Nicole and the Amazing Technicolor Wilderness

WARNING: This blog post has an auto-start music player. Adjust your volume accordingly.

We spent the last 2 weeks of July in Southern Utah near Bryce Canyon National Park and Red Canyon. The scenery was gorgeous and as we were riding our motorcycles and the Rhino, we observed some of the beauty that makes me more fully understand the meaning of "God's Green Earth." Although a photo cannot fully capture the awe of the wildlife and nature we saw, I have tried to re-create a portion of it for you. As we rode, I was amazed at all the color there. The words from Joseph's Coat, from the musical Joseph and the Amazing technicolor Dream Coat kept repeating over and over in my head, so I included the lyrics and the audio clip.

I tried to find a flower, bug, tree, or scene of every color listed in the song, let's see how I did:
We got a lot of rain one day

no, it's not out of focus, you are looking for the red and black ants


I wish I knew the names of some of these flowers
We found this little creek on the rainy day. We stopped for lunch and Grandma Melissa (the water magnet) found it and went wading with Timmy.



These wildflowers looked like weeds to me, but after almost 2 weeks, they started to grow on me. (No pun intended.)
We celebrated the 24th of July, a.k.a. Pioneer Day (a Utah holiday) while we were there. We flew this flag at our campsite almost every day.

This is tropic Resoirvoir. We camped less than 5 miles from here

This is the reservoir on a cloudy day. We got stuck in a downpour this day.
Do you see the 3 antelope?
Ignore those crazy people and try to see the gorgeous view in the background.
There were cows ALL OVER. This here is #145. She had a calf with her, who was a little camera shy.
The clouds were magnificent. They were even more enjoyable when they didn't dump rain on us. The colors of the rocks varied so much, even within a 20 mile radius.
This is one photo that doesn't do justice to the weird lava rock type mountain pictured here. It was black and came out of nowhere. This was possibly the most bizarre thing I saw on this vacation.


This is East Fork Creek. (Our vacation is named after this body of water.)
The elevation at camp was about 7,850 ft. This view was breathtaking.
I'll try to post a few more pictures with us in them. I was just amazed by the scenery and wanted to share it with you.


Lyrics | Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat - Joseph’s Coat lyrics

Flying High for the 4th of July

We celebrated the first part of Independence Day at home, preparing to travel. Then Timmy, Spencer and I flew down to Hot Country to celebrate the rest of the week with my family. Timmy was anxiously anticipating flying on the plane in his own seat. Going through security was a bit of a hassle because of my insulin pump; I always have to go through the pat down, magic wand routine. Because I was carrying Spencer when I walked through te metal detector, He also had to go through the same routine. Ridiculous. We passed the test, and all continued on toward the gate. I brought my double stroller so I wouldn’t have to worry about keeping Timmy within arm’s reach while carrying Spencer. It was a life saver. (Thank you Karen- we have racked up lots of miles on that stroller.)
We made a quick potty stop in a family bathroom. Those are awesome, especially if you are toting a stroller and 2 babies. It is hard to fit all that into a handicapped stall of a regular restroom. (Yes, I was daring enough to let my 2 year-old travel in his big boy Buzz Lightyear underwear.) Eventually, we arrived at the gate, and we could see 5 airplanes out the windows. Timmy thought they were awesome.
He wanted to know which one was his. I think in his mind, each passenger got a plane of their own. Ours was Bluish-Purple with a Red belly. Here is Timmy plane-gazing out the window. Once Timmy climbed out of the stroller, Spencer voiced his protest at being left and was soon happily bouncing with Timmy on a chair by the window, pointing at all the new sights. We unwittingly drove off the little old lady who was initially seated next to the lady in the picture. The lady in the picture was friendly and we chatted for a few minutes while we waited for our flight to board. When I snapped this picture, she said to me, “So, I am hoping you are taking photographs for a senior citizen’s fashion magazine.” I assured her that I was the head photographer and she would have her face on the cover, and that a check would be arriving in the mail shortly thereafter. I think she could tell I was joking…
Timmy was still sooo excited, and as our flight began to board, we walked down the jet way, unloaded the boys from the stroller and as we were just about to step over the threshold and onto the plane, Timmy had a sudden change of heart, threw himself down on the floor and began to wail, “ I want to go home to Daddy right Now!” I was slightly embarrassed, and tried to lift him one-handedly while holding Spencer, to no avail. Thank heaven for angels in disguise. A kind woman offered to carry Timmy onto the airplane for me. I gave her Spencer instead since he’s lighter and more cooperative. She whisked him aboard, and I carried Timmy on. The moment we crossed the threshold, it was as if a light switch had been flipped again, and he was completely back to his excited, normal self. He really wanted to say hi to the “airplane driver” but I thought, I don’t need the air marshall to have any reason to flag me, so I made up a silly excuse of why we couldn’t see him.
Timmy’s greatest joy came when he discovered he got to use the big buckle and didn’t have to sit in a booster or carseat. He was stoked. While we waited to taxi and liftoff, Timmy started to have another bout of uncertainty when he heard the loud roar of the jet engines . He said, “I think I will run home now.” I distracted him by explaining how the plane would drive on its wheels down a bumpy road and would go so fast that we would go up into the air like a bird. Then the wheels would go up inside the plane’s belly. We passed the control tower and I explained that was where the pilot would get a red or green light when it was his turn to taxi. He liked the red light/ green light explanation. However, when we started to pick up speed, he got a little scared and wanted Daddy again. I instructed him to look out the window and I said, “when we fly up, up, up over our house, Daddy will be outside hammering on our house. He will see our airplane in the sky and he will wave, and say, ‘good-bye, Timmy!’ and he will look for oyu to wave and say, ‘good-bye, Daddy!’ can you wave to Daddy?” He happily obliged and about 3 times throughout the flight he waved out the window and said “Good-bye!” So cute.
He loved eating peanuts. I knew the drinks could potentially lead to disaster, so I planned ahead and brought my Impressions Tumblers and straws. They have an amazing dripless lid so that the hole for the straw doesn’t leak, even if you turn the cup upside down and shake it. Wow! They are amazing. That way the boys could have an in flight drink and snack. I think my camera was switched to manual focus, so the only shot that turned out, the boys weren’t smiling. Oh, well.

I was really worried that one or both boys would act up or cry during the flight, especially since Spencer was recovering from an ear infection. Both boys were great! Timmy and I made a visit to the on board lavatory, and he liked it because it was, in his words, “Just my size.” Spencer stayed in the cabin with Danielle, who sat on out row. It was a little cramped with both of us in the tiny washroom. (I remember thinking “you would have to be fairly nimble to join the Mile High club in an airplane lavatory.”)

The flight lasted 1 ½ hours. I shopped for some new, novel toys to hold the boy’s attention and the time passed quickly. We only lost one ball in the course of the day. Not bad.The landing was pretty uneventful. When homes came into view, Timmy waved out the window and said, “Good-bye, Daddy” one last time. I miraculously managed to collect a large suitcase, a carry-on sized suitcase, two carseats, two boys, the double stroller and the baby bag all by myself and make it out to the pick up spot. (I usually have a purse, too, but consolidated for this trip.) I impressed myself. Let’s pray that the flight home will be as uneventful.