Corn maze

We took the boys to a corn maze after I taught today (and after we jumped the Prius--you know that recipe, with one three-year-old + two minutes alone = lights on + one day = dead Prius battery? well, it still works), and they thoroughly enjoyed themselves.  One-year-old toddled all over on his new wobbly walking legs, three-year-old climbed in rope spiderwebs and on wooden trains and onto tractor-pulled cow trains.  We went through the kid's corn maze, spinning Simon Says wheels as we went ("Simon Says skip while patting your head and rubbing your belly until you reach the next wheel...") and we watched some piglets race.  But the most popular part (for our three-year-old)? The empty haunted houses (or hay mazes or blow-up toys, whatever).  He "likes being scared," much as the red-and-white walls of an inflatable clown house can be considered scary, so we got to go through them all, and he had me "haunt" his books tonight before bed by reading in a scary voice, and he kept insisting that our cats could make evil "bwahaha!" laughs.  So...yay haunted houses? We shall see how long they stay popular over here...

THIS creature/house actually scared three-year-old.  The heart makes a loud noise when  you get close--it made all of us jump, and then the baby laughed and laughed and laughed...

Simon's cat

This video had my three-year-old laughing so hard he could barely breathe before he giggled again.  It is funny, and somehow fits the nature of those mysterious, crazy creatures we call "cats"...

A quick picture break

Scheherazade probably looked nothing like this, but the picture is sort of interesting...

I hate to admit it, but this is a picture I like better.  In perhaps my nerdiest admission  yet, I will reveal: I want this card.  I like Magic, I like what it does.  And I like the way she smiles...

My interest in Arabian Nights led me to do a few image searches.  Funny enough, my favorite image of Scheherazade is one I knew from my dad's binders of Magic: The Gathering cards--and after scanning several pages of pictures, it's still the best to me...

Monday is...

...not a day I typically hate, actually.  And the weather is getting nicer.  But I feel like I need something.  Maybe a pep talk, or a good night's sleep, or...

...a Guy on a Buffalo Part 2, perhaps?!? (Yes, I am lazy.  But revising my book/beta reading two other books/teaching/caring for two children/waiting for agents with fulls takes all my patience and energy, and I really do like the baby part in this one.  A baby? Awesome!)

Timpanogos Cave

Today we braved Timpanogos Mountain's 1 3/4 mile trail so we could see the cave at the top.  I say "braved" because we weren't allowed to bring a stroller (we found out when we got there), and it was snowing when we got to the higher levels.  So between the cold and carrying two children in the arms of three people (my sister came, too!), it was a memorable trip.  At least the caves are beautiful, slick and haunting, with cave popcorn and cave bacon and water drips frozen in stone over hundreds of years.

Here's the picture of what they call "the heart of the cave." I'm pretty sure we also found the cave's belly button and spleen, too, although those aren't officially labelled...

Snowy October

Well, it snowed today--nothing that stuck, but the loose wet flakes reminded me that I can't count on sun anymore.  And there's something to be said about snuggling two little boys in blankets, something about heaters and warm baths and oatmeal dinners.  Still, I'd like an autumn.  And in honor of that (okay, not really), I shall post this awesome video:

Are buffaloes a fall animal? They're warm colors, sort of...and fuzzy, so they'd stay warm in a crisp wind...

Tuesday Blahs

I'm feeling sort of...blah-ish today. At least I've got an excellent book to read (Jonathan Stroud's The Ring of Solomon, which is, of course, brilliant and witty and thoughtful all at once), and our one-year-old walked through two rooms today with wobbly, adorable steps, and our three-year-old is pretty much potty trained.  So there's good things, too...like this waving giraffe!