Bare with us here as we try to cover three months worth of events and pictures in one posting.
We all joined Drue for his business trip to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida in October. We took advantage of this opportunity to go visit the Everglades (you know....where they're always finding dead bodies on CSI Miami). We didn't find any corpses, but we did find miles and miles of beauty.
We took an airboat ride through the everglades. Drue, feeling responsible for the safety of our family, volunteered to sit on the outer edge of the airboat so he could protect us from any alligators. Alligators can apparently jump out of the water about the same distance as their length.
Maggie and Sutton were happy to take an interior seat!
Here's one of those lovely alligators. Fortunately none of them decided to demonstrate their jumping prowess.
We spent a lovely day at the Ft. Lauderdale beach. Salem could spend hours playing in the sand.
Sutton enjoyed the sand too after a period of reacclimation.
Our beach beauty!
Drue buried Salem in the sand during our last trip to Mexico. Salem now demands a repeat burial at any beach we visit.
We ended one of our fun days in Florida with a delicious meal at the melting pot. We're all huge fans of fondue. The girls loved being able to cook all of their own food. We enjoyed the meal as well, but we were most happy about the girls surviving the three-hour meal without any meltdowns or tantrums!
We visited the Lion Country Safari during our last day in Florida. This is a wonderful safari where we remained in our car and drove through hundreds of acres of open land where the animals were allowed to roam free. It seemed much more humane than zoos and we hope that someone in Utah will choose to invest in a habitat such as this for the animals.
This is Sutton's imitation of an elephant! She makes sound effects and all!
Drue's vigilant focus kept this rhino from ramming into our rental car. That would have been an awkward insurance conversation.
There was island that housed about twenty monkeys. One of the monkeys was walking around with an empty water bottle. Just as Maggie asked Drue "What do you think he's doing with that bottle?", the monkey walked up to the water, dipped the bottle into the water filling it up, then proceeded to drink from the water bottle! That's better manners than some humans we know!
Check out that long black tongue!!!
The Lory birds loved eating flower nectar from Salem. Salem was quite intimidated at first, but quickly enjoyed this fun opportunity.
After seeing all of the animals in the Safari we went to the other portion of the park that housed rides and exhibits. We enjoyed a relaxing paddle boat ride.
Shortly after our trip to Florida, Drue and the girls joined Maggie on a trip to Los Cabos, Mexico for one of her conferences. We stayed at an all-inclusive resort so Sutton quickly developed an addiction to Pina Coladas.
The resort we stayed at was part of a sea turtle preservation program. Each year after the sea turtles come onto the beach and lay their eggs, the resort employees take the eggs into a turtle estuary to protect them from other animals and the elements. They care for the eggs until the turtles hatch and then they release them back into the ocean. We were lucky enough to be invited to be part of "La Liberacion"-- the release of over 400 sea turtles. We were each allowed a sea turtle to hold, assign a name, and then release into the ocean.
Here's Maggie explaining to the girls the importance of releasing the turtles onto the sand and allowing them to find their way into the ocean rather than directly placing them into the water. This short walk that the turtles take into the ocean allows them to familiarize themselves with this specific beach so that twently years from now, when they become reproductively mature, they will return to this exact beach to lay their eggs.
We allowed Salem the honor of naming all three of our turtles, so as you could have guessed, she named them Ariel, Jasmine, and Cinderella. I wonder if we have to pay Disney some rolyalty for that?
The resort we stayed at was part of a sea turtle preservation program. Each year after the sea turtles come onto the beach and lay their eggs, the resort employees take the eggs into a turtle estuary to protect them from other animals and the elements. They care for the eggs until the turtles hatch and then they release them back into the ocean. We were lucky enough to be invited to be part of "La Liberacion"-- the release of over 400 sea turtles. We were each allowed a sea turtle to hold, assign a name, and then release into the ocean.
Here's Maggie explaining to the girls the importance of releasing the turtles onto the sand and allowing them to find their way into the ocean rather than directly placing them into the water. This short walk that the turtles take into the ocean allows them to familiarize themselves with this specific beach so that twently years from now, when they become reproductively mature, they will return to this exact beach to lay their eggs.
We allowed Salem the honor of naming all three of our turtles, so as you could have guessed, she named them Ariel, Jasmine, and Cinderella. I wonder if we have to pay Disney some rolyalty for that?
And they're off....we all cheered on the turtles as they took their momentous march.
Salem was quite worried about her turtles making it safely to the water because there were sand crabs burrowing out of the sand trying to attack the turtles. Fortunately, Ariel, Jasmine, and Cinderella all made it safely. A few of their friends were not as lucky :(
Salem was quite worried about her turtles making it safely to the water because there were sand crabs burrowing out of the sand trying to attack the turtles. Fortunately, Ariel, Jasmine, and Cinderella all made it safely. A few of their friends were not as lucky :(
Salem quickly became best friends with the bar tenders at the pool bar. She was delighted to have her water wings on so that she could independently swim up to the bar and order her share of pina coladas and strawberry daquiris.
We got to celebrate Salem's third birthday while in Mexico. She was so excited when everyone at the nightly resort show sang happy brithday to her!
Salem adores playing with older girls. She and her new friend Caden were inseparable.
Salem and Drue enjoying the Real Salt Lake playoff soccer game.
We love Halloween! This was the first year that Salem got to choose her own costume. She wanted to be a doctor...easy enough...we have all the supplies handy. Sutton was an adorable little Chick.
Salem got to start soccer this fall. Here she is in her Argentina soccer uniform and Diadora cleats...following in her Papa's footsteps.
Way to go Hull '05!!! Hopefully we'll soon have Hull '07 playing out on the field too.
Salem is becoming quite the artist-- mostly abstract. She loves painting...and is getting better at keeping the paint on her paper.
Sutton has started joining Salem at gymnastics. Sutton is now a Diaper Daredevil and Salem has graduated up to Tumble Bees. Here's Sutton doing her favorite gymnastics activity: jumping and playing in the foam pit.
Salem adores playing with older girls. She and her new friend Caden were inseparable.
Salem and Drue enjoying the Real Salt Lake playoff soccer game.
We love Halloween! This was the first year that Salem got to choose her own costume. She wanted to be a doctor...easy enough...we have all the supplies handy. Sutton was an adorable little Chick.
Salem got to start soccer this fall. Here she is in her Argentina soccer uniform and Diadora cleats...following in her Papa's footsteps.
Way to go Hull '05!!! Hopefully we'll soon have Hull '07 playing out on the field too.
A fun day at the zoo for all four Salem grandkids: Kaden, Salem, Kardin, and Sutton.
Salem is becoming quite the artist-- mostly abstract. She loves painting...and is getting better at keeping the paint on her paper.
Sutton has started joining Salem at gymnastics. Sutton is now a Diaper Daredevil and Salem has graduated up to Tumble Bees. Here's Sutton doing her favorite gymnastics activity: jumping and playing in the foam pit.
Sutton's class is a parent-and-tot class so either Maggie or Drue always accompanies her. Drue usually gets chastised by the instructors when he goes...adults are not allowed on the equipment :(
This is Sutton's contribution to Salem's soccer practice.
Thankfully, Salem's soccer programs consists of teaching the kids skills and having them run drills. They only get to play swarm ball during the last 10 minutes of practice.
We enjoyed a wonderful afternoon out bowling with our good friends Jo, Jim, Aiden, and Maya.
Salem had a great time and beat out both Maggie and Jo! Maggie's planning on using the ramp too next time.
We love going to the Park Silly Market on Main Street in Park City. It's held every weekend from Spring to Fall. There are lots of street vendors, artist booths, a farmers market, and on this day there were great shows. The show in the background was an amazing demonstration of Capoeira which is a brazilian martial art that mimics dancing.
They also had a fun petting farm at the Park Silly Market. The girls loved seeing the animals. Unfortunately our friend Maya didn't enjoy her experience as much...the goat ate Maya's hair :( !!!
Out for a beautiful hike in Pinebrook with the family. Pictured are Ana, Bassam, Kardin, Kaden, Maggie, Sutton, and Suma.
Salem and Sutton love seeing the animals when we visit the zoo, but their experience is never complete without getting a ride on the new zoo carousel. Salem insists on riding the elephants; Sutton doesn't seem to have a preference as long as she gets a ride.
Salem made great progess during swim lessons this summer. She can now float all on her own!
Drue and the girls celebrating the big 33! He requested funnel cakes for his birthday dessert this year.
While the funnel cakes cooked the cousins had fun out on the hammock. Pictured are Parker, Salem, Sophie, and Abe.
Drue doesn't celebrate a birthDAY, he celebrates a birthWEEK! Here's a second birthday cake that Maggie's mom made for him. It was a delicious ice-cream cake with chocolate ganache....yummmm!
This is Sutton's contribution to Salem's soccer practice.
Thankfully, Salem's soccer programs consists of teaching the kids skills and having them run drills. They only get to play swarm ball during the last 10 minutes of practice.
We enjoyed a wonderful afternoon out bowling with our good friends Jo, Jim, Aiden, and Maya.
Salem had a great time and beat out both Maggie and Jo! Maggie's planning on using the ramp too next time.
We love going to the Park Silly Market on Main Street in Park City. It's held every weekend from Spring to Fall. There are lots of street vendors, artist booths, a farmers market, and on this day there were great shows. The show in the background was an amazing demonstration of Capoeira which is a brazilian martial art that mimics dancing.
They also had a fun petting farm at the Park Silly Market. The girls loved seeing the animals. Unfortunately our friend Maya didn't enjoy her experience as much...the goat ate Maya's hair :( !!!
Out for a beautiful hike in Pinebrook with the family. Pictured are Ana, Bassam, Kardin, Kaden, Maggie, Sutton, and Suma.
Salem and Sutton love seeing the animals when we visit the zoo, but their experience is never complete without getting a ride on the new zoo carousel. Salem insists on riding the elephants; Sutton doesn't seem to have a preference as long as she gets a ride.
Salem made great progess during swim lessons this summer. She can now float all on her own!
Drue and the girls celebrating the big 33! He requested funnel cakes for his birthday dessert this year.
While the funnel cakes cooked the cousins had fun out on the hammock. Pictured are Parker, Salem, Sophie, and Abe.
Drue doesn't celebrate a birthDAY, he celebrates a birthWEEK! Here's a second birthday cake that Maggie's mom made for him. It was a delicious ice-cream cake with chocolate ganache....yummmm!
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I think it's incredible that those turtles can remember to go back to the same beach 20 years later after only walking on it for a few minutes. I can't even remember where I put my keys sometimes. :)