A cold day in red

On the last day of our National Parks tour we took in Bryce Canyon National Park.

A cold front was well on its way in as we set up to stomp down into the canyon. We bundled our buggy up in lots of warmies and set of down the trail.

Down in, it started to snow.
This made for eerie contrast that was most pronounced the reds of Wallstreet.

Bug boy, mean time, oblivious to the surrounding, is snoring away under his bundle.

Alien landscape materialized in the mist as a pair of natural bridges confront us.


Cold but gleefully happy, Wiffy and Her momma, stop for a pic with furious snow pounding down around us.


Then there starts a peep from the package.As we near the end of our hike as we near the top the Package set to groaning. Alexi is awakening from his cozy slumber, then we give him a peak of the strange surroundings.
Two words from his mouth:

"oooh" ......then "Ba-ba."

We hustle back to the warmth of the car for food and the elusive, but high in demand, bottle of milk.

Zion trails and cool water

The trails are amazing in Zion National park. They are even-graded, cement-lined up steep rock faces.

One has to marvel. at the feat of engineering and hard work it must have taken to lay them in.
The view from the tops are the reward. up canyon complexity....

and down cayon majesty. Well worth the hike.

Alexi was not so impressed as Grandma with the view, for he had other interests.

One of his favorites is water.
He loves Fairmont pool back in Salt Lake. And here he retains his fascination with the clear, cool water.

And another one of his loves. Here he walks along, hand in hand, with his sexy momma.

alexi in zion

We went to Zion National Park last weekend.Alexi was just not sure what to make of the big walls and waterfalls.

Christy's mom joined us for the fun.

And she tried to get Alexi to pose for picture.

But all he wanted to do was throw rocks in the water.


And run.
And run and run and run.
Oh my, what a busy little man he is becoming.

New impediment to fun

Alexi not liking the new plexiglass barrier to our treacherous stairs. But hey, we got to keep the little guy safe.

Our little guy has reach that terrifying stage of the Super Climber. Staying on solid ground is no longer quite as exciting as it used to be, so now he climbs. All over the couch, all over the dogs and us. Now, he has figured out that climbing over the wooden gate I custom installed is good sporting fun. But he still can be quite awkward and falls allot.

Well, it was time to "raise-the-bar" so to speak.

Instead of making something with good hand holds that allow him to climb higher, I decided to experiment with a tall surround of plexiglass. ...This should keep him from danger. ...well, at least minimize one possibility.

My little runner

It has become terrifying how fast he is getting. ....and how fast he gets
himself into trouble.

Alexi now takes himself for walks

Two for one

Puggies hanging in warm seat after alexi dropped of at daycare.

Double Fisted at Deny's

Sometimes a rough starting morning requires a little greazzy spoon therapy.

We woke up to realize that we forgot to set an alarm for the scheduled appointment with Homeland Security. So we scrambled like mad to get us and a cranky booger out of the house. And my little man does not like to be rushed.

Now, we're not trying to evade a visit from the Feds. Oh-contrare' No we were interested in meeting the feds.

And no we are not terrorists, ....nor do we know, or want to report any terrorists.

Rather, we want another kid. (Now that is truly terrorizing thought! Another screaming kid. Scream in 3D, yikes!).

So we mosey on down (or in this case triple time mosey down) to the Homeland Security office to get fingerprinted and checked for cooties. They squirt some kind of sticky lube on your hand and repeated smash your fingers on an optical scanner.

"No, thats no good, give me your finger again" "Now contort your body like this" "Ok, you need to relax your hand" "Now squat down, and put your foot behind your head, ....smile please" Ok, you need to relax your hand, let me do the pressing, rolling, squashing, smashing on the screen"

This, and meanwhile Alexi, completely sour from the lack of attention, is crying and pulling at the pant legs, begging to be picked up.

Finally, papers are handed to the dude at the desk.

"THUNK, THUNK, THUNK."

The official seal stamp is put on the papers .....in triplicate.

Now we wait. So far no larceny, felony, or any new baloney have crept into our official records since the last time we did this exact same thing two years ago. Why none of this repeat paperwork and hassle carries over from the first adoption, remains a mystery to me. Guess that government bureaucracy has got us where they want us, at their complete mercy and beckon call.

Yes, we wait, with a little disappointment as our adoption service has recently informed us the demand children from Ethiopia has greatly increased and the waiting list time has increased proportionately. We can only hope the second placement call comes some time before the beginning of next year.

Snack Break

Here we have a tired papa from lugging his package all day.

Self portrait is tricky from iphone since the click "button" is part of touch screen and cannot be seen. So, getting any self photo that has most of ones head in the frame I consider a good accomplishment.

Alexi still loves getting out. Starting to play with the snow now. Soon were gonna show him how to really play with it.

Ethopian lovesong

Lil' dude doing his best Elton John imitation.