Cooper Goes to the Capital

One of the 8th grade activites all our boys have done, is the "Job Shadow" experience. Landon, Cal and Keaton all went and spent the day with Grayson in the office and at various construction sites. It was Cooper's turn this year, but the job shadow day fell on a Wednesday, when Gray had multiple meetings and had to be into the office uber early.

What to do?
Instead of Cooper having a long and boring day with Dad ... Maga took Cooper to work with her. The State Capital is more exciting anyway, right? There was quite a bit of buzz going on for the upcoming Presidential visit (in just a few days). Maga introduced Cooper around, showed him the sites ... and of course a bit of what the work is day to day.

So that Cooper wouldn't have to stay until the end of the workday, and so Pam could actually get some work done, I arranged for Landon to come up the capital and grab Coop around 1:00.

Now Cooper just needs to do his writeup about the experience.

Grayson's Get-Aways 2017

Throwback Thursday ... wrapping up last year's getaways with Gray.

Grayson has been bitten by the travel bug!  I blogged about  Gray's trip to Mexico picking up Landon from his mission, and the family vacation to Seattle, but there was so much more. Gray had some travel for work (pictured above, the Symphony guys off to Orlando for the builder's convention in January) but most was for fun. Sometimes with friends, sometimes with family ... even on his own. Here's a look at 2017's get-aways ...

In March, Jami had planned a trip to Portland as a surprise for Kolby, and Grayson decided to join in. Landon and Keaton were up for the trip too.   They were off ... and ready for some fun.

In April, Grayson hit the red rocks of Moab ...

In June, he and the two little boys headed to Bear Lake with Cole's family.

... as a final summer get-away, Gray and the three youngest hit St.George with the extended Blackham Bunch. They rented a house there for a few days. It rained the first day, but then cleared up and the kids enjoyed the pool. 

Gray took the boys to Vegas to see the Blue Man Group in concert. 

In September, Gray and a group hit Moab on bikes.

In November, Gray flew out to Vancouver to meet up with Kolby to see Sam Harris speak. Then they took the train back to Seattle, and saw the comedian Mike Birbiglia. Of course yummy food is always part of Grayson's travel, and he made sure to stop off at Lunchbox Laboratory ... the boys back home were sure jealous of that!

... one final photo, capturing the clouds

Nice to have a window seat with this view.

Obsessed with Ice

Frozen water is fabulous ... wouldn't you say? Grayson sure does. He developed an ice obsession.  I think it started with pebbled ice. He picked some up for me when I was sick, and then everyone loved it, and we started trying to keep a bag on hand. I'd heard of the Opal countertop model but Gray wanted bigger and better.

We now have a pebbled ice maker. 

It IS wonderful and gets used every day.

Then ... there were ice balls.

There's more to making ice than just freezing water. You can see the difference in the clarity in the photos above. From crystal clear, to bubbles to a more opaque appearance. Some of this depends on the water (using distilled vs tap) and pressure around the mold. Grayson was constantly experimenting with how he froze his water to get different looks. 

He now owns several different types of molds.

... and there were some unanticipated ice events.

Of course Gray got gadgets.

This thing was pricey, but put in a block of ice.

Out comes a perfect ball.

Melted into shape magically in moments.

Do YOU not have a freezer drawer with different varieties of ice at your house?

Dino Days - Inflatable Fun

I'd seen these dino costumes floating around ... funny videos abound! I saw one on Amazon for about $50 so I decided to buy one for the family, just to see what would happen. T-Rex time!