Upwards

Climbing is TJ's newest obsession. He climbs up the stairs. I go get him. He climbs up the stairs again. I go get him. He climbs
Well, you get the picture.
Last week he actually did learn how to climb DOWN the stairs; the problem is that he can't remember to turn around and go down backwards without me helping him, so he still sits at the top and SCREAMS for help... So even though he can climb down them, I still have to run up the stairs over and over and over again all day long. *sigh* At least I'm burning extra calories...

Then, he started climbing on top of his toy box. It's not too high, so I figured it would only kind of hurt when he fell off. The couch was next in his climbing pursuits.

Then I found this:

I wasn't real pleased, but he was so proud of himself, and screamed so loud when I took him down, I decided to let it be. When I turned around about 2 minutes later, this is what I saw:



When he started stepping onto the shelves, I put down the camera and ended this game. Oh, the tears!

With all these shinanigans, it's a good thing we've finished the master bathroom. I can sure use a long calming bath some evenings.

Walking Chair

Our new house has lots and lots of tile. It's actually great for Chasqui and TJ, and it's super easy for me to clean. Plus, it enables TJ to play this cool new game:





I keep finding chairs in the funniest places; in the bathrooms, in the pantry, in the entryway, in the laundry... TJ is busy rearranging the furniture!

Timpanogos

Growing up, my cousin Cheryl and I always argued about which of our respective states were "better", Utah or Idaho? Criteria included such things as fewest mosquitoes (Idaho looses that one), best school vacations, best swimming pools, and best hiking. I was convinced that there was no greater hiking than that to be had in the Tetons, and Cheryl was convinced that Mount Timpanogos was King. Having never hiked the other's favorite hike, we were really at an impasse.
This summer while we were in Utah, I was finally able to hike Mt. Timpanogos. The all-day babysitter made it almost the most expensive hike I've ever done in my life (second only to the Inca Trail in Peru), but it was worth every penny. To those of you who have yet to do the hike: do it. It's awesome.


Awe-inspiring views led to lots and lots of pointing
Wow, what a long way to go yet....
The wild flowers were just spectacular!


And I LOVED the mountain goats. They must see lots and lots of hikers to be so chill.

See that tiny little white speck at the back of the second ridge? That's the strange little hut that marks the summit.
What a view!



Looking down at Emerald Lake
Triumph!!!
We summitted rather late in the day due to a string of circumstances including a WAY late start, and starting out on the wrong trail head, among other things. So we were anxious to get down as quickly as we could. On our way up we had talked to some people who had slid down the Northern glaciers and bypassed the climb down. We started the trek along the ridge to the glacier. It looked so steep and scary; the pit in my stomach grew with each step. We were going DOWN that? Without skis?
Okay. The promise of dropping a good 1000+ vertical feet in less than a few minutes was too good to pass up. But I was so nervous, I'm not sure how I managed to smile for the camera.

What a wild, wild ride. I have to recommend it as the preferred method of descent. And once the initial moment of terror wore off, it was fun. The tiny little black speck is a fellow-hiker sliding down.
I was so steep, we just sat down on our behinds and gravity did the rest. It was SO COLD, fast, and plain old fun.
The exhilaration from the slide kept me going most of the rest of the way down.

And Cheryl: I'm still not sure which state wins. Timpanogos or the Tetons? What a debate...

We're Back!

...and all of our contact information has changed! I don't want to post our new phone numbers and home address here on the blog; if you would like them, send an email to melanieglade@gmail.com

Sorry for the blogging hiatus. I warned it would happen. But things should start settling down a little bit now. We are home from our travels and as moved into our new home in Oklahoma as we can be. We're currently in the long slow phase of settling in, finding where things belong, and learning how to live in a new city. The new house is fantastic. We do not miss our rat-hole apartment one iota. And although we've had a ton of work to do, it's really nice to be working on our own home, instead of a crappy apartment. I've been to Lowes at least 5 times in the past 9 days. Purchases include a power drill and all appropriate drill bits and drivers for the current list of projects, a speed bore, painting needs, various small bits of hardware and lighting, and tools to fix the broken sprinkler heads (we've been successful, too; isn't it amazing what you can learn on the internet? Thank you iPhone).

I do have a back-log of good pictures from our travels: we spent time in Kansas, Idaho and Utah before moving in the last few days of July. To keep this post from being too crazy-long, I'm only going to do the Idaho pictures today.

We did some great hiking while we were out West. Nothing beats the Rockies (okay, so the Andes came close, but...). Thanks for the babysitting, mom!
Devil's Staircase, July 16th, 2009. We really couldn't have asked for a more perfect day. The breeze was light and cooling, the sky was so blue, the temperatures were moderate, the flowers were all in bloom... Perfection.
This critter (rock chuck?) was way friendly. We also saw a mama moose and baby. I gave her wide berth.

TJ's appetite is growing faster than him. I cannot figure out what he does with all the food he eats. For example, for dinner last night, he ate 1 whole fresh peach, 1/2 steamed yam, 1/2 cup of cottage cheese, 1 egg, 1 small glass of milk, and 5 strawberries. Then he still cried when he saw me eating! Bottomless pit. Here he is eating all of my barbequed beef, and the fresh raspberries from dad's garden.
TJ and my dad, his Grandpa Summers.
So lately mealtimes have been getting super messy. TJ grabs fistfulls of food, makes this terrible face, and strains as hard as he can as he mashes it all to a pulp in his little fists. Not real sure why this is so fun, but TJ sure loves it.
Mom, Natalie and I at a fireside given by my younger brother, who has just returned from a mission to Brazil.
TJ's favorite toys at his Grandma Summers' house were a rubber snake and a toy car. Go figure.
Boys will be boys, I guess.
He stayed real busy charming grandma.


Matt (front right, black shirt) just graduated from college with his degree is engineering. Here we are celebrating at the Hard Hat Cafe.
Congratulations, Matt!

Pictures of Utah, and the new house coming next.