Lions and Tigers and Cops OH MY!

Hi everyone~

Well, lets see... My dad flew in on Thursday so we're all happy about that. Serayah was so excited for her "surprise", and when he came with us to pick her up from preschool she came running, yelling "grandpa, grandpa!"... between you and me, I think he was running and jumping inside more than she was!

On a really bummer note, on the way back from the airport I was taking a back-way because there was construction on the road I normally would have come back on and we're just bopping along on this back road and see 2 police cars pulled over at the side of the road next to each other talking. I crack a joke to Dad about being glad they're not working... I guess I'm safe, huh? Apparently, not so much.

So Mr. Policeman whips out behind me and the lights start a-flashin'. Grrr.... Seriously, I'm mystified. What the heck had I done???? He comes over (looking about 16 years old, and kind of reminescent of Phil Mikelson) and asks for my license/registration. It's at this point that I realize that my book containing my registration/insurance is at home because I had taken it out to look up a dealer phone number. Hmm... This is not looking good. So I ask him if I was speeding. He smiled and said (apologetically (so at this point I'm thinking there's some hope)) that I was going 43. OK... so I'm thinking the speed limit was like 40, or 35 at the least... so the problem would be???? "Well ma'am, the speed limit was still 25 back there". Huh? You've got to be kidding... 25???....what am I going to do... run over a COW at my excessive 43mph?

So my assumption that this is just a courtesy stop to give me a nice warning just flew out the window. Hmm.. now I've got to explain that I don't actually have my registration/insurance with me. He just smiles and walks back to his car with my license. Crap. Now I get to make the phone call to Art to get our policy#. Art's response to my dilemma is annoying, so we'll just leave that out of this.

So now I hop out of the car to walk back to Officer Smiley and give him our insurance info so he can check it out and hopefully not throw Dad, Cam and me in the slammer. (OK, maybe a little bit dramatic, but I haven't been pulled over since I was 18.. I'm entitled.... and for those of you who knew me, and Bossie (my beloved Mustang), and our tenuious relationship with the speed-cops when I was 17, you'll understand why I was rather proud of my spotless record for the last 14 years!)

Anyway, Officer Smiley actually turned out to be a pretty OK guy. He didn't really care that I was driving w/o my pertinent information, and wrote out the ticket so it looked like I was only 9 mph over, rather than the 18mph... Also, I guess I can go to traffic school (a barrel of fun, I'm sure) and my cow-endangerment won't go on my driving record. Basically it looks like the city sets out speed traps then gets the extra $$ to pay for dumb-driving school... A double $$ coup for them... very smart.... and annoying... but at least I know I can rest at night knowing the cows are safe.

On a less annoying note, Artimus went to "play with his friends" (Serayah's interpretation) yesterday, and went up for a last snowboarding trip this season. Dad and I took the kiddos to the Zoo up in Salt Lake. We had so much fun! When we got there, Serayah saw the little train and just HAD to go. We went, then she was ready for the Animals. We decided that Cam might enjoy walking around, so he was let out of the stroller. (Note to self.... NEVER let Cam out of the stroller if/when I take them by myself). OH BOY! Between Serayah desperate to get to the animals, and Cam wanting to go in any direction other than the way Serayah wanted to go it was tough going! Eventually we got into a rhythm, and all was well (then I gave up an put Cam back in the stroller for a bit). Serayah loved everything and is a speed-zoo-runner. She'd run to an animal, look at him for 5-10 seconds, then turn and say "Lets go see something else, Mom!", then off we'd go. It really is a great zoo, and after riding the train 1 more time on the way out (It was evidently a MUST) we came on home. Both kids fell asleep in the car and both were pretty tuckered out last night. I'm posting a few snapshots I got while we were there.

Anyway, I guess that's enough of a novel for now...

Hope everyone's doing OK!

~S