The Burmese Python

My mom called and invited us to a thing they were doing at her elementary school for a boys night. They had some reptile guy come and show all sorts of fun lizards and snakes and such for the boys so we headed right over there. They had done the same thing last year and the boys loved it so I thought we could go again.

During the program they got to see several tortoises including a pancake tortoise and a huge 85 pound tortoise. There were a couple of scorpions. The more poisonous one stayed in the container, the less poisonous one he took out and put in his mouth. There were several lizards. One was named zig zag and he was about 4 or 5 feet long. Pretty big. The last items were snakes. He got out several different snakes and walked around with them. One was an albino Burmese python (it looked like the one Britney Spears had). They showed a baby anaconda. It was pretty small. Then the last thing to be taken out was the Burmese python. Last year when we went he had a bunch of kids come up and hold it. This year he asked for some of the parents. Since I had seen it before and thought it would be kind of cool and a little scary, I volunteered. He had us all line up and then it took him and two other men to get it out of the container. It was a 15 foot more than 200 pound snake. I thought I would be at the end with the tail. I was wrong. I ended up with its head. Oh my goodness. It was cool and scary. A couple of times it turned its head toward me as if to check my face out. With all my strength I would try to hold it back, but it was strong. I was very amazed at how strong it was. I think that is what freaked me out the most. Just the fact that it could move its head toward me when the rest of it was just hanging out being held by other people. So kids, never underestimate the strength of a python.

This picture is blurry but you can get an idea of how big the snake was.

I was somewhat concerned as the snake would move and I wasn't strong enough to keep it where I was comfortable with it.

Miles loved every minute of it and you could tell he was cataloging all the information for future reference. Carter was a little more hesitant. He wasn't quite sure he wanted to see many of the reptiles up close and personal. He did get brave enough to pet the snake at the end.

The Discovery Museum

The boys were in their 5th week of being off track from school and we needed to go do something besides play the wii all day. My friend Karen and I decided to take the kids to the discovery museum and let the kids have some time out of their houses.
Again... with the poses. I don't quite get it. Miles wanted to stand in front of his masterpieces that he built.

Jacob and Miles were being quite the news reporters. Between the news desk and where you could stand and do the weather those two were having a blast.
Miles and I inside the Lifeflight helicopter.

And now with Carter and Riley.

Miles was quite the climber. The wall is actually all of about 8 feet high so I got down as low as I could so it would look like Miles was higher than he really was.


I was helping the boys make parachutes that they then put in the "wind tunnel" and watched them blow up and out. Quite exciting.


Carter and Miles watching a ping pong ball float down the water area.

Miles is going to figure out some sort of contraption, I am sure.

Carter working the construction crane. There was some serious building going on.

Miles, Carter, Riley and Jacob. Karen's baby Asher was there too but he stayed in the stroller for the most part.

Carter getting ready to build some more.

Carter could have stayed in this area nearly the entire time. You gather balls and then put them in a tube and they get sucked through the tubes and then dropped back out where Carter is gathering more to do. He loves this area and had actually been mentioning for some time that he wanted to go back to the place where the balls get sucked up.

Overall we had a good time. I worked really hard to try to get them to leave without a tantrum. We actually got out of the museum ok. Then they wanted to ride the escalator so I said ok. By this time I was pretty exhausted. So down the escalator and then back up. Okay kids, let's go. All of the sudden Carter decides to throw a tantrum. I thought you have got to be kidding me. I was trying so hard to have a good time and then actually leave without all of us in tears and yelling and mad and..... Almost... almost...

Sesame Street Live

Ever since we had a child Quinn has been wanting Sesame Street Live to come to Utah. Miles is 7 and it hasn't come since he was born. This year the tour came to our neck of the woods. The boys aren't as into Sesame Street as they were a few years ago and Quinn wasn't sure if they would still like it. I thought they were still kids and would enjoy the big show. Plus I knew Quinn would really want to go.

We tried to make it a fun experience for them. We bought cotton candy and kettle corn and cinnamon almonds. We did say a big fat no to the $10 Elmo balloon. There were so many people there that had kids much younger than ours. A lot of 2 and 3 year olds. They were very excited to see Elmo but I'm not sure they enjoyed the whole show. Miles and Carter really had a fun time watching all of it. I found myself looking over at Quinn for his reactions just as I would look over to the kids. It was kind of weird watching them dance around since we never really see their legs.

We bought a pennant and Miles was so cute. He just waved it and waved it throughout the program.

Carter clapping. They were really into the show.

Carter and Dad. Carter has a handful of cotton candy and Dad is just having a good time with his boy.

Mom with her boys enjoying a big ol bag of kettle corn.

Carter waving the pennant.

I don't know. This has been Miles' pose of choice lately. But isn't he just so cute?

These boys were so cute that entire evening. It was worth the money spent. Kids grow up so fast. I just want to do things with them before they outgrow them.

Zoo Lights

We wanted to go see some Christmas lights and decided to opt for a different location other than Temple Square this year. I love going to Temple Square but didn't want to deal with parking and the crowds so we decided to give the zoo lights a try this year. We ended up going on a night that was very frigid. The temperature outside was a nippy 24 degrees. Putting aside the fact that it was very cold there were some things I really enjoyed about the zoo lights. First and foremost I am not always a fan of crowds (especially with little kids you are trying to keep tabs on). There had to have been a total of about 50 people in the entire zoo. That is my idea of a crowd. There weren't very many animals out, but the ones we did see were very active. We were startled by the mountain lion, amused by the tiger cubs, confused at the sound papa tiger was making and a little frightened by the snakes and watching them during their feeding time. The lights that were set up throughout the zoo were very enjoyable for the boys. They had lights in trees but they also had a lot of lights that were made to look like several of the animals.

Carter, Quinn and Miles being little soldiers.

All of us bundled up.

Miles actually took a decent picture of Quinn and me.

The boys being gingerbread men.

We ALWAYS ride the train when we come to the zoo. But, the train was not running so the boys had to settle for a picture by the train. It was a pretty tough compromise for Carter.

Miles was doing his best - ALL ABOARD!

Carter settling for a picture by the train. No train ride today.

We will miss you kittens

Having kittens at our house has been fun. I have been so worried about what we were going to do with 6 kittens. Would we be able to find homes for all of them? Would they be at our house forever? They are 6 weeks old today and are finally old enough to start going to good homes. Last week I decided to give KSL classifieds a try and see if I could find any homes. Within 4 hours all but one were claimed. I had to tell people they weren't quite ready to go because they weren't eating enough solid food yet. We do have three that will be picked up on either Christmas Eve or the day before that. Cute little Christmas presents for people.

I also braved taking all 6 kittens to a kindergarten class and to a second grade class. For the sake of the kittens I did do it on different days. Both of the classes sure enjoyed seeing them. There was a little trauma when a kitten would scratch. Kittens don't know how to do anything but scratch with those sharp little nails.

Last week when they all got claimed I was a little sad that they wouldn't be around. It is amazing the difference a week makes. Those little stinkers are everywhere. A couple of times they have hidden so well that I started getting worried. Their messes are getting bigger (luckily they are mostly in the bathroom, but still!). They are still as cute as can be, but it is time for them to move on.