Fall Festival – Ogden Nature Center

Posted on October 21, 2015 by Kim Halloran-Fry

…or (Little) Girls' Night Out. We like to take a couple kids at a time out for special fun events that might be more relevant to just them – a particular movie or concert or whatever. When their daddy was out of town Alannah and I took the little girls to the fall festival at the nature center. Brendan was on the fence and decided against going in the end.

The nature center is one place that always feels like home to me. In all our freakishly mobile married life we have never lived in the same place a second time.

Ever.

Never, ever.

I can't really stress enough how different it is to be back in a place you once lived very long ago. Many things have changed. The nature center has not. We came every month when the older boys took classes here. It is something of a comfort to me to be here again. A rare concrete link to that other life.

On this night there was cotton candy and game playing and wildlife shows until well after dark. Very exciting when you are 8. Or 48. : )

Horse and Hitch Parade, Ogden, UT

Posted on July 14, 2015 by Kim Halloran-Fry

Ogden, Utah has kicked off its annual Pioneer Days celebration. Many cities across the state have a holiday air around July 24, the commeration of Brigham Young and his followers entering the state. It has grown to emcompass a wider celebration of the pioneer spirit and the people who are keeping it alive today.

There are all sorts of western events this month. We didn't want to miss the Horse and Hitch parade, epitome of home grown fun. People line the downtown streets to watch local groups and stables parade down the wide boulevards, many in costume. Big people and very little people cowboy up on this kick-off evening.

Americana at its finest. Love. I hope when my kids think back on summer they think sidewalks and sandals and flying candy and marching bands. Magic doesn't have to break the bank. It most definitely doesn't exclude those who aren't blessed with bulging pocketbooks. Dad's folding chair lined up next to your's on a summer evening trumps the hundred dollar Disney pass and hour long lines. Every.single.time. : )

Thought you might want to take a look around downtown while we are at it. Each year the painted horses are on display in Ogden, painted to showcase some part of local culture.

Saturday in the Park – Ogden, UT

Posted on June 30, 2015 by Kim Halloran-Fry

Before the road trip we hit the Ogden Arts Festival on a hot, sunny afternoon. Live music, great booths, and a fabulous vintage fashion fair. Back story – I was something of a hippie kid. Summer weekdays in Milwaukee were sticky, sweltering, grimy. If you hung on til the weekend you'd hit a festival – all summer long. And we did, my single 20 something mom and I. I can still feel the heat radiating from the fairgrounds cement and smell the hops from the brewery as we passed by on our way to the lakefront. (If you drove through in that era, you know exactly what I mean : ))

Summer of '15 in Ogden is uncannily similar, right down to the shoes and the stickered vans lining the streets downtown. If there was a soundtrack for summers like this it would be this. And for the record I heard them perform this live though not in'73.

I hope your summer is filling up with happy hot afternoons and sandals and sizzling food on paper plates.