A few weeks ago we picked up our nieces Amy and Amanda from a summer church camp up at BYU in Provo. The day we brought them home was the big Alton Picnic, a favorite summer activity for all the people in all the towns in our area.
Oliver and Marion checked out the playground as soon as we got there.
Elora found the animal trainer who had brought many reptile friends. As you can see she is not scared at all, and loved holding all the snakes, lizards, dead scorpions, and turtles.
Here she is with a bearded lizard on her head. 
The one animal she was nervous about? The tarantula. Oliver came running over to me and said, “Mom! There is a big spider! It will bite you!” Apparently Elora was a little nervous about Oliver’s assessment of the situation. We convinced her to hold it, but when we asked if we could put it on her head for a picture she emphatically shook her head NO!
Marion likes sitting in the grass. She likes the way it feels in her fingers (and sometimes she likes to eat it too…)
Oliver went on the tractor-train with Daddy and had a great time. Elora didn’t want to leave the reptiles long enough to do anything else.
After seeing how much fun Oliver had on the train, Elora decided to join Mommy and Oliver for the next ride.
There was a mini rodeo set up for the kids. Here is Elora roping the calf. She did a good job considering she hasn’t spent much time on the rodeo scene in recent years.
Here is Oliver roping himself…
And then he got it all figured out!
Nice ropin’ little cowboy.
Marion liked hanging out with Amy. There were tons of fun activities we didn’t get pictures of. We enjoyed making butter to eat on the fresh sour dough biscuits. Elora’s favorite (after we convinced her she could visit the snakes later) was the watermelon and the people dressed as pioneers who told real stories about the original pioneer settlers of this area. Oliver loved seeing the Baker Bunch band play, and asked to dance to every song. It is a band composed of some of the older men and women in the area, including our neighbor across the street. The ladies in the band smiled a lot at Oliver as he danced. We finished off our evening with awesome dutch oven food, including baked beans, meat, and potatoes. So fun to be back here for this wonderful annual picnic!
Oliver and Marion checked out the playground as soon as we got there.
Elora found the animal trainer who had brought many reptile friends. As you can see she is not scared at all, and loved holding all the snakes, lizards, dead scorpions, and turtles.
Here she is with a bearded lizard on her head. 
The one animal she was nervous about? The tarantula. Oliver came running over to me and said, “Mom! There is a big spider! It will bite you!” Apparently Elora was a little nervous about Oliver’s assessment of the situation. We convinced her to hold it, but when we asked if we could put it on her head for a picture she emphatically shook her head NO!
Marion likes sitting in the grass. She likes the way it feels in her fingers (and sometimes she likes to eat it too…)
Oliver went on the tractor-train with Daddy and had a great time. Elora didn’t want to leave the reptiles long enough to do anything else.
After seeing how much fun Oliver had on the train, Elora decided to join Mommy and Oliver for the next ride.
There was a mini rodeo set up for the kids. Here is Elora roping the calf. She did a good job considering she hasn’t spent much time on the rodeo scene in recent years.
Here is Oliver roping himself…
And then he got it all figured out!
Nice ropin’ little cowboy.
Marion liked hanging out with Amy. There were tons of fun activities we didn’t get pictures of. We enjoyed making butter to eat on the fresh sour dough biscuits. Elora’s favorite (after we convinced her she could visit the snakes later) was the watermelon and the people dressed as pioneers who told real stories about the original pioneer settlers of this area. Oliver loved seeing the Baker Bunch band play, and asked to dance to every song. It is a band composed of some of the older men and women in the area, including our neighbor across the street. The ladies in the band smiled a lot at Oliver as he danced. We finished off our evening with awesome dutch oven food, including baked beans, meat, and potatoes. So fun to be back here for this wonderful annual picnic!
