my loud little linkies

i just love this video of lincoln. every now and then he stands on the stairs and just lets it out.

the limber pine trail

as we were camped at sunrise (post below) we decided to walk the limber pine trail. the limber pine trail is at the top of the canyon and is an easy, well-developed nature trail. this is a great trail for kids.

the kids are excited to go on a hike. the sign tells how clarks's nutcrackers spread the seeds of the limber pines. the sign says the nutcrackers bury about 30,000 seeds each fall. they simply use their memory of landmarks to locate the seeds in the spring. naturally, they forget a few and that is how the limber pine spreads. we didn't see any clark's nutcrackers, but we did see a deer.

this is libby's new face. i don't know. she just makes this face whenever i want to take a picture.

this trail has many interpretive signs. we learned a lot about the forest from reading these. this particular sign tells about witches broom. witches broom is a malformation on a tree caused by a fungus called rust. i saw a great example of this at our campsite - i wish i would have gotten a picture of it.

an interesting tree. does anyone know why it grew this way? we do because we read the sign!

the family posed by a gnarled fallen tree.

can you see the rocks stuck in the roots of this tree? it hard to tell from a picture but those are not small rocks.

we found out that lincoln does not like hiking. whenever we tried to make him walk, like i did in this picture, he'd walk about two steps . . .

then plop to the ground and scream.

"mom, why are you making me walk? you are so cruel!"

this is a beautiful hike with lots of trees and meadows of wildflower here and there.

and here is the limber pine.

why do you think these trees grew so close together? any ideas?

heehee. a toadstool. i just thought it was neat, okay? and since i've been asking so many questions, here is another one. what is the difference between toadstool and mushrooms? and yes, i do know the answer.

a beautiful sego lily! the state flower of utah! we saw a few of these. sego lily's were very important to the survival of the first pioneers in utah. after the crickets ruined their crops the pioneers had to get creative which included eating the bulbs of the sego lily. Interesting fact: it's scientific name is calochortus nuttalli - it was named after the botanist Thomas Nuttall. Any of you Nuttalls know if there is any relation?

there are all sorts of wildflowers on this trail. the views were great and at many points you can see bear lake.

this, obviously, is not part of the trail but we saw this in the canyon. ethan and i got a kick out of it. we weren't really sure what the sign was telling us to do.

camping at sunrise

last week we camped at sunrise campground. sunrise is at the top of logan canyon very close to the bear lake overlook. we had a lot of fun, the weather was great, and the scenery was beautiful.

this is libby in time out. i'm not joking when i say, within the first five minutes of us being there she walked off into the forest by herself.

lincoln had a great time playing in the dirt while we set up camp.

ethan taught the kids how to make a camp fire.

linkies had a great time. he loves being outside.

we went on a short walk to where we could see the lake.

this little meadow of wildflowers was right across from our campsite.

and, of course, ethan didn't want to miss a workout.

tony grove

two fridays ago we went to tony grove. tony grove has a beautiful lake and mountain setting and is know for it's beautiful wild flowers which were not quite in peak when we went there.

there is a trail around the lake. this portion goes from the parking lot to a picnic area. do you see libby's hop? she was pretty excited to be in the mountains again.

tony grove is always one of the last things to open in the canyon. even when we went there (the end of july) there were still a lot of snow piles.

we found this beautiful columbine. while we did see many beautiful flowers in bloom we could tell the blooming season was not yet at it's peak. i'd love to go up now and see what it looks like.

the kids had a lot of fun playing in the snow piles.

my little clan of adventurers.

a view of the lake and mountains.

lincoln had a lot of fun.

this was funny. just previous to this libby had climbed to the top of that rock and ethan caught her as she jumped down. so when ethan climbed the rock, naturally libby offered to catch him.

cute girl. she loves to run around. she actually got into trouble quite a bit for running around too much. there were a couple times she worried her poor mama by running into the woods without supervision.

still playing in the snow.

and here's the reason we were only there about an hour. someone didn't want to stay by mom and dad. we gave her a time out in the van but she screamed so much we decided to just go home. maybe we can return soon and stay a little longer. oh, well, i guess that's what we get for going during nap time. when will we learn?

we've been trying to play a lot lately. ethan will be back in school soon and there will be absolutely no time for playing then so we've been trying to do as much as we can in the little time we have left. it's going to be a difficult year for him with school. but thankfully this is his last year then we can begin to reap the benefits of his mba. right? right?

so . . . last week we went camping and then to bear lake again. hopefully i'll be posting those pictures soon.

bear lake, round two

we went to bear lake again last thursday. it was super fun! like before, we got there in the late afternoon. we like to go at that time because a lot of people are done for the day and leaving. by early evening we end up with quite a lot of beach to ourselves.

there's another benefit to going in the afternoon. libby tends to get car sick and she gets sick almost every time we drive through that canyon. we've found that if we drive during nap time she will sleep instead of getting sick. always a bonus.

after we'd been there about an hour or so, the wind picked up to a very nice breeze; enough to keep you from getting too hot, but more importantly, enough to get some nice waves going! it was the most fun we've ever had there. we had so much fun drifting in the waves.

and now for picture time:

bear lake from the overlook in logan canyon.

the kids are having a little snack. that's how i get them to stay out of the water long enough to let the sun screen dry.

maria going for a swim.

lincoln still doesn't care much for the sand or water so i gave him some small rocks to play with. it entertained for a while.

if you look closely you can see a stick poking out of the sand in front of hudson. it wouldn't be a nuttall trip to the beach if someone didn't poke a stick in the sand.

the kids had fun collecting drift wood . . .

and rocks . . .

and digging through the sand.

and they love sinking their toes into the squishy sand.

one really nice thing about the lake is how warm the shallow parts are. it's very comfortable.

libby enjoyed drawing in the sand and watching the waves erase the marks.

the kids liked when ethan would lay down in the water. they'd all pile on and ride while he crawled to shore.

i took about 12 pictures of this shell and rock and various others - i had to do something while i sat on the blanket with lincoln!

here maria and ethan are playing in those fun waves. i got a chance to play in the waves too. it was the most fun i've had in a while. guess i should try to have more fun.

this is how libby and lincoln were all the way home until . . .

we were about five minutes from home.

we had such a great time. i love that this fabulous lake is so close to home. in fact, we are so excited to be going back this week!