Kid's Choice

Before telling you about our chosen weekend activity here's a few pictures of the everyday at the Perkins home:

Peter loves to sing and Andrea and I were very surprised on day last week when he spouted off just about the entire "let it go" song without any prompting or help! Andrea had him re-do it on video, and he did a pretty good job again! Enjoy:

Max received this stuffed Rex last week at a family party and, for now at least, it has become his essential sleeping companion!

Both of the boys are loving playing like dogs these days.


These moments always tickle me; when kids are being weird or wild or precarious in some way and their parents or anyone else who has kid experience is just going about their business as usual.



There was another moment like that on Friday when we had some good friends to dinner. They also have two little boys and there were toys everywhere, food messes on the table and floor, kids hooping and hollering . . . and none of us were flinching or skipping a beat in our conversation! It's so nice to have lots of friends in the same phase of life.


Now to the activity!

Kid's Choice: Burger King

Peter noticed the other night as we were driving around that Burger King had some sort of playground inside and he asked if we could go there, so we decided that this would be a good weekend to go since we went far away last weekend.

Location: Main Street in Layton, by Walmart

Cost: At least $1 to buy a food item so you don't feel bad about using the playground

Kid friendly: mostly for kids 4 and up
Time Spent: 1 hour, Peter could've spent 2 or 3
Worth going back: Yes

We bought some french fries and two dollar menu sandwiches and then let the kids loose. The playground was WAY cooler than I was expecting it to be! It was all space themed and very imaginative which was PERFECT for Peter since he's been crazy about space for the past few weeks. He went straight up into that white rocket and that's pretty much where he stayed the whole time. It was funny because we could tell that he was talking to us, telling us something about the earth or the universe (pretty emphatically), but we couldn't ever make out what he was saying. I'm glad he was having a good time!

He did come down for a minute to eat some fries.

And here's Andrea and Max eating fast food (a rare occasion.) I'm probably posting this because, as Andrea may put it "Luke doesn't like to seem aloof or uppity in any way." So there you have it. We're just like everyone else! We like fast food!

Most of the playground would be pretty difficult for kids under 4, and difficult for their parents if they got stuck way up in there for some reason. There was a section for little kids though and Max thoroughly took advantage of it. 

I didn't get any pictures of the rest of the day, but in brief, we went to my parents' house. My grandmother's doctor who has become a dear family friend was visiting from China and he made us a plethora of authentic food. The kids had a fun pre-easter egg hunt and we shot bows and arrows. We never got to play hide and seek like I hoped we would (we've played every single night at our house during the past week and I've really gotten into it) but I'm sure we'll manage it another time. 

Another lovely weekend.

Spiral Jetty & ATK

Spiral Jetty

Location: Near Promontory Point . . . look it up ;)Cost: Free

Kid friendly: Yes
Time Spent: 1 hour, could've/should've spent 2 or 3
Worth going back: Yes!

Have you ever heard of the Spiral Jetty? I first heard about it in an Art class in college, then I heard my brother say he had gone to it with a few friends, and then my friend at work said that he goes there yearly with his scouts. We had to see it! It's about a 2 hour drive from layton and not very difficult to find (there are signs). The other cool thing is that the Golden Spike railroad thing is right there on the way, and you can also stop by ATK and see the rocket/missile display!

So here's the Jetty. Pretty cool looking!

There's a nice little plaque that tells explains a little about the Jetty. Andrea was trying a whacky hairstyle. That's all I have to say about that.

The boys had fun walking out on the spiral.

Beyond the spiral there are salt flats. It seems like you are walking on Ice out there. The salt is so smooth and even. 

The edge of the lake is almost imperceptible because the water is only millimeters deep in the beginning. It makes for some cool reflective photos. 

There's an area where the salt crust has buckled against itself and created "mini-mountains." Peter has been interested in how mountains are made recently, so this was a great visual aid to help explain plate tectonics! He also enjoyed peeling the crust off of the sand. I guess it's like picking at a giant scab :)

Poor Max got salt in his eye at one point. 

That was seriously one of the coolest places I've ever been! It's so secluded out there and the landscape feels like you're on a different planet. I hope to go back several more times over the years. Next time we should bring some things for the kids to play with in the sand. Or we could make mini-spiral jetties like Andrea saw.

ATK Missile Display

Location: Near Promontory Point . . . look it up ;)Cost: Free

Kid friendly: Yes
Time Spent: 1/2 hour
Worth going back: Yes!

One of Peter's current obsessions is Space and Astronauts, so this rocket/missile display is what actually put us over the edge and made us decide to go and see the spiral jetty this weekend while Peter's interest is still hot, because this rocket display is right there on the way. Seriously, it's like a 3 minute detour.

Isn't it every boy's dream at some point or another to go to space?

Peter was so happy to see all of the rockets. I was happy too! I didn't think it would be as cool as it is! Seeing the actual size of some of this stuff is jaw dropping. Like that vertical thing right there in the picture below, that's actually just a missile. Wow.

That big horizontalish cylinder in the background is one of the rockets that they use to launch space shuttles. It's. Huge. 

This is a segment of that type of rocket. Good place for a family picture. 

It kind of echos when you're in it too, so the boys liked stomping in there for a while. 

So yeah, another must-see.

These last pictures are from the birthday party we had this afternoon for Max and Cache. Lauren and Caleb were already having the family gather for Caches birthday which is tomorrow, so they invited us to piggy back on there party since Max's birthday is in just a week or so. Caleb made Cache a tiger cake, and I made Max puppy cupcakes. It was fun!

It was a fun weekend, but very busy. I realized that if we keep going on these outings every weekend we'll run ourselves ragged, so we'll need to rethink and adjust some things. Maybe we don't need to physically go somewhere, we just need to plan a dedicated family activity.

It's funny, I asked Peter what he liked best out of the things that we have done so far this year and he said "I liked it when we went to the solar system (aka the park)." It's amazing to me how simple children are. They seem to prefer food that is as plain as possible. They don't care about going far and wide to explore the world. They just want our attention. I think getting away and doing something different helps to focus my attention on my kids and my family, but I can just hear Peter in his head thinking "why does this have to be so complicated, Dad? Just play with me."

I love those boys. I love Andrea. I'm so happy.

Provo, Blue Plate, & Park

This weekend we finally went to visit Britney and Anton to meet their new baby boy, James. It's been six weeks since he was born but we've been keeping our distance since we've all been having colds off and on this winter. It was fun to see them and get an update!

One of Anton's hobbies is origami and paper folding in general. Check out this awesome thing he did for their son:

I have got to try that sometime. Very cool!

The Blue Plate Diner

Location: 21st south and 21st East, Salt Lake City

Cost: We spent $30 with the tip
Kid friendly: Yeah. The floor is concrete and the chairs and tables already have plenty of "character", so that's pretty kid friendly for a restaurant.
Time Spent: 1 hour
Worth going back: Yes!

It was about 3:00 when we got there and we were all famished. 

We were overjoyed when our food came! Peter got a grilled cheese sandwich with waffle fries. He loved it of course and he was very nice to share some of his sandwich and fries with Max. He tried his pickle, and he usually really likes pickles, but this one had some unique spices or something and I got to finish the rest for him. It was really good. 

Andrea and Max got biscuits and gravy with home-fries. Unfortunately Andrea's tummy hasn't been feeling well this weekend. Feeling that way and trying to eat really heavy food on a warm afternoon was difficult, so she didn't finish much of it, but she said it was good. Though she did say that my Mom's biscuits are better. I told her my Mom's were just bisquick (nothing special) and she said "Well, they're better."

I got this country-style eggs benedict. It was FANTASTIC!!! I really loved it. The home fries, ham, sauce . . . it was a wonderful ensemble. I would have to agree with Andrea though, the biscuits weren't as good as they could've been, but that certainly didn't ruin anything at all. I was very pleased to scarf down my whole plate and some of hers, and the rest of hers when we got home ;). Needless to say, I didn't feel very good this morning.

Nicholls Park

After we left the Blue Plate, we went home. I felt so bad for the kids having had to ride in the car for so much of the day, so I took them to Nicholls Park! It's SUCH a fun park right off Highway 89 that has a Castle theme. 

Location: Nicholls road, off highway 89, in fruit heights or kaysville. 
Cost: Free
Kid friendly: Of course
Time Spent: 1.5 hours, but we could've spent more!
Worth going back: Yes!

If you ask Peter about our visit, he will insist that this place is not a park, it is a solar system! He wen't around "fixing" the solar system the whole time. What an imagination!

Peter and Max swung together for a while, but then Max wanted to get out and push his swing rather than sit in it. You who read last weeks post may see a pattern going with this kid (he was preferred to push his stroller at the Aerospace Museum rather than ride in it). He's a do-it-yourself type kid. Likes to be in control. 

There are lots of fun slides, stairs, tunnels and crawlspaces. 

The slides were a hit with Max. I'll bet in total he slid down at least 20 times while we were there.

He really loved saying "see-ya! see-ya!" as he went down.

So there you have it: another fun weekend.

Hill AFB Museum and More

This was SUCH a fun weekend with the family. I tell ya . . . since we moved into our house, life just feels so much different. I feel kind of like I felt when I got married, this extreme relief and contentment. I feel like a huge compartment of my brain has been cleared out and there is more room to enjoy life. I am so incredibly grateful for the blessings that we have been provided with. I feel especially happy these days. On to the weekend . . .

Friday night our good friends Amanda and Tim joined us for dinner. Andrea knocked that meal out of the ballpark. It was some kind of mediterranean chicken dish, and though she made a lot, I wish there had been much more, it was fantastic.

Saturday, for our weekly family exploration thing, we went to the Hill Aerospace Museum. It was a blast!

Hill Aerospace Museum

Location: 7961 Wardleigh Rd. Bldg. 1955 Hill AFB, UT 84056-5842
Cost: Free
Kid friendly: Very
Time Spent: 1-1.5 hours
Worth going back: Yes
Things to bring:

• water
• snack
• stroller 

Even the smaller airplanes had propellers that were as tall as Peter.

Peter saw this landing gear and was quick to explain to me that the wheels go up inside the plane when it flies.

I remembered seeing this huge distinctive airplane when I was younger, but the museum has really changed since the last time I saw it. It's probably been 15 years or so. There are a few new airplanes outside and even an additional hangar that I had never seen!

I don't know what's more amazing: how big the landing gear is, or how little our little person named Peter is.

One of the planes that I think must be newer is this B-1. B-1's are MY FAVORITE! They're sooo sleek!

It was such a beautiful day to be outside.

I don't know if we were supposed to touch the planes, but Max and Peter had fun trying to touch the wings.

This airplane's landing gears weren't touching the ground. The boys had fun spinning the wheel.

Andrea found her nickname on the underside of a tail fin.

I inadvertently changed my camera to black and white mode (it was so bright outside I couldn't see what I was doing. The photos turned out kind of cool I guess.

Sometimes Max prefers to push the stroller rather than be pushed.

At Grandma CeCe and Poppy's house, there are several little plastic airplanes that the grandkids love to play with. One of them is an A-10 warthog. When we walked into the indoor portion of the museum, Peter was examining this image on the wall and said "Dad, there's an A-10!" I was pretty impressed that he recognized it, especially since the toy is pretty small and is just a solid yellow plastic thing.

Here the boys are inside. I was really happy that they enjoyed themselves! I was a little worried that they weren't quite old enough yet, but Peter and Max both loved looking at all of the planes.

This is the new hangar I had never been in. They have the SR-71 blackbird in here (not pictured) . . . cool stuff. It was instantly Peter's favorite, and he bought a little toy of it in the gift store. Max chose to buy "The Red Baron." For some reason, that made a lot of sense to me ;)

I was happy that I had a coin in my pocket for Peter to drop in this thing. I love these things!

So that ends the Museum. Here are a few pics from the rest of the weekend:

When we got home, we found max doing this. Funny little frog!

After church I went outside to play with Peter and he found his kite and he really wanted to fly it. Our yard isn't great for that though because we have a few tall trees that would make it difficult, so we decided to walk to the park down the street to give it a try.

Peter rode his bike and Max took the stroller. I haven't seen Peter riding his little strider much since we moved away from the University Village, and I forgot how happy it makes me! I think it's just because he looks like he's having so much fun when he's gliding around. Then when we got to the park, it made me even more happy to see him flying his kite! It almost brought me to tears. I don't know why. I don't know if it's cause I'm proud of him or because it's just such a purely joyful moment . . . it was just one of those things that fills you with awe for a minute or two. I love him so much.

Max giggled and screeched whenever the kite started to fly and he chased after it to get in on the fun.

With Peter's help I managed to hold Max up as he held the string and move fast enough to keep the line taut for a little while to keep the kite in the air. It was so much fun!

We all had turns flying the kite and we were all pretty pooped on the way home, so Max and Peter shared the stroller.

What a great weekend.