McAlister Matters

  There's been a lot going on since June. Kahlan and Sarah went to girls camp. I did another round of daddy-daughter/son dates. And Juniper turned 10! She had a party with a dozen of her friends over and they played games in the backyard. Juni made watermelon pizza for the party. Paul and Juniper also attended a day camp up at Camp Tracy for a day. They had fun shooting BB-guns and rock climbing.  We made our semi-annual road trek to California 2 weeks ago and stayed over until the 4th of July. It was a pleasant trip overall. We spent two nights up in Arnold after we arrived in a super nice big cabin. The California cousins were there. We spent a day at White Pines lake near Arnold. The kids played on the shore in the water and had a good time. Poor Juni had a fever that day. We ate tacos and had a BBQ at the cabin and watched some of the World Cup. The kids had fun playing hide-n-go-seek.  We spent an afternoon at the Big Trees state park and saw the giant Sequoias. It w...

  The end of the school year came pretty fast. We finished all the concerts and art shows and field trips. Now the kids are home starting their Summer vacation. They have their daily morning routine of workbooks, typing, piano practice, etc. The kids have been doing lots of art and doing their own research on subjects for their Summer journals.  It's always fun to hang out with this guy! Paul and I went to a Fathers and Sons camp for our stake a few weeks ago. The night was a little chilly but we had a good time. Paul has been studying the presidents of the United States. One day last week he memorized them all while the other kids were at the store.  On Memorial day weekend we hiked up the same canyon we did last year by the Bountiful temple. This time we made the whole loop up around the temple. The kids were troopers for the 2 hour hike.  On Memorial day we took the kids to the Hogle Zoo in SLC. Juniper was really interested in going for her birthday so we thought...

  We're so proud of Paul for deciding to be baptized last week. It was a great event. All the Utah cousins came and Grandpa Bob and Mormor were there. Ingrid gave the talk on baptism and my dad gave the talk on the gift of the Holy Ghost. Paul was excited and we had a little get together afterwards and celebrated Paul's birthday too. After the baptism we went to the Desert Star Theater with my Dad and Ingrid. The play was called the Princess Bride but was actually a sequel, super silly and fun. We all loved it. The school year is winding down for the kids. This weekend we did a little birding. On Saturday we took the kids to the Salt Lake wildlife preserve in Layton. We spotted 5 new birds! Click for pics!

  My dad turned 80 last weekend! There was a family party for him and Ingrid flew me out on Saturday as a surprise. I thought it would be fun to show up in a disguise.  It would have worked perfectly but my mustache kept falling off! Ingrid drove my dad to the BART station and I walked up to their car in disguise. The party was nice. Erik made smash burgers on the new skillet grill. It was great to see a lot of family including my aunt Barbara.   We love you, Grandpa Bob. Thank you for your constant love, support, and generosity—and for the example you’ve set of faith, service, and kindness. click for pics   

TL;DR (this is a long post) We arrived back Wednesday night from our 14 day trip to France and Spain. It was an all around fantastic trip. We traveled by plane, train, automobile, boat, metro, bus, tram and foot. Lots of foot! I think every day had its challenges but it was all good family time and we came out stronger with many great memories to share. The Plan It took some extra work and saving to make it happen. We are just grateful it worked out. I had a few ideas for what to do in France from my mission areas. Sarah was great at putting together a detailed itinerary for each day, getting the passports and airbnb's lined up, train tickets and reservations all printed out. Grandma and Grandpa Musser took care of our Spain navigation which was awesome. We expected some things to fall thru but only had a couple disappointments.  Paris When we landed in Paris we found out our Airbnb for Paris had been cancelled. So we had to quickly rebook somewhere to stay while at the airport. Lu...