End of Summer Post!

Okay, so I'll admit that I'm just destined to be a blogging slacker no matter how busy (or not) I am.

Regardless, here is a post about our end of summer rah-rah-shish-boom-bah!!! We went camping up American Fork Canyon by Tibble Fork Reservoir. Camping equipment courtesy of my parents (circa 1984). It was BEAUtiful and a perfect place for a lil over night camping trip. We roasted hot dogs, made s'mores, and gazed at the myriad of sparkling stars. We even busted out the camp stove in the morning and made pancakes and sausage for our late morning breakfast. (Can you believe I slept in till 11????) Our plans for a refreshing swim in the reservoir were foiled when the water turned out to be snow in disguise. Soooo cold!! But all in all, in was a marvelous trip.

Next we took a relaxing trip to St. George. Like always, Devin was so excited to play with his friend Poco (my parents maltoodle). We chillaxed like there was no tomorrow in between games of tennis, hanging out with the chickens, being fed delicious food and tromping around the Washington County Fair. Thanks Mom and Dad! We even got to hang out with our good friends the Blakes, which is always a delight (especially when we get to play Pirates of the Caribbean Life while watching Despicable Me at the same time!). Sadly, I did not take a single picture of this fun filled weekend. Sorry bout that.

Up next we continued south (and mostly west) to California! Newbury Park to be exact. We beached, played tennis again, touristed in LA, and beached some more. It was wonderful.

I call this: Devin Eats Marshmallow Prior to Picture. First Beach Day at Deer Creek.

Devin did a bit of body surfing while I played photographer. Not great quality, but I'm proud of myself for even catching him in the act!

The next day we went to LA and touristed all around that town! First we stopped off at the Griffith Park Observatory to see a show at the planetarium and sneak a peek at the telescope.

After the observatory, we scooted on down to the LA Farmer's Market to find some exciting food. And exciting food we found! There was every type of food from every part of the world. We wandered around the circuit once to scope out the options and couldn't resist the tantalizing smells of the Brazilian BBQ. (Please excuse our funny faces. he he)

Next come the La Brea Tar Pits. We just had to so we could say we did.

I'm getting blogged out, can you tell?? Our tourist day ended with an interesting trip to people watch at Venice Beach. There are crazy things (and people) in the world. But the beach was nice and I really enjoyed watching the skateboarders at the skate park. There's something for everyone at Venice Beach including hand ball, paddle tennis, a full-out weightlifting area, and of course, the board walk.

The next day we went to Zuma for some more beach action. We picnicked, played in the waves, fended off hungry seagulls and skimboarded. Then we hiked around Point Dume on a fruitless search for sea lions lounging on the rocks. Once we arrived safely to the shore, we disturbed a group of sand crabs, analyzed the surfers, and checked out a beached boat. Once again there are no pictures. But you get the idea.

On our final day in Cali, we went on a tour of the Nethercutt Collection. Basically a really rich guy (owner of Merle Norman cosmetics) decided to collect things and built a museum to put them all in. They called it a collection of functioning art. There were over 150 perfectly restored classic cars (some in a replicate car show room from the 20s), hundreds of hood ornaments, antique furniture, figurines, a cabinet full of miniature porcelain pianos, and the best part . . . a whole room full of mechanical musical instruments that play themselves and a theater organ from 1918 (3rd largest in the world). My favorite was a player piano that also had three violins that played an accompanied trio, all without any human intervention. It was awesome. You should look it up on Youtube.

We had a definite blast this summer and hope to squeeze in one more camping trip before school starts. Especially because we got the bargain of all bargains at a garage sale in St. George: a like-new tent, air mattress, two lanterns, camp stove, and camp dishes for $150. We were pretty stinking excited to stumble across that gold mine.

Adios! And no promises when the next blog will be, so lower your expectations! ha ha