Why Birthdays Should Come More Than Once a Year

Lynne and Addy came to Utah the week of Tamma Terisa's birthday (amongst others: happy birthday, Bethany!) and took Tampa to the aquarium.  There were some fish and some penguins and sharks and fish.  And colored birds.

 And colorful poison frogs in an aquarium.

Addy hauled her toy collection around the house in the largest container she could move. She practiced collecting eggs.  Then, too soon, it was time for her to move on to her next engagement in Ogden Valley. She left the toys and the eggs for us to use for Easter festivities.

For Terisa's birthday we took a long weekend down in Moab.  Yes, it was during Spring break, and yes, the jeep safari was gearing up, but it was a birthday; we had to go.  On her birthday we hiked Negro Bill's Canyon.  After we hiked up to Morning Glory Arch, we bushwhacked through a small side canyon to find this little gem of a waterfall.

On Saturday we drove to the Needles District of Canyonlands to hike the Chesler Park loop trail and the Joint Trail. We had never spent much time in Canyonlands before and it felt very adventurous. We started off in parkas in the morning.

As you might expect for a  national park, the views were stunning.

The trail wound through fins and joints and formations.

The trail was well-marked and reasonably uncrowded. I guess the spring break crowds might not get out this far...

We hiked for miles,

and miles,

 and miles.

 

Then we climbed down a staircase to the Joint Trail: over a half mile of a 3-foot wide trail between the fractured faces of 40-foot tall boulders. 

 Like a slot canyon without all of the scour turns, but just flat, straight walls rising up to the blue sky 40 feet above.

There were rock falls to negotiate

and boulders to squeeze between.

Sometimes we couldn't tell how we were going to get out.

Also, we found the cairn factory at the end of the Joint Trail.

Then we completed the loop. The formations were spectacular.

There were lots of trees, mostly Pinyon Pine and Juniper.

The landscapes are as alien as any other place on the Colorado Plateau. Notice Terisa is wearing a t-shirt in the afternoon. Overall we had a great 10-mile hike.  Unfortunately the trail was 11 miles long. Just kidding, we made it energy to spare.

On the way out, tired and sore, we still stopped at Newspaper Rock.  By now the sun had set and we were bundling up again.

On Sunday, we took the diversion we have been meaning to take for 35 years: through Nine Mile Canyon. Chock full of petroglyphs, pictographs and Fremont culture. It seemed like every surface had pre-historic graffiti on it. Or messages about aliens.  Hard to tell.

Also, there was a picture of a pregnant buffalo.

A fun week and weekend made us wish birthdays came around more than once a year. We are already planning the next adventure.

Grandkids!

On a sunny but cool Saturday in March, we went to Hogle Zoo.  Everyone had their own map so we could make sure we saw it all.  In this first picture, there are two or three lions in the center background.  We didn't see the lion cub triplets that were born a few weeks ago. They are still in the nursery, I guess.

In this picture we are watching elephants.

The tail of one elephant is on the right of this real camera selfie, and the other elephant is in the background, top center.

The river otters were in a kind of a playful mood, but were too quick for me to catch a decent picture.  Danny found this much slower otter statue to make friends with.

 

There was more statuary to climb on.

And once again Danny made friends.

 

 We had a snack of ice cream and pretzels, but had to sit in the sun so we wouldn't get too cold.

The gorilla house was very interesting, with three silverbacks prowling and chasing around the swings in their indoor habitat.  It didn't seem like the outdoor venue was open.

The kids loved climbing on the rocks.

On Sunday, Addy and Lynne showed up at our house, and Addy wanted to help grandpa in his office.

"Look how pretty grandma is, grandpa!"

 Happy to have a few days to look forward to.

 There may be something in life more enjoyable than grandkids, but we're not sure what it could be.

"...we hardly knew ye..."

Part 1: On a clear day in January 2016, a lone Scot stood in the cold and piped Amazing Grace to honor the passing of Jim Campbell.

Jim married Grandma LuAnn in 1999 and joined a clan that adored him as much as he adored us.  So we came to Salem, a smallish hamlet of Utah County.  Terisa, Grace and Alice bundled up against the chill.

Paul and Bethany, newly installed in a cute little house in Bountiful were able to be with us. Charlie is the green bundle in the middle, and Danny is behind in the stroller.

Here is Lauren, who may have forgotten how to button a coat, since she was moving to Phoenix the next week, and Alan and Creighton.

Longtime friends Frank and Lucille came to be with LuAnn.

And Todd shows that you can always count on family.

Jim's daughter, Cathy, and her husband, Herb, came from Pleasanton, California,

as did Liz and her husband, Joe.

Terri, the oldest daughter and unable to travel because of ill health, joined us by Facetime (see Cathy holding the phone, bottom right). 

Because technology.

The American Legion of Spanish Fork outdid itself, with over a dozen members present to give Jim, formerly a Captain in the Air Force, full military honors. Folded flag, taps, rifle and empty boots.

LuAnn read a poem she wrote for Jim, and all paid their last respects to a good man, too early gone from a world that desperately needs good men.

Part 2.  At the end of the January, Jim's daughters hosted a memorial/wake for Jim in Pleasanton, and invited all of us to come.  We did!  Part family reunion, part whirlwind getaway. A few highlights:

Here is Miss Addy, heading out to go swimming at the pool.  The hotel's outdoor pool was closed for the season, but Kit found a nearby community pool.  It was also outdoors, and though heated to a good temp for swimming laps, was a little chilly for us all.

Then there was brunch at Papa Bubba's, or Big Papa's or something like that. Terisa and I had French toast in Jim's honor.  It wasn't quite as good as his, but the gang was all here, anyway.

After breakfast, we enjoyed a California winter's day, also know as a Chicago summer's day.

There were games,

...and an excursion to old town Pleasanton. There was a cool museum and art gallery, and a bookstore, and a ton of boutiques. After hiking around main street, the expedition stopped to consider the next snack...

Ice cream was the unanimous choice!  There may have been a pizza snack later...

Apropos of nothing, here is Addy ready for the memorial, posing with Grandpa's umbrella. It was kind of fun having the whole family in one room for the half an hour it took us to get ready and go.

The main event that evening did not disappoint. There was a nice program with a written life sketch, and a slide show that included a shot of us all wrestling with the eight-armed octopus gazebo from $%^& at a family reunion. The main thing is that we got to see Jim's life and hear from friends and family from before the time we got to know him in 1999. He is a remarkable man who lived a life of integrity to principle, and service born of love.  I came away with the impression that I would have to work a lot harder to be as good a man as he.

When Addy got bored, I let her take some pics with my camera.  Notice the low Addy-angle. Her mother is a stunning subject.

And then, as fast as it started, it was over.  We sent Kit and Lynne and Addy and Paul to stay nearer the airport for their EARLY morning flight, and we went back to the hotel.  The trip home was uneventful, pretty much like the trip out, and everyone now gets to ease back into the quotidian.

But we are just a little bit better for having gotten together to honor a man whose life was love-filled and praiseworthy.  We couldn't aspire to much more noble. And to filch a line from an Irish song: Farewell Jim, we hardly knew ye...