A couple of summer stories to remember

We spent a lovely week at Aspen Grove with Mike's family at the end of July.  The kids enjoyed their groups and their cousins, and Mike and I enjoyed being with our siblings and siblings-in-law.  Throughout the summer, whether with my family or Mike's, I often thought about how happy I am to be associated with such excellent people and I feel very blessed to have such good friends among my family members.  I got to know some of my sisters-in-law better, and it was an altogether wonderful week in the beautiful Wasatch mountains.

One afternoon Beaver and I were walking to our cabin.  Beaver was holding an imaginary suction-cup gun, which he was shooting at imaginary foes.  As we passed the restrooms, he suddenly realized that he needed to go to the bathroom, like RIGHT NOW!  I rushed him into the bathroom and hurried to open the stall door while Beaver did the potty dance.  In spite of his precarious situation, before he went in, he held out his hand and said, "Here, hold my gun!"

One night, at a location that shall remain anonymous, Mike was reading in bed with the light still on. I had drifted off to sleep when suddenly I heard a fluttering sound and opened my eyes to see a dark shape swoop through the room.  "Is that a moth?" I asked, in sleepy confusion.  Mike jumped up from the bed.  "A bat!" he said.  Being the wildlife biologist that I am, I promptly dove under the covers.  Mike quickly closed the bedroom door so it couldn't escape, opened the window and pulled out the screen.  He then used the screen to attempt to bat the bat out of the window.  All the while, I was cowering under the covers, but I could hear the bat fluttering about the room, and I even felt it land on the covers over my head a couple of times!
"Oh shoot!" Mike exclaimed.
"What?"
"Another one just flew in the window!"
Eventually, Mike succeeded in getting both bats safely outside.  The next evening, Beaver was in the bathtub and I was sitting on the bed, when, once again, a bat came swooping into the room.  I shrieked, jumped off the bed and ran out of the room, slamming the door.  Beaver of course asked what was wrong and I told him. "Cool!" he cried.  "I've never seen a bat before!"  I left him in the tub and went to find Mike to rescue me from the bat once again.  Bear came running after him, but Mike went in and shut the door.  This time the bat went right out, so maybe it was the same bat and it had learned from the night before.  The kids were devastated because they didn't get to see it.

I do feel badly that I didn't have Mike wait so they could see the bat.  Because you know, I'm a wildlife biologist and I want my kids to be able to see a live, wild bat.  Just as long as they keep the door closed and I am safe in the other room.

A few cousin pictures:

The troublesome trio

Julia's birthday picnic

Hike to First Falls

Ninjas!