OK, Abbie, we're going to try a new thing where I ask you questions, and you answer them, and I'll type them, OK? We're going to call it your journal. Here we go:

Yesturday we went to go deliver food to a new mother in our ward. She is a wonderful woman and good friend. After we left, baby unseen (He was eating his dinner.) Abbie asked what color he was.

With my sister being biracial and my brother black, I just assumed Abbie wanted to know if this baby was brown like her aunt and uncle. I told her that babies usually have the same skin color as their parents (Completely ignoring the whole adoption issue that is relevant in my family but above the head of the three-year old.) I was proud of her inquisitiveness and hopeful that we could have a nice discussion about race and how people are different but that is okay, and we don't judge people, we are nice to everyone blah, blah, blah.

Clearly my educational goals we lost on Abbie.

No, is he purple or blue or red? What color is he?

Possibly in Abbie's world it really doesn't matter what color a person's skin is as there is such a rainbow that it is a non-issue. Maybe that is the best way for a world to be.
Savannah doesn't have as many choices of words, but the words she does have she uses with great effect. She knows that if she says cracker, a cracker will instantly appear (baring dinner preparation, laundry folding, diaper changing, telephone calls.....). It must feel quite amazing to have such a feeling of power that whatever you say appears because she uses it often. Unfortunately, it is starting to interfere with her appetite so something might need to change soon.

Savannah also has become obsessed with Abbie's underwear. When ever she sees it lying around (which is rare, almost never actually) she grabs it and sticks her arm through the leg holes. When she spots it across the room and she is immediately sidetracked from whatever she had been doing and then crawls or hobbles over to it to pull it up her arm. I don't know what this means, but it cracks me up every time.

We have a book called How do Dinosaurs go to School? It explains proper school behavior by showing what dinosaurs should and should not do at school. One of the pictures shows a dinosaur pulling a tooth out and disrupting class with excitement. Abbie was very concerned until I told her that having teeth fall out is a part of life, and we shouldn't worry because when they do the Tooth Fairy comes.

Over the course of the last few weeks Abbie has become very interested in the Tooth Fairy. When does she come? What does she do? How much money does she leave under her pillow? You know, the important things.

This morning Russ went in to get Abbie and as she got out of be she lifted up her pillow. Russ asked her, "Why?"

"To see if there is any money there."

"But you haven't lost any teeth"

"I know but I just wanted to check."

You never know when the Tooth Fairy might just decide to become randomly generous to those of us too young or too old to be loosing our teeth. Maybe I should start checking too.

For our final summer fling we went to St. George with our good friends the Eaves. It was a whirlwind trip but a lot of fun. We spent Saturday at Zions National Park. I haven't been there in years and it was wonderful to see it again.

Of course going to Zions with kids is a little different than going just with adults, as I have in the past. With kids the .6 mile trail takes about an hour with frequent stops along the way for all the hard work of hiking, and to throw rocks. Abbie likes to hike for short distances, and then ride on whichever parents' shoulders are free for anything over 20 feet.

Savannah just likes to chill.
Sunday was low key. In the evening we went to the park and it turned out we didn't need to drive for four hours to find amusement for the girls, they were as entertained at the park as they had been at Zions. Too bad we as parents aren't, because I prefer Zions.
Monday was spent cleaning the house and then off to Snow Canyon to play in the sand dunes and get as dirty as we possibly can before a four hour car ride home. Just to make it more interesting.

My friend posted this on her blog and I liked it, partially for his talent both vocally and electronically and partially because I think we can all use a little more Journey in our day.