The end of summer...

It's been so chilly in the mornings this week that I've begin to feel the panic that sets in when I know the warm summer days will soon be distant memories. So after school today we invited the kids on our street to come and play on the water slide one last time and had cookies and popsicles and a nice afternoon. Then for family fun night we went up Big Cottonwood Canyon and had a picnic dinner at Silver Lake.



When we first got on the trail we read all the moose warnings posted and started off our walk around the lake singing "We're going on a moose hunt, we're not afraid, we're not afraid." So it was fun to find this moose track on the boardwalk at the end of the night.


It was even more fun to actually see the moose. We were worried about ending up on the news as the dumb people who got attacked by a moose after ignoring the warnings, but the mother seemed so calm with all the people and was letting her baby eat with all the people watching. So we walked around whispering and flashing the cameras with all the other people who might some day end up on the news with us too.

Bingham Copper Mine

We live near Bingham Copper Mine and from the side view I think it is quite ugly. We decided to drive up through Butterfield Canyon, which is beautiful, to check the view from above and I thought it was so cool. The view is much better from above.

Originally for family night we were going to go on a hike but since the mountains on the other side of the valley were on fire, we switched our plans to visit the upper view of the copper mine. You can still see the smoke from the fire earlier in the day.

Don't let Maya's grin deceive you. When I asked her to take this photo she was convinced we were trying to have her fall down into the mine. She just wanted to get back in the car and get the picnic started. Andy was doing homework on the drive up and said, "Mom, can I take a break from this and enjoy the beautiful drive." The kid is like his parents and loves mountains and trees and nature in general.

Luke, wasn't quite sure what the point of the activity was, but was happy enough singing along to all the songs on the drive with his baby babbling. He's really into singing these days.