When Hobbies Collide

L-R: Ryan (obviously), Mike Frost (co-screenwriter), Katina (lead actress)

Here is a look at Ryan's week in Austin. Due to what I found to be misleading information on the part of my violin institute website, Ryan's and my trips overlapped. This made for our trickiest planning ever in our two years as parents, but our thanks goes out to any and every family member we took babysitting advantage of.
As I mentioned before, Ryan and his brother James are shooting a short film out in Austin, TX. The story is about a mime, and though they have hired an actress for the female lead, the main character, Vermont the mime, is being played by none other than Ryan. Don't worry, no kissing scenes! :0) Though it was a little unnerving to hear Ryan talk about going to the makeup store before his flight...I got a 15 second update from Ryan every other day but happened upon James and Lonna's blog and got a much better update. I knew I could count on you, Lonna! So here is what they are up to if you are interested...I know I am fascinated.

Ryan's blog
Austin Barlows

Teacher Training Complete!

I can't believe it's been ten days since I shipped out to the violin institute at Juan Diego Catholic High School. Ultimately, I had a wonderful experience that resembled a black hole in some ways as I was incommunicable in a little room at least eight hours each day. My week also resembled about a semester's worth of work and stress crammed into a short period of time. What I am left with is an amazing approach to the teaching of violin, a mountain of good advice and observation, and of course some new friends along the way. I must say this week exceeded all of my expectations, and as I think about opening up a studio, I finally know where to start.
Previous to this week, I knew little about the Suzuki Violin Method, even after studying it so long. Suzuki was the founder, believing that learning an instrument is similiar to language acquisition in that it can happen with fluency when introduced at a young age. He also believed in nurturing with love and creating generations of 'noble hearts'. My instructor studied directly under the late Suzuki in Japan, and it was interesting to hear the personal stories that went along with the curriculum. So here I am, finally registered to teach Book One, and excited to jump in and teach!



"I want to make good citizens. If a child hears fine music from the day of his birth and learns to play it himself, he develops sensitivity, discipline and endurance. He gets a beautiful heart."
—Shin'ichi Suzuki

Barlow Zoo Trivia

At the recommendation of several friends and family members, our family finally made it out to Hogle Zoo in SLC. What we didn't realize is that Saturday happened to be some sort of of Preditor Day, which made it sound like it would have extra exhibits but all we really saw were extra people. In any event, we had a blast and found it lived up to our expectations. Here are a few fun things we learned about ourselves from our zoo adventure.

1. Londie's favorite animal is.......

The elephants!!
And the monkeys, and the zebras, and the bears....In fact, every time it was time to leave an exhibit, London cried like it had been her best friend. We finally just told her the animals had to go to sleep, so she handled it much better saying "Night-night!"

2. Madelyn has a fear of being left in the cages with the animals.

Every time we tried to balance her on the rails of the animal cages, she thought we were trying to put her in. Go figure. Here she is with her dad having a safe viewing of this giraffe.

A pretty good roommate? Madelyn thinks not.

3. We use the buddy system!



This took a little bit of practice, but finally clicked when we told them it's like 'Ring Around the Roses.' Now we have freed up a mom to push the stroller and work the camera.

4. Ryan has a lot in common with a rhinoceros.

For starters, the name similarities. Okay, that's all I got, but there must be more because why else would Ryan want his picture taken with them?

Catch of the Day

On Friday night we met up with one of Ryan's old mission companions, Elder Thornton, (I guess his name is Jeremy) and his cute family at a little park in Syracuse. Lucky for us, the park is equipped for fishing, feeding ducks, and good old fashioned climbing around on picnic tables, perfect for toddlers. The only part of this park that wasn't quite perfect for toddlers was a sparkling little pond, far more enticing than forbidden local dangers, such as, say, THE ROAD. Well, L & M did pretty well for the first three hours, but by the end of our visit, that pond was looking better and better. Ryan and I, suckers we are, finally let our guards down and stopped tackling our girls to the ground every time they got within a foot of the water. What followed was a bit of harmless toe dipping in the water, splashing around, and always, hysterical laughing. Needless to say, L & M's innocent fun took a turn for the worst, as they started going deeper into the water. As luck would have it, Maddie crossed over the cliff that separated the extremely shallow water from the deep dark water by matter of inches. The next thing we know, she is totally submerged! I, being the closest adult, half jump, mostly trip into the water to pull her out, sputtering, choking, coughing, crying. Maddie was only under the water for a couple of seconds but enough to give us all a scare and bring a dramatic , soaking wet end to the night's fun! Before we could even catch our breath, Londie was back in the water. On the way home we had a little talk about a fun new summer hobby for our family.... enrolling in swimming lessons!

Park City Getaway

This last weekend we spent at my parents' condo in Park City with our friends, the Smiths. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves with good food, good company, and of course shopping! Not to mention, the hours we spent watching our newfound favorite tv show, Arrested Development. It was a much-needed getaway, even though we had to request three cribs to accomodate to all of our kids! (Who needs to tip maintenance guys, anyway?) I hope we can make it a yearly tradition.



Here we are on the patio of a little Mexican restaurant. If you wonder why we are all mostly drenched, notice the spilled cups of water near L & M.


But to nobody's surprise, the girls managed to find more water they could access during the meal. Two-year olds are so resourceful!


L & M went exploring and came across this giant game of chess, every Barlow's dream.



They moved the pieces around for quite awhile, providing us with some dinner entertainment!

We had to move them out of the way for a cute little couple doing engagement pictures. What a creative place to do your pictures! (Though I'm 100% sure L & M were in some of them!)


The girls spent Saturday afternoon strolling the streets with the dads so the moms could go shopping. It wasn't the first time Ryan and Dustin looked like a couple...:0)


My little flower girls!


The twins were twinners with their favorite little baby friend, Mia. It helped that all the kids entertained each other. It paid off too because we hit the Carter's outlet and Gymboree, and came home with new outfits for our baby girls.


L & M relax in their posh new tub. These girls know how to take it easy on vacation. Maddie was too busy with bubbles to look at the camera, but Londie gave me this squeal of joy. I'm glad they were old enough to enjoy some of the activites, though most water related!

First Melon of the Season

Here is a little taste of our favorite juicy summer treat. Obviously, the only place to truly enjoy watermelon is outside, because you can drip wherever you need to. L & M seem to enjoy the melon and the rind equally. Notice they have learned to multi-task; eat watermelon while running around the yard and even climbing stairs and reading a book. London ended up running around with two slices and alternating between them for bites. She made me laugh when she accidentally stepped on a seed, and then had to lift up her foot to see what was stuck to it! All the while she kept repeating this week's favorite word..."OOPS!" Then she stopped to show me her little face dripping with watermelon juice. I'm having so much fun introducing my girls to all the best parts of summer!