While Joel was here...Playing some more

I took Joel for his first round of disc golf. I guess I didn't specify where the "hole" was and he was aiming to get the disc sitting on top.

Joel took this picture. I was saying, "your holding it crooked". That's what that look is on my face. He didn't believe me. What do you think, crooked or straight?This is a log that looks like a rhinoceros. There was one that looked like a horse too. So that's always fun.

In my family, after we dye our Easter Eggs we eat them. The prettiest ones are generally cherished until they go bad. In the Clyde family this is what happens to Easter Eggs.



Joel did not want to leave the park this day and kept climbing trees.

One game that Joel loved playing was called "let Patrick shoot me with darts". It was pretty amusing to watch.

We went to see my cousin Patrick Madden's family and we played at the park. The little cousin in it is Sarah.

This, for those of you who are familiar, is on the way to the "frog pond" near the Clydes house in Moab. There is this little river crossing and Joel ran right in with his shoes on. You can see that he was following Patrick in his "I want to get some sun" shirt removing shenanigans. You can also see the fuzzy pig pez dispenser clipped on his pants. Patrick found that Easter morning but Joel made him an offer he couldn't refuse, the pez for 2 eggs full of starburst jellybeans.

The weekend we were in Moab was Jeep Safari weekend. Kevin had tickets to go to a Jeep race/derby/crashfest thing because his big excavator was there to remove the crashed Jeeps from the course. It was very exciting though the videos I got of it really don't do it justice. Apparently Joel found it less riveting than the rest of us because this is what he did most of the time.

I may be going overboard with the videos now. I want to post all the videos! I just think Patrick and Joel playing is so cute.

While Joel was here...Power Tumbling

Power Tumbling is fun. It involves trampolines and a giant foam pit. It was just coincidence that we had plans to go play at this gym when Joel was around to join us. It was a blast. The big red thing is a wheel filled with air that you can ride in while people push you into the pit. Then apparently you try to jump on it.

Patrick is really good at back flips but sometimes back hand springs foil him. You wouldn't think they are so different but they really are.

Joel was the only young kid there but all the other college students were really nice to him. tHat has nothing to do with the following video but my other option of what to say was, "Joel is so cute!" Since I'm pretty sure I've said that a number of other times on this blog I tried to come up with something else. So what if it doesn't flow.

A couple of the really smart MBA students came up with this little game. Joel doesn't really look like he is trying to me.

While Joel was here...Excavating

As though I didn't spoil him enough while he was here, my father-in-law Kevin helped me out. I'm not even referring to him giving Joel a cupcake in one hand and an ice cream sandwich in the other and offering him an ice cream cone. No, Joel was also lucky enough to get to drive construction equipment. This is us driving the Catepillar around the yard. Joel was not as good at coming out of the turns so I had to say many times, "Unturn, unturn, unturn" so we didn't crash into anything.



And if you can top getting to drive a catepillar, it's getting to dig with a real Bobcat excavater. I think that is what it's called. I'm not really up on all the construction equipment lingo like I ought to be.
While digging up the earth by Grand Rental Center Joel found a chain in the ground. We decided it was buried treasure so he wanted to keep it. Alas, we left it on the floor of the bobcat. So sad.
And, lest you think the pictures were faked, here is a video of him excavating all by himself.

While Joel was here...ATVing with Daniel

Daniel is an awesome brother-in-law. He took us ATVing. I let Joel sit in front and drive on the flat parts. He really liked the right side of the road and even ran us through some branches. He even got to drive through a couple of water crossings. We didn't get any video but we got some cool pictures off the bikes of us and the amazing scenery. I'm sure the scenery was Joel's favorite part.
Here he is on the machine, not moving. Moab is so beautiful.

We met up with Jeep tour and so we followed them to this cool drop off area to watch them all go off it. It was pretty crazy. We didn't attempt it on our little four wheelers. We turned around and went back home which was just as fun as getting there.

While Joel was here...Skiing

Joel's first time skiing was last December (If you haven't already seen it, check the older post of his first day) so he was quite a pro this time. This is us on the chair lift, obviously.
Sundance is the most amazing resort. The views are breathtaking. Joel's face is not.
One of the best times of the day was when we sat down on the lift (this was quite a process keeping Joel's skis straight and making sure he got on the lift) and looked over to see this cute little snowman sitting next to us. Someone had left it there for us to enjoy. So what did Joel do? He tossed it over the side where he exploded, luckily not on a skiier.

In this video Joel shows off his skills. He's just so darn CUTE!

While Joel was here...Just Playing

We went to the park up the hill from our house a bunch of times. This piece of equipment was called the "Spider's Web". We would race to the top to be the first one to get the hat. There were other kids who wanted to play with us and Joel kept winning. We made him back up further and further to try to even things up. Joel says, "Not to rub this in but you made me back up like 19 feet and I still would win. Ok, I guess I want to rub it in a little."



He's such a humble winner.

Rock Band is the coolest game that has ever been made. I got this great video of these three performing, Joel really gets into it and stomps his feet and swings the guitar. Then the camera was retarded and wouldn't let me watch or copy the video. Joel refused to perform his moves again when I tried to re-video. Oh well.
I included this picture despite it's blurriness because he was holding on to my leg when I was trying to do stuff and while he was being dragged his pants came down. I grabbed the camera and snapped this shot but before I could get on in focus he realized what was going on and pulled up his pants.

This video is pretty long but don't give up. The end is classic, right after I show Alyssa for the second time and pan back to Joel. You'll want to watch it again and again...

While Joel was here....Hikes

Joel is pretty much the super coolest kid ever. He just recently had his spring break and he flew out here all by himself to see us. We had so much fun. There are so many great pictures and videos from the trip that I decided to make a number of small posts instead of one ENORMOUS one. So here is the first one...



Alyssa, Edy, Joel, and I went on a hike up Rock Canyon. Alyssa was an exceptional hiker considering her enormous belly.

Joel says that he thought he was going to die in this picture. I think he is exaggerating. There was a steep drop off in behind him but he wasn't that close to the edge. What a drama queen.

We found an amazing hair piece for Alyssa. I think it makes her look like an Indian princess.

This was a crack and Joel decided to climb into it. He fit quite well.

Later Joel, Patrick and I went on another hike in the same area of Rock Canyon. We had more time so we got a little farther up on the mountain. I love my two boys.

I thought they were both crazy but when Patrick decided to ignore the chilly wind and "get some sun", Joel joined him. Joel was soon freezing and had to put his jacket back on. At least he tried.

This was where we stopped to eat the yummy sandwiches I had made for lunch. We tried to hide from the wind as much as we could. What a view!

Joel looks like he a climbing a super high cliff! He's obviously showing he is not afraid by that look on his face.