Bull@$%!, A Tooth and Heroics

Eli learned a new word this week. He loves his shirt with the basketball on the front and calls it, what else, his "ball shirt". Unfortunately, it sounds very similar to something completely different.

Behold, Kjersti bears humble gifts for the tooth fairy!

The new landscape of Kjersti's smile sans one tooth on her lower rack. Beautiful!

Who else could make loosing a tooth look so chic?

With the discovery of a cape, Super Chubs made his grand arrival this week.


With a dash, he set out on his first heroic act; to leap over a small stack of boxed toys...


...unfortunately, the super powers didn't kick in exactly as expected. Looks like additional Super Hero training will be required.

Never a dull moment.

Life at the House

When your parents won't let you run into the bushes and shrubs, face planting in the grass seems like a good idea. "2-year-old initiative" in action.

For the first time in our marriage, Heidi put up fruit this year. These jars of plum jam come with their own theme music. After this experience I was convinced that the only difference between Heidi and Martha Stewart was jail time.

Unfortunately, not everyone enjoyed Kjersti's presents as much as she did.

On August 20th, 2008, Kjersti turned six. Now we hear her say things like, "When I was just little, like five years old..." and, "That show is only for little kids." I had no idea the leap from five to six would be so profound.

Dr Kjersti Strong will see you as soon as she finishes eating from her Princess Lunch box. Actually, this is Kjersti on the morning of her first day of first grade.

The Allphin's Pay a Visit

Like two peas in a pod. Despite nearly nine months away from each other, Kjersti and Carly didn't skip a beat once they were reunited! They're still the best of friends!

We paid a visit to Heart Island, home of the Boldt Castle in the 1000 Island region of the St. Lawerence River. Amist the tranquil surroundings, we managed to capture the one split second where all four children are smiling, looking at the camera and sitting somewhat peacefully. The only thing that could possibily make this picture more unique is if Bigfoot was standing in the gazebo.

Here we see The Gift Shop Pirate banishing customers to Davy Jones' locker.

We managed to spend some time in Palmyra where we visited the Sacred Grove, The Hill Cumorah (see above) and E.B. Grandin's book shop where the first Book of Mormon was printed. Andy did his best to keep the chaos to a minimum so that we could get off a good shot.

The basic rule with Parker is that so long as he is in motion, he's happy. If he stops, someone's going to pay!

Quebec City Shenanigans

Quebec City is celebrating its 400th anniversary this year and they pulled out all the stops to include various role players roaming the streets in old town part of the city. As you'll see, a couple of early Quebec City "prostitutes" decided to see if they could entice my dad. Fortunately, all he got out of it was a good laugh.

Montcalm (Eli) and Wolfe (Kjersti) were the respective French and British generals that led their nations to battle in 1759 in Quebec City. That battle resulted in Quebec City falling under the rule of the British Empire and the untimely deaths of both generals. Kjersti highlights in this picture what we all know to be true: There is nothing better than laughing at a Frenchman.

Located just outside Quebec City, Montmorency Falls stands at 275 feet high, 98 feet higher than Niagara Falls. The cool thing about this falls is that it sports a nice little foot bridge that takes you right over the top of the falls. Needless to say, this feature required that we keep a close hold on our little stunt man.

Keeping the vacation interesting.

On the way back from Quebec City, we made a stop over in Montreal and went to the top of the Olympic Stadium tower. As you can see, the kids had a great view.

Attack of the Carrot Craving Elk!

During our recent trip to Quebec Province in Canada, we visited a place called Omega Park. The park is full of elk, buffalo, deer, bears and boars which all can be fed from the comfort of your vehicle. That being said, the elk and the deer are allowed to get pretty close. For just two dollars, you can purchase a big bag of carrots and feed them as much as you want. As you'll see, Eli had a great experience feeding a large elk. The whole experience kind of reminded me of pan handlers in a third world country... only bigger... much bigger.

This is what we faced after having driven roughly 15 feet into the park. A hoard of carrot craving elk! Check out the teeth on these guys. It seems fairly obvious they've been imported from the United Kingdom.

Although it didn't actually say anything, it was clear this elk was serious about getting a carrot. In fact, I'm pretty sure that if this elk had been equipped with a laser, Gary, Cody's dad, would have been finished.

Petting an elk inside your vehicle is always a bit more tense than petting one inside say... a petting zoo.

This is what it looks like when the photographer is trying to feed the elk from the back seat. This is not a preferred method.

This is what it looks like when the passenger feeds an elk coming in from the driver's side of the vehicle. This also is not a preferred method.

The deer weren't quite as invasive, so Eli actually managed to outstretch his arm in delivering this carrot.

These elk ran a checkpoint as effectively as U.S. soldiers in Iraq. They would force you to come to a stop because they would walk directly in front of your vehicle and would then come along side to request their due. This elk actually told me to put $20 between his fourth and fifth point on his antlers. It was like I was inside Disneyland, but much more threatening.

Then there was the Kjersti deer. When we tried to feed her a carrot, she actually said, "No thanks, but would you happen to have some chocolate or other tasty treats?"

The Hill Cumorah Pageant

The Hill Cumorah Pageant is really quite a show. The set is pretty impressive also. A cast of over 700 men, women and children (the youngest cast member was just four months old, and he just so happened to be from our ward) take off two weeks from their busy schedules to rehearse and put on the show for thousands of visitors each night.

The cast freely mingles with the spectators at the Pageant. One of King Noah's guards was good enough to pose in a picture with us. He invited us to go spend some time with him and his boss while they engaged in some "riotous living", but we politely declined.

Eli started practicing his missionary approach with some of the cast members, but "Eli-glish" is only spoken, and understood, by the small person wearing the green t-shirt.

"Guys, did you know that Hannah Montana is a Mormon!" Ok, ok, Kjersti never said that, but we had plenty of time to discuss all kinds of faith promoting rumors since we arrived 4 1/2 hours before the show started.

We enjoyed a beautiful summer evening at the Pageant. It's been one of the many highlights of the summer of 2008!

An Interview with Princess Daisy

Dad: So how did you become Princess Daisy? Princess Daisy: First you have to be a Princess and Dad, I hate to break it to ya, but you are not a Princess.

Dad: How about if I just wore a crown of daisies? Princess Daisy: When Dad's wear a crown of daisies they look really silly.

Dad: How about if I just borrow the daisies you're holding? Princess Daisy: Mmm, I think I'm just going to just hold on to these, thanks.

Dad: Did you know there is a big spider crawling up your leg? Princess Daisy: -no response-


Dad: I'm just kidding. Princess Daisy: Daaaaad, don't be a goofball.



Dad: Ok, I'm sorry. How about we go for ice cream? Princess Daisy: I'm pleased to see you've come to your senses.