swing ride with Skyler at Lagoon.  Look at that mysterious green stuff on the trees!

Jordan Ridge Park.

We headed to South Jordan Sunday afternoon to walk the dog and let Skyler ride his bike around Jordan Ridge Park.  They have a walking track and it's a rather large park that allowed Maizey to run.

Great mountain view!

He got tired of riding his bike so we explored the stormwater system that drains into the park.  Note the playground at the top of the hill.

Happy New Year!!

Welcome to 2018, let's hope it's a little better than 2017.

Skyler crossed off almost every day of 2017.  He has a new calendar this year to do the same.  Calendars are from the MacDon combine header and hay swather company.  :)