Doodle – our middle child – is officially the chickens’ warden.  Anytime they’re out of their coop they tend to wander into the garden (not that I blame them, really) and need to be herded elsewhere.  “Doodle, the chickens are in the garden.”  “OK, Dad, I’ll get them out” is his cheerful reply before dashing off to extricate the birds from our yummy goodness, usually with a pole, stick, or something else to increase his reach.  Hopefully he’ll prove equally capable with younger siblings as their mobility increases.

Now, if only we could successfully teach him to round up his toys and other items when done using them, we’d be in good shape.

Today was the City of Highland’s annual “fling” (celebration of the City’s founding).  We went last year and decided to attend this year with Mrs. Smith’s parents again.

We first went to the SLC airport to pick up Opa (Grandpa), Mrs. Smith’s father.  Although the morning was a bit rocky – the kids would not listen – by this time they’d mostly settled down.  “Daddy, I see an airplane blast off-ing!”  Followed shortly thereafter by, “Hey, look, there’s the United States Flag of America!”  Mrs. Smith and I enjoyed a brief chuckle; not the normal word order, perhaps, effective nonetheless to describe the departure and U.S. flag.

We spent the remainder of the afternoon at the Highland fling.  The kids enjoyed huge cotton candies (thanks Opa!) which they willingly shared with all… including Eagle, who discovered he did not like it when his hands and face were completely covered in cobwebby, pink, spun strands of melted sugar.  That is, until I showed him that he could just suck it right off his fingers – then he wasn’t too upset.

Note to self, though: if we do that again next year, let’s limit the kids’ sugar intake.  Perhaps letting them eat “sugary ceral” (read: code for all sorts of non-mother-approved cereals) for breakfast wasn’t my brightest idea ever.  Oh well.

As always faithful reader, see Mrs. Smith’s blog for photos.