Winter Bike Riding

 It's been such a mild winter that we've gotten in a fair bit of bike riding. Desert Boy can really roll.

 Since the only paved roads in town are state highways and we don't have any sidewalks, it's nice to have an option where we don't have to worry about traffic so much. (I really think a sidewalk/bike path from one end of town to the other would be awesome!)

 Desert Boy is often off-kilter and I wonder if he's going to manage to stay upright, but somehow he manages to pull it off. He's got a really good sense of balance.

 Even the mountains don't have much snow on them! I'm supposed to help with a snow survey tomorrow, and we'll measure just how much snow there is.

Desert Boy's learned that one extra item is useful for winter riding: gloves. It might not be too cold, but it's cold enough to want a little protection!

Moon, Venus, and Jupiter

This was the sight to the west just a little while ago: a crescent moon with Venus hanging out a little below, with Jupiter looking down on them. It was noteworthy because all three are so bright! Tomorrow night (Sunday), Jupiter will be about even with the moon soon after sunset. You can learn more about what's coming in the night sky here.

And although I tried various camera settings I didn't get a very good photo. Fortunately Sky & Telescope offers a free astrophotography primer. Here's hoping for some warm nights to try out various settings!

Four-Year Old Attitudes

The other day we were fortunate to have Ava and Isaac come over for a play date. I get a kick out of watching the kids' interactions. At lunch time Desert Boy and Ava were delighted to have their own little table and they had quite the conversation.

First Ava got to say her piece.

It looks like Desert Boy had a different opinion.

I think he thought if he stared hard enough, he could get Ava to change her mind. Somehow, I don't think that would work. They're both stubborn kids!


It all ended well and they moved on to the next point of discussion.


Meanwhile the little kids were just peachy-happy eating their lunch. They don't have such long conversations--yet!

Then it was time to go play on the gravel pile in our driveway. Again there were some serious discussions and battles over who's in charge.

Ava finally decided she had more important things to do.

 We went over to Jenny's and the kids still had lots of energy, so we headed to the trampoline to wear them out. Jenny showed off some of her trampoline tricks. Cool!

Wow, those kids sure have a lot of energy! It was a fun day, and it's nice to try and have them wear each other out, because they do a much better job of it than I do!

Train Cafe--Nephi, UT

 We had so much fun at a train cafe a few weeks ago. When we were coming home from the city and my husband mentioned that there was a train cafe on the way, we jumped at the opportunity. It's J.C. Mickleson's in Nephi, Utah. We've been through Nephi quite a few times, but with the restaurant at the other end of town, I had just never been there. (Plus they don't say anything about the trains on their website--they should!)

As soon as we walked in, we knew that we were in the right place. We immediately saw lots of trains, some elevated above our heads. (I was trying out a new gizmo with a camera, hence the somewhat fuzzy photos.)

 We could watch the trains the entire time we were eating. (Or in Desert Girl's case, the entire time she was applying spaghetti to her face and clothes.)

 This was the view from our table of the very long freight train.

 We tried to get Desert Boy to count the cars, but he lost interest somewhere in the twenties.

The freight train even had construction equipment and tractors. It made a big impression!

I'm thinking we will be back to the Train Cafe sooner rather than later!

Maze Madness

Ready to do some shopping for President's Day? If you have kids (or know some), this is something you might be interested in. Desert Boy has been trying out some mazes, and this has been a great book for him:

The book is 108 pages long, which will give a young'un plenty to do! There are four mazes per letter of the alphabet, so it's a fun way to learn letters.

For slightly older kids, here's a more difficult maze book:

And for age 10 to adults, here's an extremely cool looking maze book:

Click on any of the images above to be connected to the Amazon page. If you're interested in learning more about how they were created and a special coupon code to buy them from Create Space, click here.