We did it! We survived driving all the way across the country and back to see friends and family. We decided that this summer we could either trek around the East or go back to Utah, and Utah won. I just wanted to see everybody more than I want to see anything, and I knew that is what Atlas would want as well. I really wanted him to have a fun summer, cause life if pretty dull for him out here. We decided to drive so that we could pick up some baby stuff in storage and bring it back East with us. The drive was grueling, but not awful. Atlas was great.

Right when we got there we already knew Atlas was in for a fun summer. Will, Nick's cousin, was staying at my in-law's, which is where we were staying. Will, Atlas, Jaxon, and Bixler built a blanket bed and watched movies late into the night (until everyone but Atlas fell asleep). Atlas and Will played great together and it was so fun to see Atlas have a buddy his age to interact with.

And another buddy! We went on a few afternoon excursions with my sister Lauren and her two boys. Here's Atlas and Phoenix at Dinosaur Park in Ogden.

Atlas loves water and had so much fun swimming in my Dad's pool. I wish we could utilize it more often, cause he is right at home in the water.

Nick and I participated in a few art fests while there.

More playmates. This is my friend Debbie's awesome playroom for her girls, Quinn and Rage. Atlas loves being over there.

We loved being around friends with kids! We could hang out and Atlas could have a blast at the same time.

Atlas got to sit on Grandpa's new motorcycle, something that probably no one else on Earth will ever get to do.

We went to the zoo and saw the new exhibits.

Best Buddies.

I love eating outdoors with family. My niece Taelee apparently does not.

It was nice to have some yummy grilled food in fine company.

Atlas and Taelee really got along and held hands everywhere they went.

In the middle of our Utah trip my parents took us to Disneyland.

Atlas lit up with pure joy when he met Mickey Mouse. He had been talking about meeting Mickey since I told him about Disneyland. He was so happy. His other goal was to give Minnie a kiss,

which he got to do.

Astro Blasters was by far his favorite ride. We went on it 8 times.

We also got to see the new Cars Land.

When we got back we helped my little sister do some face painting at a fund raising carnival.

Megan and Nick got pretty into it.

Atlas stopped by and wanted a Spider Man face. He looked super creepy and pulled a really serious super hero face once he was painted.

We went up to Bear Lake for a day with my family.

Atlas loved catching butterflies at Grandma Potter's. Prez helped him catch 12 and we went to show Nick, who was usually working on writing in the basement all day.

Atlas and his cousin Sophie slow danced at a wedding reception.

I thoroughly enjoyed many bowls of my Dad's homemade ice cream paired with fresh raspberries from his garden. Mmmmm.

Playdate #2 with Phoenix, The Treehouse Museum.

We did all the usual Kaysville festivities on the 4th of July: the parade, BBQ, swimming and fireworks. I always love the 4th.

One night Atlas and I found ourselves alone for a while in SLC so we had a photo shoot at Temple Square.

Atlas loves "the big castle". All elegant church buildings are castles to him. When we drive around RI he tells me who lives in each castle (Donkey Kong, Princess Peach, Bowser etc).

We hung out with my Grandma at Sophie's 2 yr old b-day party.

Another art fest. This one was great cause we got to see so many friends that we hadn't seen yet.

Playdate #3 with Phoenix, The Utah Museum of Natural History.

We even had 2 brand new cousins to meet.

All the cousins are getting big and new ones are being added all the time. Atlas was in heaven being around so many kids.

Then the drive back...

We all got sick with chest colds, and traffic was awful out East.

Every stop Atlas would clean the car while I was in the bathroom and when I got out he would say "Surprise! I made the car pretty for you." Mostly he just smeared around bug guts, but it gave him something to look forward to and he loved it. We had our stops down to a science. Nick went in to take Atlas potty while I filled the car and took Bixler to pee, when the got back out I would go in to use the restroom while Atlas cleaned the car, Nick refilled sippy cups and got Bixler a drink then we were back on the road.

I drove the final stretch in horrible traffic from mid NY on. My legs swelled horribly and I weighed 4 pounds extra from swelling weight by the time we got home. It went away while I slept that night though. It feels pretty weird to be back in RI. I thought it would feel more like coming home, but it doesn't really. Atlas still wants to play non-stop cause that is what he got to do in UT, but I don't have the energy to entertain him all day. I am super exhausted and I feel bad about it. Maybe once this cold goes away it will be easier.
Yesterday was just shopping and unpacking. Today we are all skipping church cause we are sick. Now we all just need to slowly settle back in to being bored, at least for the next few weeks until my little sis comes for a visit.

One small story from yesterday:
I was trying to teach Atlas the song "I'm Bringing Home a Baby Bumblebee." He loved it and thought it was way funny, but his version ended up like this:
I'm bringing home a bumblebee
My mommy is so proud
I'm bringing a baby bumblebee
OUCH! It stinged my butt!

(I have exactly 1 million more photos of our trip, but didn't want to do a forever long post. I will be uploading a lot more of them into a album on Facebook, but for anyone who wants to see them who isn't on Facebook (Dad, Lauren) I will also upload them all to Flikr)

Atlas has plenty of flaws, but being polite has never been one of them. His politeness even seems to be growing (well, except when he yells out "You guys are bully-heads!" to random groups of teenagers). For example, lately when I say "I love you" to him he incredibly sincerely replies "Thank you so much! That's so nice of you!"  It never fails to make me smile, just like his little prayers. He is in charge of prayers at our house lately and always wants to be the one to say them. They always start out like this:
Heavenly Father
Grateful for this days
Then he proceeds to just talk about what is going on- last nights went something like this:
I'm going to go to sleep
I like my bed
I can be nice.
Dad read me some books.
Mom is in charge.
I went to church.
We are going to save our money, and then I'm going to play at Disneyland.
Then he ends it.
Pretty sweet, although nothing can beat how sweet a sleeping kid is.

The Farmer's Market has moved outside for the summer. It's at a nice big park and when we pulled up Atlas exclaimed "a party!" which it basically was for him. We listened to some live bluegrass, drank a soda, played at the play ground, saw some friends, ate a pudding pop

and when we all got too hot, we cooled off with a signature New England frozen lemonade. I haven't ever seen a snow cone shack out here, but there are plenty of frozen lemonade vendors. It was tasty.

We took a little break at home

before heading out to another party- WaterFire

where we tried our second New England treat. Fried dough is basically what Utahns call a scone. They have them all over here (you can even get them at the movie theater) but instead of honey butter they dust them with powder sugar. I was proud to check off a frozen lemonade and a fried dough from my list in one day. I am starting to feel like a true Rhode Islander.

We saw some break dancers as we were walking around. We sat down to watch their show and they gathered quite a crowd. Atlas was mesmerized. He loved it so much. After some warm ups they started a full on choreographed show with music, which, about 5 minutes into, area security came and told them to pack up. The crowd boo'd and chanted "let them dance!" but the security wasn't having it. Atlas cried his eyes out. He wanted "to watch the boys dance." It was sad, but ultimately good, cause Nick really needed to get home and prepare his lesson for Sunday.
This week is going to be full of mundane things, like cleaning, packing, getting the car's oil changed, printing a zine cover, putting our mail on hold etc etc etc- which means we are about to leave RI and head (drive) to UT. There is a lot to do and think about when you are leaving your house for over a month and it's really stressing me out. Not to mention, we need to prepare for the Providence Arts Festival on Saturday. Ack! What am I doing writing a blog post? I don't know.

Nick and Atlas have been having "sleepovers" a lot lately, which entail bringing Atlas's mattress out into the living room and falling asleep while watching a late night movie, usually a Harry Potter. Atlas loves Dobby, Gwon, Moinie and Bouldamart.

We checked out the RISD Senior Thesis Exhibit. At first Atlas said that it was boring, but then decided he loved it so much that he threw a gigantic fit when we left.

Every time we go to the mall Atlas asks for a pretzel and a drink. It's his favorite treat.

We had a full week of fun and good weather. Thursday we went to the Southwick Zoo in Mendon Massachusetts. Atlas really loved the goats that you could pet. He wanted to touch every single one, but they kept moving around, which made him think there were new goats all the time. He spent quite a long time with them, and then visited them again right before we left. I was surprised he liked them so much, since right when we walked in a macaw squawked and Atlas screamed and started running away crying. As long as the goats didn't make noise, he was good. One did make noise and Atlas stayed far away.

There were even a few baby goats.

Nick got to pet some of his favorite animals, alpacas.

We packed a lunch and ate it right in front of the giraffe habitat.

There was a deer "forest" which was just a huge amount of land and trees with 20 or so deer running around that you could buy food for and feed from your hand. Atlas really liked them too, but they weren't quite as friendly as the goats.

Atlas wants to learn to cross the monkey bars. He tried over and over again until we finally pried him loose.

We have been walking around a lot to explore and exercise. We saw this while walking around campus. It made us laugh. (Altas spent most of the day wearing one glove, because.... ?)

There are so many trees here... and squirrels....and rabbits.... and chirpy birds. I feel like Snow White.

Atlas has gotten over his two biggest fears at the Children's Museum. The giant woman

and getting wet.

There was a dance party in a big empty room in the museum. Atlas was too shy to dance when there were a bunch of people in there, but as soon as they started to clear out, he danced his heart out until he was the last one on the dance floor.

We love the food trucks here. This weekend we tried french fries with roasted onion mayo and vegan ice cream. Delicious.