Jones Reunion 2011

We just wrapped up a week-long reunion with Peter's side of the family. Every sibling and cousin was present (all 32 of us). We packed loads of fun into one week.

Activities included:
-Visiting ancestral graves in Wellsville
-Talent Show (Ivy danced, Calvin did a cartwheel, Bryn played the piano, I showed a movie that I had made, and Peter accompanied Puff the Magic Dragon)
-Hiking the Limber Pine trail
-Camping at Bear Lake (including Go-carts, wave runners, raspberry shakes, Polish horseshoes, and tent catching)
-Lagoon
-Logan Aquatic Center
-Pictures
-Olympics and minute to win it
-Board Games

Down a Dark Hole

As a child, my dad often led us on hikes up above Tony Grove and showed us sink holes, deep pits that dropped down to China. His father had shown him where they were and the locations are a closely guarded secret. We'd throw rocks in and listen for them to hit the bottom, and often we never heard the final clunk.

My brother Lance, climber and caver extraordinaire and the cave expert for Northern Utah's Search and Rescue, is well equipped to lead expeditions down said sink holes. And that is just what we did one fine Wednesday evening.

The sink hole we went down is named Thundershower. We rappelled down the initial pit, and wiggled our way in a hole (the first of many wigglings or birth therapy as I like to call it). After a bit of climbing, it opened up into a beautiful room decorated with all sorts of cave features (stalagmites, stalactites, flow stone, columns, and such). Then we rappelled down another pit, did some more climbing, and ended in a pool room.

The cool, dusty yet dank air smelled delicious. The water ever trickling and sometimes pouring it's way through the passages was icy cold and we were soaked through.

On the climb back out, Lance intentionally left me behind. I took a wrong turn, of course, and climbed (with difficulty) my way straight up a soggy dead end. Lance says he often does this just to show people how easy it is to get lost in caves. He's a big fat meanie dirtbag sometimes.

We used ascenders and got ourselves back out of the hole. It was great fun. And just so you know, stalactites hand tight (from the ceiling) and stalagmites might reach the ceiling.

Cleaning Magic

Here's the movie we put together last weekend.

King of the Hill

Peter and I hiked Mt. Monadnock for the first time today. It's been on both of our lists since we moved here 9 years ago.

Our friends were nice enough to take our kids, and it was strange to ride in the car and listen to nothing but each other talk and grownup music (the Shins), and have no need to fling goldfish into the back seats (but we did anyway, just to keep in practice).

The hike was fantastic- one big mini-bouldering expedition. We made it to the top in just over and hour, enjoyed the view, and ran back down (I'm not going to lie, we rocked that trail-it's nice to know we're still part mountain goat). I give it 5 hiking boots up.

Here's a dizzifying movie of a 360 panorama at the top- which is how we felt after summitting. If you look closely you may see a couple of familiar faces (Katie and Mauricio). It's always fun to unexpectedly see people you know in lands far away.

ExtrORDENary Weekend

We had a hootenanny with Alvin and Tammy and their kids last weekend. On Saturday we went up to York, Maine.

We managed to capture yet another award winning family photograph. Calvin had a "fishing" stick that he was baiting Ivy with throughout the process. Lovely.

I like the subject in the foreground AND the subject in the background of the picture above.


Bryn made a fitting shirt choice for the day. Although the jeans were possibly a mistake, as evidenced by the first photo in the following collage where she is wading up to her thighs in said jeans.

Other activities included:
-Games after kid bedtime (Cribbage, 5 crowns, capitol/state naming)
-Plays and movie-making (The Boy who Cried Wolf, and Magic show TBP)
-Salem (harbor, maritime museum and lunch)
-Dinner and games with Jesse and Laura (more friends from freshmen year that live in a neighboring town)

Frosted Sour Cream Cookies

How many tweaks does it take before a recipe is your own? I've been making this one for 11 years now, and the notes in the margin of my ripped out page are getting ridiculous. It's time to write it down anew, with the changes incorporated.

These cookies are fluffy and not too sweet (perfect as a frosting vehicle).

I write all my cookie recipes in 1-egg batches. I figure that's the smallest "building block" for resizing, since you can't easily divide an egg (although I've tried).

Frosted Sour Cream Cookies
1/2 cup softened butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup (4 oz) sour cream
3-4 cups flour
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
Frosting- whatever floats your boat

Cream together butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Fold in sour cream, then add dry ingredients. Chill for 1 hour in the refrigerator.

Flour a surface liberally, and roll the chilled dough out to 1/4 inch thick. Cut desired shapes (cookie cutters work fine, circles are the easiest to frost, and don't forget that squares, rectangles, and triangles can be done with a pizza cutter).

Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes. When cool, frost and apply unhealthy amounts of sprinkles, sanding sugar, gumdrops, jelly beans, etc.

Today I used a 2.5" round cookie cutter and it yielded around 3 dozen cookies.

It's a Pillow, It's a Pet,

It's a checkers champion! Calvin's two pillow pets (yes, you read that right- the boy has two pillow pets- don't ask me how that happened *cough *cough Laura *cough) played an entire match with Calvin refereeing and ferrying pieces. Calvin seemed genuinely surprised when one or the other would make a clever move. This kid needs a day job.

Tiny Conversations

Ivy has become aware that we are not alone on this planet. Specifically, she talks to ants. She calls each of them Tiny. I think she got the name from The Very Hungry Caterpillar book (the TINY and very hungry caterpillar).

She tries to make friends with Tiny. And despite Tiny's shy silence, tendency to run away, and squishable nature, she keeps at it with every new Tiny she meets (I'm not sure if she knows there is more than one).

Pit Stop

Peter's parents just finished an employment mission in Spain, and were kind enough to make a stop here for a few days on their journey home. They were able to see all of the commencement activities and we enjoyed catching up with them.

Peter's dad is also an MIT graduate (for his undergrad). It was fun to tour campus with them and see what has changed and what hasn't. Greg told us anecdotes of past pranks by students that included a steam tunnel-powered orange cannon that could allegedly send an orange from campus over to central square, and an above ground T train being welded to the tracks with thermite. They just don't make pranks like they used to.

Welcome home!

I Dub Thee the Winner

Dr. Jones is in the house.