Bryce Canyon peek-a-boo loop.

We made it past the enormously busy visitor's center and got on the shuttle to the trailhead.  Much better! Not many people hiking at all.

More tomorrow...

GREAT weekend!

Central Utah color country didn't disappoint!

I took a ton of photos.  More to come later in the week.

Radio silence.

We're headed to Bryce Canyon and Kodachrome State Park today for a quick getaway.  Stay tuned next week for pics.

A special thanks to Grandpa for taking care of the pets and house while we are away.

"Im out of socks!"

 Not true.  He insisted on wearing his "Big Bird" socks yesterday instead of looking in his drawer for regular socks.

He was laughing with delight on our way out to walk the dog yesterday!

Doggy turndown service.

 Once again, she does an excellent job almost every night getting our bed ready!

I could actually hear her digging at the covers the other night while we watched TV in the living room!

Near normalcy?

Skyler has gone into school for testing the last 2 weeks.  He even got school lunch twice last week!  He also gets to do "science Friday" with his class each week.  He requested to play on the playground at the park after one of his test days last week.  (We took hand sanitizer along just to be safe.)

After nearly 14 months, he's almost able to be a kid again!

The final chapter on the sequoia tree.

We took the rest of it down yesterday morning.  I climbed the ladder and topped it as Mommy and Skyler pulled on the rope to coax it to fall where we wanted it.  Everything went flawlessly and there was no safety violations.  Skyler broke down and cried a little as I prepared to drop the trunk.

Topped.

De-limbing the remainder of the top of the tree.  Skyler was a big helper.  We saved most of the trunk sections for the pump track to use as obstacles.  Skyler also saved a portion of the trunk to turn a bowl on the lathe at Grandpa's some day. ;)

Watching some trains.

 Specifically, Frontrunner trains since there wasn't freight train to be had.

Southbound.

It was clipping right along.  Skyler got the operator to blow the horn as it passed through the intersection.

Whoosh!

Dirty locomotive pushing.

The lineman were out training.

Northbound.  Skyler making the "honk" motion.

The operator didn't honk this time.

Paper planes on the brain.

 Fingers crossed the paper airplane is obsession is just a phase.  

He built an "airport" out of (what else) cardboard earlier this week.

Note the control tower.  He later added a couple of hangars.

View from the other side.

 Of the fence that is!

Skyler was playing with Sebastian next door last weekend and got to see one of the the five turkeys they are raising for Thanksgiving this year.

Hes standing on a stool in our yard.  Photo courtesy of next door.

Just kick back and relax.

 While talking to Grandpa on the phone while sitting on the patio.

The highlight of his day is talking on the phone to Grandpa.

So long Giant Sequoia.

We got this tree in 2004, the year after we moved in here.  I remember driving downtown to the Smith's Marketplace to look for a Giant Sequoia in their garden center since it was advertised in newspaper.  It fit into a garbage can in the bed of my truck for the drive home.  It thrived for years, growing up to its current height of 40+ feet.  

The last 3 or 4 years though, it has struggled.  It would turn brown in the winter and green up in the summer.  We attributed this to winter sunburn.  Maybe?  Last summer it was browning more than greening and this winter it was entirely brown.  Time to say goodbye.  Skyler gave the tree a hug as we prepared to start de-limbing the tree in preparation to cut it down.

He got a new pair of leather gloves at Ace Hardware Friday evening.  He was working rather hard using the hand saw.

Mother's day pics.

 

Deer resting in the shade.

Using his binoculars to look at the ducks under the TRAX bridge.

Looking at the geese.

Having a moment with Grandma.  Miss you Mom. 💔

Mother's Day 2021.

 It's still a hard one without Mom here.  

However, we must power forward.  We're still alive, we all have a house to live in, we are healthy, and we are vaccinated!  We had a subdued celebration this morning.  Mommy got a "Rosie the Riveter" t-shirt and a new pair of diamond stud earrings from Skyler and me respectively.  She requested a Denver omelet for breakfast so I made one.  MUCH better than going out!

Onions, peppers, ham, cheese, and fresh garden parsley.  Oh man!  A little hot sauce to finish.  Delicious!

Kid size human body project.

 Skyler had a good time working on this project all week for school.

The finished project.  I had to trace his body on the paper.

He had to write about each organ.

Info on the arm muscles.

Explaining what the liver does.

FLOTUS plane flies over our house!

 Kinda fitting since we got our second vaccine shot the day the First Lady flew into Utah.  Yay for science!

I was out back and heard it on final.

Right over the cottonwood tree.

Maybe the cleanest plane in the sky?

There she goes!  She was in town to celebrate diversity in a Glendale neighborhood school.  That's a new one, the First Lady doing something good for the community?!

Callsign EXEC1F.

Fully vaccinated!

 Mommy and I got our second shot of the Pfizer COVID19 vaccine yesterday.  We made it!  No one got COVID, no one died!  However, I feel like death today.  So much so that Mommy stayed home and is working from home today.  She had no reaction to the shot at all.  At least I know the vaccine is working.  Ugh!

Birthday busy.

 Skyler has been keeping busy with all of his birthday presents.  Lego, paper airplanes, and Metal Earth trains.

Metal Earth train is extremely challenging.

Pelicans.

 Spotted on our walk Saturday.

Yes, those are geese in the foreground, the pelicans are behind the geese.

Whoa, that was a lot of work!

Mommy signed us up to decorate Skyler's teacher's door for teacher appreciation week.  The theme was from the movie "Up". We started the process last Sunday and ended up spending 13 hours each working on the design!  It turned out really nice and was worth the effort.

Alisha helped us by letting us use here Silhouette cutter to cut all of the circles for balloons.

Skyler mocking up the design on the floor.

Not too shabby.

Assembled balloon design.

Finished door!  I think it turned out fantastic.

Post birthday.

 Pretty great way to celebrate his 10th birthday!

Lego model "Crocodile" from Grandpa! 

(He's currently building the incredibly detailed kit.)

He requested grilled turkey burgers for his birthday meal.  Complete with homemade buns and "special sauce".

They were quite delicious!

Homemade triple banana cake.  With homemade milk shake.

Blow out the candles!

Karen and Matt came over after dinner and were roped into playing badminton with him.

We finished out the special day with a patio fire.  He was so delighted.  

Happy Birthday Skyler!