Vacuums.

Skyler has his own little Dyson vacuum that he got for Christmas from Grandma & Grandpa.  He loves to run his while I vacuum the house.

It really works!

Adorable!

"What's up, Doc?"

Exactly what he said yesterday while eating a carrot!

What other 3.5 year old asks to eat a carrot?

Yay!

The City did what they said they would do, picked up our Christmas tree!

A week late however.

Skyler was thrilled that it was a "rear loader" garbage truck.

Going to be made into compost.

Skyler asked that we "follow it to the recycling center" so he could see it be made into compost.  :)

Trying to stay entertained.

Skyler found an old bike light in the basement and wanted me to install it on his bike.  Instant entertainment!  It's a good thing too, the air outside here in the valley is getting dangerous.

Now he rides around downstairs in the dark!

Repeat.

Our friends invited us back to their place for an impromptu dinner yesterday.  That meant Skyler got to play with Abby again.  He was much better behaved and didn't get upset when we had to leave this time.  His only complaint?  He didn't get to play "dress up" this time.  That's fine by me!

Sitting down with Abby.  (Can you tell he didn't want his picture taken?)

Airplane museum.

We made one more trip to Ogden yesterday to complete my engine swap for a grader blade yesterday.  After picking up the blade, we headed to the Hill Aerospace Museum just outside the Air Force Base.  Skyler was thrilled!  After some much needed running around, we went inside and enjoyed the exhibits.  I was floored.  It's probably been 10 years since I've been up there and they have done a spectacular job with everything!   It's worth the trip.  I think Grandpa needs to come along next time.  :)

Free to run!

Headed to the Caribou plane.

Where he tried to turn the propeller.  

Next plane!

A-10 landing just under the left wingtip and above the mountains.

Helicopter!

Checking out the C-124 Globemaster.

Next plane!

The coin funnel was entertaining.

Fully restored top turret from a B-24 Liberator.

MH53J Pave Low helicopter.  Sadly, the Air Force has retired all of these now.  :(

ABC...

Skyler is starting to write!  He came up to me yesterday and said "look at this, letter A"!

He did this all by himself!  I'm still blown away!

Should have done this a long time ago.

I ordered some Kinetic Sand from Amazon over the weekend.  It showed up yesterday and I surprised Skyler with it after he went to Grandpa's.  This stuff is so cool!  No mess, it flows like sand but has an adhesive binder that keeps it from separating.  Skyler played with it from 2:30 until he had a nap, and again after his nap until almost bedtime.

I'm going to work on a better sandbox, the tupperware was an improvise.

He started with just a couple of toys.

Then added a whole bunch more!

Bike ride.

Even though our valley is experiencing winter high pressure inversions, we ventured out yesterday to  enjoy the unseasonably warm temps.  Like 55 degree temps.  In January!  Skyler wanted to ride his bike instead of just walk so I packed everything up, and we were off.

Riding right in the middle of the trail.  Good thing it was just us.

I'm afraid his bike is getting too small already.

His latest trick is to ride ahead and then speed up as I try to catch him.

I think the ducks were enjoying the warm temps too.

Riding on the yellow line.

We got to play "lets watch the signal change" game again.

Looking mighty grown up!

Notice anything on the pole to the left of the pic?

BALD EAGLE!!!!  We followed him along the river.  He caught a snack and ate it up on top of the pole.  We got to watch him for a good 20 minutes or so before he flew off to the West.

Nice and sunny.  This shows how far we were from the eagle.

"Wheee!!"

The grocery store has Skyler sized shopping carts!!

Watch your ankles!

Hiking in the winter wonderland.

We set out Saturday on a hike in Millcreek canyon.  We ended up hiking up to the pipeline trail and ending up at the pipeline overlook that overlooks the city (and inversion) below.  Skyler did so good! He hiked almost the entire trail!  Maizey dog enjoyed the exercise as well.

Starting out.  

Pretty steep!

Playing while hiking.

Poor Maizey, she had a sweater on.

Waiting for Mommy and Skyler.

Nicely packed trail.

Remnants of the pipe that was once here.  The original pipe was wood with metal bands.  I assume they used steel on the corners to avoid any potential blow outs.  This is all riveted together, made before welding was mainstream.

Wintery.

Break time.

Still hiking up.

At the fork in the trail.  It originally said "Pipeline Overlook".

Trying to convince him to keep going.

Getting clearer.

Playing in the drifts.  I wrote the "S" for Skyler.

There were flurries the higher we got.

Metal bands from the wooden pipe.

Running.

Looking to the West.

We started at the road!  Look how high!

Ta Da!!  You can see the pressure inversion on the valley below.  Yuck!

No inversions up here.

Our happy little family.

More inversion.

The hound was getting cold.  Time to go back down.

The only sign of a Fat Bike.  One tire track.  Specialized Ground Control tire.  Think I have an obsession?  :)

He got a shoulder ride on the flat part of the trail.

Which way?  "This way!"