Finishing up the trip

I have a random assortment of photos left from our trip last month to Utah/Idaho. I'll just throw them all together and get it over with so I can move on to tell about more recent happenings. We went to the Western Idaho Fair in Boise. Lo rode this mini roller coaster type ride all by himself. Note how all the other riders around him have parental supervision...but we were too cheap to buy a few more tickets to get ourselves on there with him. And he was technically tall enough to go on his own...? See photo below for how sketchy the height measurement was...

Why yes, that is a hand-drawn, scibbled mark at the 32 inch mark to denote that Lo's 34 inches is tall enough.

We went to a butterfly house. Ever since then, Lo can be heard saying on an at least daily basis, "puh-puh" (accompanied by making ASL butterfly sign), followed by tapping his shoulder, followed by the verbalizing the word "Mom" (translation: remember how the butterfly sat on grandma Valerie).

My little brother David (age 16) makes things out of popsicle sticks. This ship he crafted won every prize available at the fair. For scale, to imagine how huge it is, pictured in the background (about one yard away from the boat) is myself, my mom, and bro. Justin.

See the buck in the middle of this frame? He hangs out in my parents' garden all the time. Jerry couldn't get enough of it.

We went to an aquarium in Sandy, Utah. It was a tad mediocre--still new and needing to expand a bit before I'll recommend it.

Crocodile (or alligator...I never remember how to tell them apart).

Also while in Utah, we visited all of Jerry's former host families. Here we are with the beloved Dean and Melody. And their parrot (on Dean's shoulder). Note Lo Lo eating out of an endless bowl of chocolate chips. Ah, good memories.

Lo warmed up to Melody within seconds of meeting her. She has such an angel glow about her, little kids must feel it.

While in Salt Lake City, we had to stop by Jerry's favorite restaurant, Little World. It is a pretty authentic, delicious Hong Kong style eatery.

We hung out with cousins a lot. Here is Lo and his second-cousin Marshal. Riding the airplanes. More amusement park rides all by himself--our little Lo seems so grown up when I think about it!

Traipsing through Liberty Park in SLC. Lo hitched a ride from my little brother Brandon who is starting at BYU this semester. We were so happy to get to spend time with Brandon while we were in Utah!

And here is Lo feeding baby cousin Brit. He LOVED her, stroking her hair, hugging her, etc.

Well, that's it for now on the trip updates. I have a few more photos, but this post feels long enough. We had a really fun time on this vacation, visiting lots of family, friends, etc. and doing a million activities along the way.

Boise Zoo

Though it was a couple weeks back, figured I'd still get more of the Boise trip photos put up here. We went to Zoo Boise one day, and I was pleased to find they have continued to make it bigger and better since my elementary years of visiting it.

Yeah, this komodo dragon is just a statue, but Lo still approached with caution. I was so thankful to have Zhou Zhou Brandon there (did I get the pin yin correct? Not even trying with the tones). He was an extra pair of arms/legs to carry/chase respectively when I needed help with Lo, who appeared to have much fun, thus all our exhaustion was worth it. =)

These tigers used to be the crown jewel of Boise's smallish zoo, until they got an African corner that has lions. Well, I still like the tigers better since they were lounging around right next to my spot on the viewing window.

Lo might have liked this tiger better than the real ones. Also, note his tiger backpack. Yes, that was a spur-o-the-moment purchase in the overpriced zoo boutique, but it was one of those backpacks that had a leash attached--and a leash appeared to be a necessity once we arrived at the zoo so no regrets about buying that one. Lo walked/ran at least half the journey through the zoo. I was surprised his short legs didn't get more tired!

These goats made me laugh so much. They are totally aggressive about getting fed, and when they heard me put coins in this machine the whole herd came barging up to the fence, trampling each other in a feeding frenzy.

Yes, that is my child putting his fingers in his mouth after petting a goat. No signs of salmonella poisoning yet...

I think penguins were Lo's favorite. He liked the way they came right up to the glass. Is it just me, or do penguins actually seem to like the attention? There were none there when we first arrived, and then as soon as we crowded around the glass they all appeared and started swooping around, doing tricks for us, showing off, etc. Fun!

We accidentally chose the animal that did not move up and down. It was stationary camel and maybe a little boring to that Lo. Oh well. First time on a carousel.

This bobcat is blurry in the photo because it was weaving so quickly back and forth right in front of us. So close up!

No live elephants at this zoo, but this statue squirts water when passersby pause to look at it. I tried to keep Lo away from the water since it was a chilly autumn day, but he happened to like getting sprayed. So he threw a little tantrum when we finally carried him away.

This slide looks like a giant giraffe. Wish I got a photo of it from the side. I was apprehensive about sending Lo down by himself, but more scared of sliding down with him since I know kids who have gotten broken legs that way. So down he went, all alone, and seemed okay with it though his smile turned into an "Oh!" once he got started down, as I heard later from the reports of onlookers on the ground.

Of course, the squirrels were more of a hit than any exotics, since they entertained us by eating our snacks. That's great-grandma's foot in the corner of the photo--she was a trooper and walked the whole zoo with us. Thanks for putting up with us, Grandma! If you have a photo of the shot we took of all four of us by the colorful tree, please email it since mine didn't turn out the greatest.

This was the portion of our Boise trip when Jerry had already returned to Ohio, so we'll have to visit the Boise Zoo again someday when he can be there.

Headlands Beach

Okay; last catchup post from our anniversary week celebrations. We had other fun activities, but not all of them had photos/videos to document, so I'll just share this final one. We visited Headlands Beach, Ohio's longest sandy beach coastline (I think?). When we first arrived, the seagulls swarmed over our heads in a scene reminiscent of Hitchcock's film The Birds.

That Lo seemed excited by the water. And even though we did bring a bathing suit for him this time, he didn't end up wearing it...

Yes, I am yet again posting nudie pics of our child on the internet. But who can blame me wanting to broadcast that cutest of baby bottoms?

I did not plan ahead too well with my outfit either--hence the makeshift clam diggers. Long shadows since it was late evening. We hoped to catch a sunset, but didn't end up staying quite that long.

Showing us (proudly) the sand he kept trying to stuff in his mouth. I didn't worry too much about it until later when we discovered a few dead fish washed up on the beach.

Sparkly waters. I'm always so glad Jerry is the camera man of the family, because I would never have thought to capture these types of shots.

That diaper got so water-logged. I think in this photo I am trying to keep Lo from running out into the deep. He seemed to think the further into the lake he got, the more fun to be had. Only problem, there isn't much oxygen down where the lake gets deeper than his head. It felt like the whole time I had to keep dragging him back on shore, and he immediately tried to crawl back out to where the waves were deeper than his head, etc.


Here are some fun videos. When we first drove up, we noticed a doe munching grass. She was a nursing mother, apparently, as her udder looked as big as a cow's! Crazy.

Lots of splashing.And more splashing...as well as Lo's attempts to drown himself. He smelled like a dead fish afterward. I was actually pretty grossed out by it, and loved scrubbing him down in a bubble bath once we drove home.

Lake Eerie Cruise

I promise these "catch-up" posts won't go on too long...but here's another one anyway. For one of our anniversary week activities we splurged on a little mini cruise. We still have yet to try a "real cruise," but this one on the lake was perfect for us right now. The day could not have been more beautiful, with blue skies, a lot of sunshine, and a light breeze off the water. Cleveland is known as the "city of bridges," so we enjoyed seeing all the different types. This one fascinated Jerry to no end, because we got to see it raise and lower a couple times as trains crossed and then our ship was allowed to float under it.

Lots of other people were enjoying the lake that day too. Sailboats are the prettiest boats.

That Lo had lots of excited yelling when we let him look out over the water.

The Cleveland Browns' stadium in the background, and Ohio's pennant flag in the fore.

The birds ended up looking fairly tiny once we took the photo, but in real life they were more easily observed and I liked trying to guess the different varieties. More than just the average seagull, I could have sworn I saw half a dozen different birds perched on these rock walls, including pelicans??

More Cleveland cityscape in the background, and Jerry hugging that Lo in the mei tai. Halfway through the cruise, after we'd eaten lunch, that Lo fell asleep to the rocking of the ship on the waves...and then Jerry leaned his head against the table and fell deeply asleep also! So I was "alone" for a few minutes to enjoy the cheesy, inescapable music.

Nothing much more to say about this photo, except that I just love the clouds and blue, blue sky.

We had a relaxing, lovely time on this mini cruise, and ended up being so glad we decided to give it a try.

Palmyra Temple

Members in our church are encouraged to make temple worship a regular part of our lives. The term "regular" allows for some individual interpretation, so even though we Tams used to have monthly temple attendance as our goal when we lived closer to many temples (in Utah), the current goal for us is quarterly. We don't have a temple near us now, and Lo needs a babysitter whenever we go, so it feels like such a treat to make this experience happen in our schedule. This past weekend we did some sealings at the Palmyra Temple. Our sweet friends Clegg and Kim watched Lo during our time inside. Here is Lo on the temple grounds. Such lovely flowers. It was a pretty muggy day, so we tried to keep Lo hydrated by using his sippy cup. He likes to pretend he can drink out of it...

But he always ends up needing a bit of assistance to get the cup tipped into his mouth.

Memorial Day Weekend

I just realized another weekend is already looming before us, and I haven't even begun to talk about last weekend. There are a lot of pictures to catch up, since we had an eventful few days (as most holidays are, I suppose). I am grateful Jerry was free from work Memorial Day. We always love to have him around more. Here he is reading to that Lo. He is covering the baby's eyes because the story being read is about Jesus healing a blind man: "Imagine what it would be like to have no sight, and then suddenly be able to see again." Also note in this picture our sleeper sofa is pulled out, and we prepared our extra queen-sized bed in Lo's room (which he isn't using right now). We had some Young Single Adults (YSA) stay with us for a couple nights this past weekend as part of a church conference in the area. We feel pretty "grown up" to be able to host guests like that and it was fun getting ready for their stay. The YSA's were really sweet and we look forward to helping again in the future. On Friday night, we went to a great bowling party with more than a dozen friends. Our friend Jacob won a free bowling party for himself and 20 friends, so we felt special to be included in his "top 20." =) Thanks, Jacob.

We took that Lo swimming for the first time in a real pool! Too bad we forgot the camera for the actual pool time, but here he is in the living room right before we went as I slathered sunscreen all over his squishy baby body. His swim "trunks" are the cutest thing ever. I'll have to post a better pic of them soon. He seems to like being in the pool. Lots of looking all around in awe, and a bit of tentative splashing. He splashes more in the bathtub than in the pool. I also dunked him under the water a few times, blowing in his face first to help him take a breath. He didn't mind.
On Saturday we visited another Church historical site in the area, the Isaac Morley Farm. The little pathway they have through the trees is one of the more gorgeous places on earth. I saw flaming red cardinal bird, and a smoky black squirrel. This site is where Joseph Smith prophesied that the LDS church, just a small band of followers at that time, would one day grow to fill the nations of the earth. I am excited to see that prophecy unfolding, as nearly every country on earth now has opened to the spreading of Jesus Christ's restored gospel.

And speaking of religion, we visited our friends of another faith on Memorial Day with a trip to Amish Country. That Lo got to pet more horses and other cute farm animals, and we delighted in eating fresh Amish foods. My favorite was a lemon pie, though we had some tasty fried chicken and sweet potato fries as well. To get this photo of Lo driving the mini buggy, we had a whole team effort. (check out the video). Thanks to our wonderful friends for all the love they show that Lo. It always warms my heart to see people giving attention to our precious baby boy.

One of the Amish co-ops was having some special events where they let us get pictures taken in a real buggy. Also, note the videos of our time in the petting zoo and with the buggy horse (unhitched). I'm so amazed how quick those Amish horses trot along with a buggy full of people behind them. The horses are Standardbreds (I asked).

Crane Beach

The pictures are all out of order, so I'll just tell the story like a puzzle and trust everybody to make sense of it.

Beautiful sands, beautiful day.

Still have not splurged on a maternity bathing suit. Week 29 belly, and it felt heavenly to let my cumbersome body waft on top of the waves. I had serious thoughts along the lines of, "why don't I just have the baby in the ocean?" The water was absolutely relaxing, gorgeous, and...

Crowded. So crowded, in fact, that we had to hike three miles in because that's as far away as the police squad would let us do drop-offs. Parking was even farther away than that, so our good friend Roger (who drove us there) parked the car and then caught up to us.

No matter. The "hiking" made the water feel that much more refreshing, and I'd been needing to exercise that day anyway.

This tide pool was as warm as a bathtub.

The main reason for crowds was the sand sculpture contest taking place that afternoon. This particular sculpture was "interactive," in that it had a walk-through maze/path of sorts so people could get really close to the sculptures.

I loved the little drippy trees on this castle. And the wooden texture of the docking posts was incredibly realistic.

The only picture of the day featuring Jerry. I really need to start taking the camera for a few minutes so we have more photos of him, instead of all me and the baby. =)

We passed these amazing meadows/grasslands (?) on our trek to the beach. I think the black boxes are for nesting birds.

Trying out my hitchhiker's thumb with friend Neica while her husband Roger drove a bit farther down the road to park the car. Again, I really didn't much mind the walk. The day was beautiful, and my body felt grateful to stretch and get a workout. The main downfall of the walking was clouds of mosquitos that accompanied us. I used my self-hypnosis to make the bites stop itching.

Overall a really fun outing! This beach is about a half hour north of Boston, so we would probably only go if we had a whole day to spend there, but we highly recommend it for anybody who is in the area (though probably best to go when the sand sculpture crowds would be gone).