60 days of summer left....

Another week down, time is running out on our summer vacation the days seem to be going too fast but we do have them packed full of fun adventures this week included....

Dinner and Swim party

All month long it has been hot and not much rain so of course the day we plan to go swimming it pours...all day long. We still went over for dinner and as always the Bradley family did not disappoint with the fabulous dishes that were available. We played games and chatted and a few of the kids decided that they wanted brave the 60 degree temperature and jump in the pool too. 

Abby is adored by her older cousins, they even fed her
some ice cream. What a lucky girl to have such a great
family who loves her. 

Park Days

This week Park days was a blast. Eve and James took off with friends and went to play in the wooded area, we saw glimpses of them every now and then. Matt and his buds found so many things to keep them entertained including "Snail Rock" where they named the snails and challenged the older boys who kept killing the occupants of snail rock. 

Taking a break from protecting snails to watch a duck and her ducklings

Games with Aunt Kate and Uncle Aaron

We love it when Aunt Kate and Uncle Aaron come to visit, the kids count down the days to their visits every time. We got to spend a few evenings playing board games with them and just enjoying their company. 

Matt LOVES Uncle Aaron, he'd probably move in with them if he could. 

Scout Camp

James got to head up to scout camp on Wednesday and Thursday. He got to shoot sling shots and bow and arrows. There was hiking and obstacles courses, he got to paint a rock and  get down and get dirty ...oh and he got to  buy a pocket knife too.  Natalie was lucky enough to join him for half a day and go on the hike and learn all about rocks. 

Don't let the look fool you, that is the look he gives anyone
taking his picture anymore. 

Get Air

While Laine jetted off to a Youth Temple Trip in St. George and Payson the other kids got to go to the trampoline park. We got super lucky that they forgot to call our wrist band color...so the kids got some good jumping time in and mom got some good reading time in. Abby obliged dad by taking a nap the entire time we were gone, good day all around. 

Eve is such a great sister, she spent the whole time playing with Matt
and having a good time with him. 

James tried a new way to get past the tight rope. 

Waffle Love

It had been a while since we had visited Waffle Love but we made up for it this weekend. Date night on Friday and a return on Saturday for breakfast. Oh Waffle Love why must you be so tasty and wonderful. 

Abby enjoys her grilled cheese waffle....she also really loved the
tomato soup that came with it. 

Digging into the waffles and gravy and waffle breakfast sandwich! 

Father's Day

Besides the zombie garden gnome that has joined our garden Christian also got an electric smoker and made us some delicious burgers. We are so lucky to have him as our dad, Matt even shaved his head this week so he can have a dad hair cut. I love the moments that he takes to work with the kids and teach them something.

Matt helps dad add wood chips to the smoker. 

There's 81 days of summer vacation...

We are big Phineas and Ferb fans around these parts. We love singing the theme song with each episode, and even though we aren't the best at all the words we get the first part down pretty well:

There's a 104 days of summer vacation

and school comes along just to end it

So the annual problems for our generation 

Is finding a good way to spend it....

Well, as you can see from the title of this blog,  there are only 81 days of summer vacation (don't tell my kids because  they will feel that life is unfair) and after having a family home evening plan we now know how to spend it so here's how we have spent the first 14 days of our break...

Trip to the Museum  of Natural Curiosity 

We made our first trip to  the Museum of Natural Curiosity on Memorial Day, we were lucky that the crowds weren't too bad and the kids had a riot exploring and running around trying out things, and touching, and just having a great time. I loved that they had something for everyone (something hard to find when we have a 12 year span between the oldest and youngest). 

The boys loved playing with legos, they both thought that this huge lego mat
was the best thing that they had ever seen. 

All the kids took turns hanging like a sloth, Laine made it the longest
quitting after two minutes but I am sure that she could have gone a lot longer.

In each area we went to there was a place for Abby. She loved the water table the best
I was just grateful I had a change of clothes for her when we were finished.

 Trip(s) to the Library

It should be no surprise to anyone that my kids are readers, James goes through at least 10 books a week in the summer so we keep our local library busy. 

Matt went right up to the librarian and asked, "Can 4 year olds have library cards?"
They told him yes and so he is now a proud owner of a library card! 

 Swim Trip

We put our swim suits to good use during the summer and we had our first trip to the pool already. 

This was Abby's first time at the pool,
after this visit I am pretty sure she is part fish

  The Leonardo 

I love the Leonardo, the hands on exhibits are awesome and my kids can spend hours there...they loved it so much that we ended up getting a year pass. The kids were super excited that they can keep coming back. 

James actually wanted to take this picture,
that was awesome. 

Eve found a mural she could sit and color.
I think she could have stayed in there for several hours.  

Matt again loved the big legos, This was the robot that he made,
he hopes it is still there when we come back. 

 Park Days

Our neighborhood visits a park each week. The kids love to play at each of the parks and with all their friends.  

Abby and her friend Simon, they kept trying to share each other's
bottles. 

 Pia Family Reunion

My grandma's family reunion was held at Hogle Zoo this year and the kids couldn't have been more excited. We had a so much fun, even if we were walking in the rain. The weather was nice and we got to see the otters (after about ten trips to the zoo this was a first sighting), we also got to see them train the seals, Christian does a great impression of the sea lions dance he would be happy to show. 

A yummy brunch at the zoo...or in Matt's case a doughnut, brownie,
cookie, brownie, and pineapple because pineapple is healthy. 

We loved seeing the new lion cubs, and we still love posing on the statues. 

It was fun to see the zoo with our cousins and do silly things with them. 

This little princess left the zoo with two new lovies, mainly because
mom and dad are suckers. She seems pretty proud of herself. 

Abby-11 months

Time is just flying by, and this little girl is just getting bigger and bigger. Somehow she is inching ever closer to one year and she shows it in all the new things that she is learning. Abby continues to be our little ball of sunshine. She is the most content and happy little thing, though indignant squawks have entered her "vocabulary". She loves teddy bears and her siblings, they are the first thing she looks for in the morning. She has also taken to exploring and finally decided to attempt the stairs, she made it up three of them until she decided to turn around and promptly fell down all three stairs...she hasn't gone near them since. 

Abby continues to get new tricks and finally got crawling down pat. Now she is pulling herself up all over the place opening and closing doors and cupboards. She loves playing with the baby in the mirror and pulling all the dvds off the shelf.  

Abby continues to get new tricks and finally got crawling down pat. Now she is pulling herself up all over the place opening and closing doors and cupboards. She loves playing with the baby in the mirror and pulling all the dvds off the shelf. 

She has developed a great love of water and squeals with delight whenever it is bath time. This is good as she is quite a messy eater much to the delight of the dog.