Labor Day Weekend

For the past five or six years Larry has gone to Dragon*Con over Labor Day Weekend.  Things were just the same this year.  He left for Atlanta and the boys and I were left behind to find fun for ourselves.  I was so stir crazy and wanted to find a quick day trip the boys and I could go on.  I searched the Internet for things to do in Ogden, I didn't find much that looked very interesting.  I thought about going to Logan but decided against that as well.  I pretty much gave up on the idea all together until Natalie called and mentioned that Jay had been toying with the idea of going to a ghost town in Ophir.  I was SO excited and jumped all over the the idea.  They may not have really wanted to go but I don't think Natalie could turn me down after I got so excited about the possibility of a day trip. 

Larry had the camera so I relied on Jay and Natalie to take pictures.  Jay captured the excitement of the day and posted it to their blog http://rudelfamily.blogspot.com  Below you can read all about our ghost town adventures. (Thanks, Jay, for making this post easy for me!)

With John and Donna gone to California, and Larry attending Dragoncon, Shannon and boys and the Rudel clan decided to go on a little quest to see a ghost town. Ophir is located on the other side of the Oquirrh Mountians south of Tooele. This was quite an adventure and definitely more than what we bargained for.

The original glory of what used to be the town has all but

weathered completely away except for a few buildings.

The kids thought they were on a tram in Disneyland. It looks like they are totally entertained. 

However, the tram is up on blocks and hasn't moved an inch in the past 10 years. 

Not really sure why the tram is there in the first place?

Ophir also has an old-fashioned phone booth, the kind that Clark Kent would use to change into his Superman outfit. The Mayor informed us that the phone company would charge him $200 a month for keeping it operational, so he said that the booth would grow old just like Ophir.

This is the old time school house. The kids thought it was really neat. I don't think they have ever seen a chalkboard and certainly not the inkwells. They also had a Dunce Hat on the corner desk. 

All the kids fought to wear it. Have you ever seen such an attentive group of students?

Strider taking everything in stride. He looks like he might be a road worker one day!

This is Walt, the Mayor of Ophir. Where do you begin with him? He most likely thought that we were a bunch of polygamist with the 5 kids, 2 females and 1 husband. We also told him we were from the other side of the mountain and that we both used to teach in Herriman. When we approached his house he called the kids over. He had a trap-like contraption and wanted the kids to look inside to see if he had caught anything. Natalie said this was similar to the mongoose trap John used to have. Of course, as soon as he opens the door this stuffed rodent-looking thing flies out of the trap scaring the kids to death. As we entered into a casual conversation with him, he became interested in sharing the entire history of Ophir with us. He gave us the Grand Tour of this ghost town turned RV Camp resort for the holiday weekend.

This is a marker Walt erected to certify that in 1887 on this exact spot "absolutely nothing happened".

Walt informed us that we could not spend the night in Ophir because the Hilton was full!

The Ritz was also booked up for the weekend.

I know things are going down the toilet quickly in Ophir. However, this IS the toilet in the Ophir jail. 

The boys were all intrigued by this" crappy" contraption.

This is one of the many mine shafts in Ophir. Walt wasn't going to let us leave without showing us a mine. Again, we got more than we bargained for.

The kids are apprehensive about entering the mine. The sign said Danger! Keep OUT!

Walt is wondering why a dead dear is hanging in the shaft! 

Without missing a beat Walt said, "Well, does anyone want to pet the nice deer?"

The mine is about 2 miles down and 2 miles south. It has a lot of sumps (underwater lakes) 

and faults in the mountain above so it blows very cold air out of the shaft. 

It was like instant A/C. The deer was there because it was cold.

The kids would have liked to take this old mine car down the shaft.

The Rudel's in front of a mine shaft.

Sydney not agreeing to smile which created a few tears.

The Rudel's in front of a stone building.

Walt teased us with saying the road over the Oquirrh's to Butterfield Canyon was a great drive for scenery. However, the road was less than desirable. In other words, lunch $22, gas $25, new shocks and struts on Shannon's van $625, new oil pan $423...... but the view was priceless.

The kids on the edge of the cliff. The view was better than Dead Horse Point, near Moab.

Overall, it turned out to be a 7 and 1/2 hour adventure that was fun and exciting. 

Just glad the van made it down the mountain and no one fell off the cliff.

-Jay

School...seriously???

The best response I heard from the boys was when I told them that we were in the last week of summer.  Dresden responded, "what a rip off". I have to agree with him.  Who wants to start school in August, especially when it doesn't let out until June?  Actually, the boys were both more than ready to go back to school.  They may not admit that, but when they are each wishing the other one would go on a month long vacation, well that just tells me they have had enough of each other and need a routine again.  They both seem to like school.  I hope that doesn't change once homework starts coming home.  I think having a good teacher does make a big difference and I'm glad that they both like their teachers.

Logan 2nd grade ~ Dresden 4th grade

While the boys were at school Strider and I weren't really sure what to do.  So, we did a little of everything.  We played, took naps, cleaned, painted my toe nails, and tried some new foods. This is of Strider sucking on a frozen banana.  If he could talk he would say, "Yummy!"

Strider also tried some new baby food.  I can say that he is much different than my other boys.  Dresden and Logan never liked getting their hands dirty but this kid has no problem with it.

He has this funny routine when I feed him baby food.  I put the spoon in his mouth, then he puts his four fingers in his mouth, sucks a couple times then puts his thumb in his mouth.  He repeats this after every spoonful of food.  I can only imagine what the mess will look like once he starts to feed himself.  I guess I will be moving his highchair FAR away from the white curtains.

The rest of the week wasn't as eventful as I had hoped for.  I ended up with a pretty good migraine that decided to stick around a few days.  After the first night of being sicker than I have been in a long time, I decided it was silly that I didn't go see the doctor to get a new prescription for my medication.  I saw the doctor and filled the medication just as another migraine was coming on. Not only is it great that I have a medication that will kill my migraines, but I was pleasantly surprised when the cost of it dropped $40!

Thursday night we went to the wedding of Larry's niece, Katie Winn.
It was a really nice ceremony and reception and Katie made a lovely bride.
We couldn't help but use the beautiful backdrop to take some pictures of our own.

I sure love these handsome boys.

Who you calling bald?

That's right.  You can no longer say that Strider is bald.  He finally has a little lock of hair.

 Okay, so he still looks mostly bald, but I loved the little curl that formed while he was taking a bath. We definitely won't be needing a haircut anytime soon.

A day at the water park

For the past few years we have bought season passes to Lagoon.  We loved having passes because we never felt rushed to ride every ride while we were there.  We could take things at our own pace.  This year, being that we had a new little guy join our family, we decided to go with something a little more local and baby friendly.  We bought the Pass of all Passes that got us Blaze football games, Real soccer games, Salt Lake Grizzlies hockey games, and races at the Miller Sports Park.  We took advantage of the Real and Blaze games but the real reason for buying the passes was for Raging Waters (Seven Peaks).  The boys have really enjoyed spending time at the water park, especially when Collin and Sydney, along with Natalie and Jay, would join us.  We would arrive by 10am and stay until it started to get busy around 1pm.  A few short hours were always good enough for us.  The lines were short, the pools were empty, there was plenty of grass space to spread out on, and the best part was street parking so we didn't have to pay to park.

Today, Larry and I decided to take the boys to Raging Waters one last time before school starts.  When I told Dresden and Logan our plans, Dresden asked if Collin and Sydney were going.  I explained to him that we thought it would be nice to spend time together as a family.  Dresden was not happy with the decision on not inviting the cousins and he stormed off yelling, "Thanks for making my life miserable!".  Friends have quickly become more important to him than Mom and Dad...how hurtful.  Despite not having the cousins with us today we all managed to have a good time.

Fun on the rope.

Me doing a little diving

Dresden and I going down the drop off slide

The boys in the wave pool

I couldn't leave my little guy out of the picture fest.  When we got home he was dead tired but so happy to see us.  I have recently taken the swing out of the living room and replaced it with the saucer, which Strider loves.

He also tried a new food today, peas.  Let's just say he isn't a fan of peas.

So, that is our day.  Oh, there was one more event...The Salt Lake County Mayor speaks to our Community Council annually and tonight was the night he was scheduled to attend our meeting. There's nothing like arriving late with three kids in tow and then having to take a seat up with the rest of the Council. It's a good thing my position is a volunteer position and I can't get fired from it.  After the meeting I shook Mayor Corroon's hand and apologized for being late.