You Enjoy Myself: A Summer with Mr. Moody and Family

[Moody]

Contending with a grad program, an internship, two prepubescent kids, a wife, a home, and all the 'regular' expecations of life, I found little time this summer to enjoy myself as I normally do, having 3 months off in the summer.
Despite the daily grind, I pried myself away for some fractal excursions.

We kicked off the summer with the June Father's Day Run to Silverton, CO. Once again, to reiterate, we had a blast, and experienced some of the best that Colorado has to offer. A full spectrum of enjoyment can be found here: http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=28513

We then made our way back to Utah for a week and then we ventured South to Lake Powell for some time on the lake fishing, skiing, and relaxing.
We don't have a houseboat anymore, so the ladies stay at the Marriott, and the guys camp out on the beach. Stars were in full force.
Lake Powell:

We took a quick trip to the Uinta Mountains for some cool air, where we enjoyed some dutch oven cobbler out of my newly acquired 12" deep dish oven(Thanks to Whitney and Kevin). Sharing that night with friends, scaring off the mountain lions (I'll save that one for around the campfire), and waking to a greasy bacon-infused pancake breakfast made it one of the more memorable ones...

We even brought the dogs along:

Yes, we are horrible parents...

Watch out Calvin Klein...

 

[Moody]

Shortly after the Uintas, we decided to go stay in Park City for a few nights in a timeshare. Other than grabbing a bite to eat here and there, and enjoying the fresh mountain air, we stayed by the pool:

A real highlight of my summer was taking my 91 year old Grandpa Hall to the Hill Air Force Museum for the day. If you live anywhere near the AFB, it is well worth the visit. My Grandfather was a pilot in WW2, and doesn't share much about his experiences other than one or two. I found myself in awe listening to him talk about little intricacies of each plane, how the following version amended the previous problems, and things he experienced while flying the planes they had on exhibit.
He later became a pilot for the now defunct Frontier Airlines, and a friend of his who he spent many of his days in the sky with wrote a book that includes lots of facets of my grandfather's life. One thing I remember (even to this day he is the same) is my grandpa's love of ice cream. Apparently he loved it just as much in flight training.
The book is called The Golden Years of Flying: As We Remember: Frontier Airlines 1946-1986 it was written by Captain Tex Searle. You can find it on Amazon.

 

[Moody]

More from the Museum:

This is a cross-section of an ICBM. In each of the round sections, a nuclear warhead is held (the green jobber below). Apparently, each of them were the equivalent of 10 times the bombs that were dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima. :Wow1:

 

[ttora4runner]

Nice. :victory:

Know about this mountain lion.

 

[Moody]

Alexander and I went on a little overnighter up to the Uintas once again to fish and build a fire to cook some hotdogs. Alexander got to drive a Landcruiser for the first time (sitting on my lap), and despite being five, did an alright job. All evening, Zander wanted to pee on the fire. I finally gave in when it was bedtime, and let him do it. If you ask Zander, that was the highlight of his trip.

We retired to the tent where Zander wanted to watch a movie. I told him I didn't have any, until I remembered I had my laptop in my work bag with a History Channel DVD on the Declaration of Independence that I was supposed to evaluate for my school. He was all for it, so I figured, "why not?"
He loved it. I was a proud daddy.
The camp spot:

Getting ready for fishing at the lake:

 

[Moody]

Okay...last post for tonight.

Hilary and I, just before we were married in October of 99, went up to Washington State for two days of Phish Concerts at the Gorge Ampitheatre. The Gorge is a beautiful venue for concerts, overlooking the Columbia River, and for the multiple-day shows, you camp on site. In the adventurous spirit we had ten years ago, we loaded up the car, and drove up to Washington to catch this years Gorge shows. We had an absolute blast, even with camping in a sea of Phisheads...

Hey there are actually some pictures of me! (I am usually the camera man)

Thousands of people:

 

[Moody]

A few more from the shows:

Cute sisters...(My brother in law Kevin and his wife Whitney met us up there)

 

[Moody]

Hilary took the kids up to the "Treehouse Museum" in Ogden. I keep laughing when I see this photo:

This past summer Alexander has been extremely interested in rocks, fossils, and any other geologic materials. I told him about Timpanogos Cave on our Father/Son trip, and he was supremely interested. He kept asking, and so we went...

The Moody Family:

My good friend (and fellow teacher) Nate came along to keep Zander in check:

Olivia stops for a break:

So Nate does too:

Once inside the 45 degree cave, Olivia promptly decided it was nap time:

Heliocites?

Nate and I with the kids:

 

[scarysharkface]

Nice! I envy you your time off work. I should'a been a school teacher, but then again that's a very tough job. :sombrero:

John

 

[mph]

Looks like you had a relaxing/enjoyable summer!!!! My district starts on Wednesday so summer is almost over! However, fall is right around the corner and desert season begins

 

[Funrover]

Great pics!

 

[Mighty Dodge Ram]

A B-29 !!?? :Wow1: I've got to make that trip.