Happy Easter

Matthew loves to play basketball in whatever shoes/boots he can get his hands on most quickly. That often means playing in his snow boots, which invariably invokes an image of Napoleon Dynamite, as some neighbors have commented.

Matthew, the hoopster

The boys had a few days off of school this week for spring break. So for fun they came downtown to visit the children's museum and have lunch with me. We went to Benihana's, where Matthew mainly complained that he didn't like the food. I guess it is a bit much to expect a 5 year old to enjoy Japanese cuisine. Thomas still loves it. We went to the food court later and let Matthew eat some kid food (some fruit and a yogurt). After lunch the boys and Erika took the train back to the children's museum. Upon learning that Erika was purchasing a year-long membership at the museum, Thomas smiled really big and said, "Oh good, that means I'll have a great Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter!"

Walking back to work from Benihana's

Waiting at the Trax station in downtown Salt Lake (old pioneer building facade in background)

One of the popular exhibits at the children's museum

The boys and Erika took a separate trip to the museum again, but this time with some friends from our neighborhood (Josh, Ryan, Sam, and their mom, Michelle). They had a fun science class with psychedelic lab coats.

Professor Thomas at the lab

Michelle and the mini-professors getting ready for some weird science

We recently received a nice surprise in the mail. Like everyone else, I often get mail that says I won a prize and I toss it without a second thought. Luckily I read further this time. As it turned out, we won an actual real prize with no strings attached. Miracles do happen. The boys and I were reading the local free newspaper one Saturday morning a couple months ago when the boys asked if we could enter a contest advertised in the paper. To enter you had to write down all the pages on which a little cartoon dog appeared. It took a while to find them all, but we did it. The following week, on my way to work, I dropped off our contest entry at the designated location and thought nothing more of it . . . until we received the prize notification! Our prize included a free night for two at a local Best Western, free dinner for two at a classy local restaurant called Archibald's, and two free movie tickets. On Friday night we decided it was time to go on a local vacation with our prize.

the hot tub at our local Best Western

hotel beds (as opposed to beds at home) are ok to jump on
(sugar cereal is also allowed)

Our free dinner was at Archibald's, which used to be a water-powered mill not too long ago. The family that originally built it was a polygamous family from the mid 1800's. Each table at one end of the restaurant is dedicated to one of Archibald's eleven wives. Part of the menu describes some of Utah's more colorful history depicted in the huge mural behind us in the following photo.

Dinner in the upper level of the silo at Archibald's

The restaurant is surrounded by a peaceful garden and various local artisans selling their wares. Before going to eat we tossed some bread to the ducks and huge fish inhabiting the creek that runs through the garden and "village" of shops.

Chow time for the duckies

A somewhat dilapidated water wheel that still works fascinated the boys

The morning after our local vacation to the Best Western, Erika led us to a community Easter Egg hunt at a nearby farm. She's really good at finding these fun free events. We enjoyed it so much and commented that we should return often with the boys. While waiting for the hunt to start, one of the proxy easter bunnies (i.e., a golf cart driver who helped hide the eggs) took the boys for an off-road spin. You can't see their faces in the picture very well, but they were smiling from ear to ear.

Off roading with the "Easter Bunny" at Wheeler Farm

It took about 6 seconds for the crowd of kids to cover the huge farm

Heading from the hunt to the hayride

After collecting the candy we took in the other sites and activities offered at the farm. Free tractor-pulled hayrides, for one:

The same guy that gave the boys a ride
earlier took them for a hayride
(see the distinctive hat?)

We have been meaning to find some good trails for hiking now that the weather is getting nicer. Wheeler Farm, we found out, has some excellent ones. While meandering down one of the trails we stumbled upon a beautiful old box elder tree, which the boys enjoyed climbing on.

We also found a barn full of old farm equipment. Matthew spent a good hour or so on this orange beauty (I was fascinated by the old threshing machine behind him):

Matthew's first car?

a pioneer-era wagon we found near the icehouse

For Easter Thomas specifically requested that we ask the Easter bunny not to bring too much candy. So instead the bunny brought lots of gift-wrapped books and hid them around our house. The boys also received some t-ball and baseball equipment to play with in the field near our house.

Matthew's message from the Easter Bunny

Thomas's message from the Easter Bunny

So that covers most of the fun this week. As for toil, Erika and I did the usual tasks of going to work, etc. I also received some help from my dad on the sprinkler installation groaned about at the end of last week's blog post. Unfortunately, even after this second attempt, it looks like I need to tighten a couple of the joints again. With the plumbing tools he let me borrow, though, success will likely be mine before the week is through.

Sometimes the boys go to bed with their walkie-talkies and talk to one another from their respective bedrooms. As I was writing an email late one evening, I overheard them broadcast "I love you" over the air to one another. They're really becoming great friends.