out-of-the-ordinary, sometimes time-consuming, but fairly normal stuff, plus a hike

We did a lot of out-of-the-ordinary, sometimes time-consuming, but fairly normal stuff this week. :) Steve took Emilia on a date Monday to let her spend the last of her birthday money, so I took the younger two to the Bean Museum. I got to have lunch with my friend Gina on Tuesday. I went for a short hike with a friend above our house Tuesday night. The sunset was gorgeous. I helped a friend get her classroom ready on Thursday. We had a playdate Thursday--it involved watching a movie and playing mini-air-hockey/mini-pool/Candyland. I went up to my parents' house to help them with getting their house ready to sell on Friday. We went to Vance Benjamin Frohlich's baby blessing today.

Our big fun thing for the week was a hike with Grandma and Grandpa Watts on Saturday. We were going to go to Cecret Lake in Little Cottonwood Canyon, but Grandpa read an article in the newspaper saying it was so popular this year that you had to be there by 7am to get a parking spot. Wake three kids up at 5:30 in the morning so we can get ready and drive for an hour to get to the trailhead? Yeah right. Thus began a search for another hike we could do with kiddos and grandparents that wouldn't be totally boring for the adults or WAY too difficult for the kids. This was far harder than I thought it would be. Apparently, there are lots of 4 mile round-trip hikes with 1400 foot elevation gains around here. Or half-mile hikes with no elevation gain that are clogged with all the people who can't do the 4-milers. Finally, I stumbled upon the Buffalo Peak hike.  Hoorah! A one-mile hike with a 300-foot elevation gain. Perfection. And it's also to the summit of a mountain. How fun does that sound? Cecily got to summit a mountain at the age of 4! And I only carried her on the steepest 100 feet. ("ONLY" *pants*) Emilia was reading this as I wrote and wanted to make sure that I mentioned that Grandpa took us out for lunch at Culvers afterward. I guess that was a highlight of the trip. :)  (Thanks, Grandpa!)