Tuesday rolled around again, which meant another fun day with James! He invited us over to his in-law's house to swim while Jari and kids were out visiting family in Tooele. That backyard is an amazing ode to children and grandchildren. So much fun! A pool, trampoline, zip line, and a big screen for outdoor movies. Wow!
I don't know why Pierscen was so nervous to go down this slide, especially considering he was wearing his puddle jumper, but it took some serious coaxing to get him to go down.
Once he discovered the zip line, he asked for my help the first few times and then took off on his own. I was really impressed!
After naps, we headed back to James's house for dinner and a very interesting adventure of opening a jackfruit. I had never seen one before. It was the size of a very large watermelon, but spiky. I watched a YouTube tutorial that used some traditional techniques involving banana leaves... but we opted to just do our best. Jackfruit is insanely sticky. In the video they used the banana leaves to wipe down the fruit after each cut to help pull some of the sticky residue off. In order to cut through the thing without getting stuck, we oiled up the knife with olive oil. You cut it into sections and then bend it backwards, kind of, like you are trying to turn it inside out to help separate the fruit pieces. In a way it's like a giant, sticky pomegranate.
Below you can see this segment is about half way done. In the center of each piece of fruit is a pit that you just pop out. We threw the pits away but later learned that you can actually eat them. Oh well.
Jackfruit is a serious labor of love. It is so messy. And takes forever! The fruit itself is quite interesting. It's like a cross between a mango, banana, and apple. It wasn't bad - just different. Most of the kids thought it was gross, minus Necia's kids who thought it was yummy. James decided he would freeze most of it and use it in fruit smoothies. Guaranteed no one would know the difference.
Wednesday morning, P went for a walk with Oma and found an acorn. He brought it home, planted it in the backyard dirt pile, then asked for a piece of paper and a stick so he could make a sign letting everyone know where it was buried. He very much expects to find a tree there soon.
Wednesday was Jari's last day. We went to Westmore Park with my mom and the kids. I went to Westmore Elementary, but the school as since been torn down and rebuilt. Even the park is different from what it was when I went, but it is a really lovely park with lots of shade.
Zach was really funny to watch in the swing because he was so tired he kept putting his head back and trying to fall asleep, but he looked like he was in so much pain!
Devry headed over to the slides and when she got to this red slide, I didn't think she would be brave enough to go down. The perspective of this picture is bad. The slide is quite steep and long. But before I could even really prepare, she came flying down the tube. She went several times, smiling and laughing the whole way.
Here is a picture of Issy, Zach and I while we watched a movie. Zachary is a sweet kid. The first day I saw him on this trip he came up and gave me a hug. He is a biter, which was both sad and humorous. Devry went through a biting stage and I was really nervous to send her to nursery. But then she mostly stopped. I still get bit occasionally when she is really frustrated. Zach got Dev a few times, and even Pierscen once or twice. Zach and Devry remained friends. Pierscen, on the other hand, would run away from Zach screaming if he saw him coming. Hahaha!
After dinner a large portion of the family headed to Macey's to go get Dole Whip ice cream as our final farewell.
We had to say our goodbyes in the parking lot as after this we were all headed different directions to go to bed. Jari and her family had to get up super early so my mom could get them to the airport. Goodbyes really suck.
This trip to Utah was awesome. Like I said before, this is the most time I have ever spent with Jari and her kids and it was great! I love her so much. Fred married an amazing woman. We are so lucky to have her in our family. We will miss them! One more year and they will be back in the states for another fun reunion before they are stationed somewhere else.
Thursday morning we went to see Grandma Ray Ray. I don't think Pierscen has been down there for about two years. He was super excited to see Lady, their dog, and their two tortoises.
Rayola had prepared a nice plate of cut up fruits and veggies for the kids to feed them, but Devry and Lady ate most of it before the tortoises even made it over there. Haha! Rayola and Dave said Lady had never done that before, so it was a little strange, but maybe she just saw Devry eating it and thought she should give it a try too. We learned just a week or two after we returned that sweet Lady had passed away. She was really old and had several fatty tumors that were making it difficult for her to breath. We love you Lady! You will be missed!
The kids got to play downstairs and in Rayola and Dave's restored Model A. They thought it was pretty neat! Especially honking the horn.
It was great to get to see Rayola. We sure love her. When I got home I snapped these pictures of some chalk art in the backyard. The previous afternoon Charlotte and Pierscen were out drawing. I told them we needed to go and Charlotte replied, "Now? But I'm teaching Pierscen how to draw a Korean girl!" I laughed and went back inside for a while. When I came back, I asked Pierscen what he was drawing. "A green girl," he replied. "A what?" I asked. "A green girl." I busted up laughing. Yes, the chalk was green. But I realized that Charlotte's attempted to teach him how to draw a Korean girl had been misinterpreted and that's why he calmly ignored her laments that he was doing it wrong. He had green chalk and he was drawing a girl. He was doing it exactly right. Hahaha! (The top portion of his drawing was actually a different girl, but he only got the legs done and then ran out of room. So the real picture starts about a third of the way down. Of course I'm now realizing that the sun makes that pictures kind of hard to see. Oh well.) It was really funny.
Thursday afternoon my best pal from growing up, Lisa, and her kids came over. We had a great time sitting in the backyard letting the kids play and just chatting. I love this girl!
After hanging out with Lisa for a bit, we went to the Provo Rec Center to swim with Jen and kids. My mother-in-law was a saint and kept Devry. I really dislike swimming with babies. Because you don't swim. You wander the shallows all day. This time we saw primarily outside, which I haven't done yet before. I don't have pictures from that, but holy cow. We had a blast! They have a great kids area, a wave pool, and two tube slides. Pierscen was even allowed to go on the slide if he had a lifejacket and went with me. When we got to the top of the slide he told me he was nervous, but excited. We rocketed down the slide laughing and shouting. When we landed in the pool below I asked Pierscen what he thought. He was grinning ear from ear and laughing. "That was a blast!" He admitted that it was a little scary - and it totally was - but that it was really fun. We immediately got back in line and went down both slides several times. I am so grateful I didn't have Devry because I was able to really spend time with Pierscen and we really did have a blast.
When it started to cool down, we moved inside for a while. The kids enjoyed the lazy river and pool while Jen, Traci and I moved to the hot tub.
Following swimming, I picked up a pizza and took it to my in-laws. Traci agreed to watch the kids and the adults all went to Mi Ranchito for dinner. Yum!
My original itinerary was to head home Friday morning. However, I learned that my dear friend Christina from Casper was in town and the only day she could meet up was Friday. That was worth postponing for me. In the early morning, Pierscen helped Opa fix some cars and then we headed to the park to meet up with our friends.
It's only been a year (eleven months actually) but wow, her kids have really grown up! They were so excited to see each other and lost no time playing together. When they first came into view I actually started crying and ran to Chrissy and threw my arms around her. I have missed her very much.
I wish we could have spent the entire day with her, but alas, they had other obligations. I am so happy we got to spend time together though.
We headed back to my parents where Pierscen enjoyed a lovely orange lunch.
Pierscen, Deiderik and Devry had a great time in the backyard jumping on the tramp and blowing bubbled. It was a perfect, pleasant last afternoon with family and cousins.
We let the cousins play together until Necia's kid had to run. Then we took pictures with mom and headed back to my in-laws to pack. I was a bit of a frazzled mess because packing up and making sure everything is ready to go is super stressful for me. But we got everything at least packed up and in the living room so I could repack everything in the car in the morning.
Early in the morning we had a good breakfast, gathered up snacks, loaded up the car, and said our goodbyes. This was such a great trip. I didn't see Ryan's family as much this time, but this was a really great opportunity to spend time with Jari. Kind of a once in a life time thing. We don't know where life will take us in the future, so many time we can spend together is worth it.
We made a stop in Price on the way home to see our other Casper pals Lindsay, Clint, Logan and Maren. I didn't get a picture of the girls, which is a bummer because the last time they were together they were both itsy bitsy girls asleep in their car seats. Pierscen and Logan were super excited to see each other and get to play together for a little while. We have missed this family. Lindsay and Clint moved about a year before we did. I'm glad that now their home is on our way to Utah so we can see them from time to time!
We made it home in 11 hours - which I can't quite explain because we stayed in Price for a whole hour. Maybe we just took less stops the rest of the way. This trip was also a lot more bearable because I got a couple audio books on my phone to listen to. Helps me stay awake and helped the time go by lots faster. I will definitely continue this in the future. We missed Ryan a ton on this trip, but it was a really great visit home.
No comments:
Post a Comment