Wednesday Fun at the Park

So, we had Field Trip Fridays and Duck Park Wednesdays this past summer. Most of the time, we'd pack a lunch and walk a couple blocks to the Paul Ream Wilderness Park just down the road from us. The kids who could ride their bikes/trikes responsibly would go on those "vehicles" while I pulled Jack and Joe in the covered Radio Flyer wagon.

Anyway, the kids loved playing at the park. Jack followed the kids anywhere he could. He would frighten Mommy when he'd climb the taller ladder thingy's and I knew I couldn't get there fast enough to catch him if he fell (it's kinda hard juggling life while feeding Joe).

But they all did great! The kids even stayed away from the high, fast moving river. The water levels were so high, I could see the water splashing over the bank. A bit scary but that's life when there's spring runoff. The only thing that could have made this more perfect were shade sails or trees over the playground. We could have stayed much longer and the sun wouldn't have burnt us so much.

Happy Fourth of July

Happy Freedom Days! We spent Friday morning before the fourth watching hot air balloons inflate and then rise into the sky. The kids were pretty impressed by the amount of fire it took to get the balloons into the air. It was awesome! The wind actually allowed the balloons to go up this year but wasn't cooperating enough to let the balloons play their games. Ah well. I guess you can't have it all.

We had a few "characters" show up this year for the festival. Smokey the Bear (as seen from below) and the pink piggy bank are regular attendees. The Coke bottle showed up after all the balloons had left the field. But the main attraction was the Darth Vader balloon all the way from Belgium. Wow! There were even stormtroopers, Darth Vader, and the Emperor who made their appearance. It was fun!

Speaking of the Coke balloon. It inflates but rarely flies. The crew actually had volunteers from the crowd (preferably those under the age of 12) come roll the air out of the balloon before it got stuffed in the giant bag and put in the trailer. We talked John into helping out with the crew. And before the end of the line, Jack decided to help a little. We got that on video.

All of the kids were pretty good. We all tumbled out of bed and they showed up in their jammies. It was so much fun. Maybe we'll see some of you next year and we can show you around the festivities!

Friday Field Trips

This summer I have tried something "new." It's called "let's keep the kids entertained, busy, and educated all summer long." We've had John practicing his penmanship; Kelsey's been working on recognizing upper and lower case letters; Bekah's been coloring; and Jack has been working on listening. We've had varying results depending upon the week.

But every Friday we've tried to get our work done early to do a little "exploring" around Utah. We've had some fun hiking to a waterfall, checking out the dinosaur museum at BYU, and going to the zoo. Here's some of the memories we've made.

The Hogle Zoo had a Zoorassic experience this last summer. They had lots of dinosaur models around the park. Some of them, like the T-Rex, were life size and somewhat interactive. The eyes moved as though the dinosaur was looking at you and his head turned. It was rather intimidating. Little Jack backed away from T-Rex and growled at him...so tough!

This was at the base of Bridal Veil Falls. The kids decided to go wading in the "pool" made at the base of the falls. John was the most adventurous and was all over the rocks, water, and generally having a great time. Jack couldn't understand why the water was so "hot." I kept trying to convince him it was really "cold" and not "hot." But I think he's a little backward.

I guess this is the only picture I got from the dinosaur museum. Bekah was the only one brave enough to climb up onto the brachiosaurus's vertabrae. The kids enjoyed seeing students working on real dinosaur bones. It was pretty cool! What kid doesn't look forward to field trip day?! It's been fun trying to find fun, free places to make things exciting.

Updated Happenings

Life around here is pretty normal. And, like normal, we haven't updated the blog in a while. Not sure if anyone is paying attention. Hi! You may be the only person reading this. But, know this, you are appreciated.

Back to the actual point of this blog. JOHN LOST HIS FIRST TOOTH!! I have photographic evidence as proof.

Can you see it? We as slackers in our parenting duties of photographing every precious moment of our children's existence neglected to photograph said event until today (about a week or so after the loss of said tooth).

John was, and still is, incredibly excited about his loss. If you look closely at the photo you can see his new Big Boy tooth coming in.

We also gave the camera to John and Kelsey to play around with this morning, and this is what they have to share.

Enjoy, and feel free to comment with your favorite childhood memory of tooth loss...iness.

Kelsey's Birthday

It's been awhile...so sorry. Here's the update on Kelsey's birthday party. She loved seeing her cousins and have so many friends coming to her pool party. The weather was great and we didn't even get sunburned. Thanks, everyone, for supporting Kelsey! We all had a great time!

A quick update on Kelsey too...she will be entering kindergarten in a month! She is so excited! We have been working on our alphabet flashcards and looking for letters as we drive in the car. She loves to learn and now she has started to claim "John's school" as her own. Hopefully, I'll get some first day pictures up here for you to enjoy. August is just around the corner.