Sunday in the Park

Before Hugo was born we used to take pictures of Amanda's cats. Drizzle seems to be saying, "I will not be supplanted!"

But, he's having a hard time competing with Hugo for cuteness! We had a little time to play with Hugo after church yesterday before his Mom and Dad got home!

In the afternoon we went to a concert in the park where Nolan directed the New Horizons band.

The band members are a very cohesive group and had a pot luck dinner after the concert! There are some really good cooks in Iowa, and we really enjoyed that!

He also enjoyed watching Amanda sing songs to Hugo. He knows when to laugh in each song!

Many of the band members noticed Hugo's red tint to his hair. It is the same color Amanda had as a baby!

In the evening we built a fire and made s'mores at the campsite! It is wet enough in Iowa that there are no fire restrictions at campsites!

It was also wet enough that we had a little friend at our campsite. Nolan picked up this cute little frog!

Hugo was fun right up to the very end! He has a lot of stamina to continue being cheerful into the evening!

It was fun being in Iowa and seeing the fireflies again! There are certain things we miss about living in Maryland, and Iowa was just as green and even more humid! The humidity is something we won't miss!

It is fun to think we'll get to see Hugo again next month when they come out for my mom' 90th birthday celebration!

Saturday with Hugo

Ed and I got to watch Hugo while Amanda and Nolan went to a B&B and for a train ride near Ames, Iowa on Saturday.

In the morning I got to play with Hugo, who made peace with a scary blue ball we brought him!

Ed got the short end of the stick, waiting at the campsite for a truck to help him change the tire on the tent trailer.. Wouldn't you know it? We had a flat tire! That seems to be the story of our lives!

Meanwhile, back at the Hauta home, Hugo was endlessly entertained by the interactive toy on the face of his new walker! It was so interesting to see him play with it!

We had planned to take Hugo for a nice nature walk, but had to settle for trips to Costco, and then Discount tire to get the tire repaired! Fortunately, Hugo was too young to know he lost out!

We tried to make it up to him by taking  him for a Carousel ride at the Mall. He seemed to enjoy it as much as we did!

Then we took Hugo over to the trailer and fed him dinner. He does not like baby food (mush), but was okay with pasta pieces and broccoli! He especially liked Grandpa!

Hugo is perfectly capable of feeding himself and holding his own bottle, but he really prefers someone else to do it for him! He enjoys playing with his bottle, but when he is truly thirsty, he will but it in his mouth!

It was fun for us to have Hugo all to ourselves and to find out that he is truly as agreeable as Amanda has been telling us!

Getting to Know Hugo

Yesterday morning we picked up Hugo from daycare and took him over to our campsite. Happily, he wasn't as nervous around us as he was the day before. He enjoyed playing in the tent trailer with some new toys.

He did not enjoy turkey and rice mushed up with vegetables. Maybe he would have preferred a roasted hot dog

Amanda got off work a little early and we went with her to explore the Devonian Fossil Gorge, very close to our campsite.

There were lots of 375 million year old fossils, including these corals, from which Coralville, Iowa gets its name.

It was fun looking for the markers that told us what to find in the rocks. The rain has cleared up and the weather was perfect!

I had fun taking pictures of Hugo by the number 10 marker (as he is 10 months old). He was very amenable, but seemed to be saying, "Are you almost done now?"

I tried unsuccessfully to take some bird pictures, but settled for some very pretty wildflowers that look like some kind of pea.

We did get a picture of this cute little hummingbird nest with chicks in it. It is built in the tree overhanging Amanda's driveway, so we can't pull our truck into the driveway without disturbing the nest!

We met Nolan for dinner downtown where we tried out a new Asian Street Food restaurant. It was pretty spicy, so we stopped off at Heyn's Ice Cream on the way home to cleanse our palates! It was great ice cream, and by itself was worth the long drive to Iowa!

Hugo, Sousapalooza and a Poke in the Eye

Amanda brought Hugo over to our campsite after work today. He was a little hesitant with us, but really warmed up to Grandpa!

He liked Grandpa so much that he accidentally poked him in the eye, which caused it to fill up with blood.  Grandpa had to miss out on the Sousapalooza concert, as he went to the ER make sure his eye was okay. (He's fine, but has to wear his glasses until the blood clears up.)

Hugo and I went to Nolan's Sousapalooza concert. It was a special one time event for Make Music Day. Nolan had 53 musicians download music and show up to play 10 Sousa songs together! Hugo loved the music, although he had to listen to it through baby ear protection headphones. It was fun watching Hugo respond to the music even through his headphones!

Omaha and Council Bluffs

We had a long drive yesterday from Denver to Omaha, but arrived by 5:30 p.m. yesterday and set up camp at NP Dodge Campground, right on the Missouri river.

It was a couple of miles to Winter Quarters, the church historic site where the saints set up camp after four months slogging across Iowa in the spring of 1846. They decided to wait till 1847 to cross the plains, and planted crops and spread out in Iowa, across the border.

We enjoyed the visitor's center and cemetery, which are situated right next to the LDS temple.

We enjoyed the tour of the visitor's center led by Sister Spencer and Sister Hafen. The first sister was from Alpine and knew many of our friends, and the second one had an Uncle in our ward!

This morning we went to the Kanesville Tabernacle in Council Bluff. It was where the first solemn assembly in the church was held and where Brigham Young was sustained as Prophet in December 1847.

We loved the video at the visitor's center, which told a lot about my relative, Henderson Cox, who lost his life at Tragedy Springs as the Mormon Battalion was starting off from San Francisco to go to Salt Lake.

Then we slogged across Iowa. It rained most of the way. It also rained when we set up our tent trailer.

We have a lovely spot close to Amanda and right on the Iowa River at Coralville Dam.

Unfortunately, the vent in our tent trailer ceiling is not sealed well and sprang a leak! Nothing is easy when you're crossing the plains!

Party Time with Crystal

We drove our tent trailer to Denver today and spent the evening with Crystal at our campsite at Cherry Creek Reservoir! Crystal lives so close to the dam that she rode her bike over to meet us.

She also took the opportunity to celebrate Ed's birthday one more time, with rocket socks and Rummikub!

We made polish hot dogs on our BBQ grill, which was super convenient, as there is no wood burning in the park.

It rained pretty hard for a while, which precluded any nature hikes, so we let Ed beat us at a couple of games of Rummikub. It was his faux birthday, after all!

We finished up with some great gourmet s'mores! We didn't let any rain or wood burning ban stop us from having the perfect campout! Thanks, Crystal for all the goodies she brought us! We'll  have some fun food to share with Amanda and Nolan when we get to Iowa!

Trellis Garden Cafe with the Nortons

We were lucky to catch the Nortons between their summer adventures. They don't let any grass grow under their feet! The Trellis Cafe was a beautiful (and delicious) place to sit outside and visit on a beautiful summer's day! They went on a long cruise, where Renee successfully didn't gain weight and Church lost 7 pounds! Who does that? Makes me think we should travel with the Nortons more often!

More Pickelball!

Debby, who has connections in the Alpine Stake, invited me to join a group of pickleball players that meet at the stake Center by the roundabout in Alpine! It was super fun, and there were a ton of people there! They've been meeting twice a week, so I'm going to see if I can talk Ed into joining us and helping up the level of our play!

Father's Day

We had four fathers over for Father's Day: Ed Bush and John, James and Ellis Nuttall! The weather was perfect for an outdoor BBQ.

Since James and Kristy have older kids, it was fun to see our swing set get a good workout!

After dinner we went downstairs and jammed a bit! We had a good time playing out of the Brady Songbook. Kristy could have been a family member, as she knew most of the songs in the book!

If we do this often enough I might learn the names of James and Kristy's children. This is Levi (or Ty) enjoying corn on the cob!

Pinyon Rats in Springville, July 27th!

We took a publicity picture for the Pinyon Rats yesterday. We'll be performing live on July 27th, Friday evening in Springville at the Food Truck Roundup by the Library! We hope to see a few familiar faces there!

We think you'll like the music, and are sure you can find some food you will love at the Truck Roundup!

Splashing Good time!

Ed and I took the girls to the splash pad in Highland on Friday! Clementine took to it like a duck to water!

Mabel was an old hand at it and even remembered it from last summer! It was different not having to follow her around for every step!

We saved our anxiety up for Clementine who had to do everything her big sister did!

Clementine also has to do everything her mom does, including climbing up on the piano bench and playing the keyboard with her!

The girls also had fun Saturday morning going for a ride in Grandpa's tractor! They made Grandma and Coda get in with them, too! (Not pictured!)

Saturday afternoon we stopped by to see the progress on Mom's house. The most interesting thing was finding her setting up shop in the garage. With no counter tops and no appliances, this is the closest she has to a kitchen now! Hopefully she'll get a sink this week!