A Quick Trip to Utah

After our Washington visit we flew to Utah to have about a week of fun with Granny B and Grandpa Joe.

The first full day we were there we went to a new museum called The Museum of Natural Curiosity." It was so much fun! The whole place was hands-on and child focused. We only saw a portion of the museum but I was really impressed. Charlie liked the animal facts displays where they would say things like how hard a boa constrictor can squeeze and then let you see how strong your squeeze is on this big post. Or give the amount of hours that a sloth can hang from a branch and then have let you see how long you can hang from a horizontal rope. They were fun (for me at least). He also really liked the high jungle ropes course. A winding maze of rope bridges led up to a little plane perched up high over the museum floor and then wound its way back down to a platform that you could slide down from. I stayed down with Jane while Charlie went up with Grandpa Joe and Granny B but figured that they were having fun because they were gone for quite some time and I didn't hear any distant crying.

In the various sections of the museum there were padded little corners designed for the smaller explorer (i.e. Jane). It was in one of these that we played while waiting for the others to return from their high climbing excursion. There was a tunnel/cave, a little baby slide and a little baby mountain, but her most favorite part of all was playing with the other fun little girl in the mirror.

Back when I was going to BYU I spent some time in the Monte L. Bean Museum of Life Sciences (Bean Museum for short). I had a couple of classes there and spent some time studying and doing some research in the "behind the scenes" parts of the museum. It was a neat experience and gave me a deeper appreciation for the important role and work that museums provide.
Well since my time there they have greatly expanded the museum and added some neat displays. So of course we had to go check it out! Charlie was fascinated at seeing things like elephants and giraffes in real life sizes. It was fun to see him have little "ah ha!" moments as he would see a peacock (or a moose, or a rhinoceros), recognize what it was from a book or nature show, and refine his view of it now that he had seen a real life example.

I love this. I think this pretty well sums up my feelings about our earthly stewardship responsibility. "If we love our children, we must love the earth with tender care..."

See that little boy on the left? He is mine, and I love him. I hope that has he grows older he will always "find joy in being alive."

 

After our visit to the new life sciences museum we took a look around the new life sciences building. I had seen the plans for this during my final year at BYU but hadn't yet seen the completed building. It fills the role of the sorely outdated Widtsoe building where Keith and I basically lived (albeit on different floors) during our BYU years. It is has much better views than the old building and can support the modern technology used in today's labs and overall it is a beautiful building; but there was also something very sterile feeling about the whole place. Maybe it will get better with time.
While there I tracked down one of my all time favorite professors, Steve Peterson. I loved loved loved his classes!

We also got a chance to get down to Mona to see Grandma and Grandpa Lowe and introduce them to Jane. It was really good to see them.

We also took a short walk down the street from Joe and Bonnie's home to visit Dan and Becky (well, Dan was at work) and their kids. These guys are so great! I felt a bit guilty visiting all of these places that I knew Keith would have loved to see and visiting the people he would want to visit with, but I kept on reminding myself that in a few short months we would all be here for Christmas, and guess what, here we are!