Thursday, August 18, 2016

Goodbye Summer...Hello School!

Summer time, usually by the time August rolls around I am ready for you to be over and for school to start, that was not the case this year. Even though we had a week longer than last year, this summer seemed short and I felt that we were spending every moment squeezing out whatever fun and excitement we could. 

The girls made geeky skirts with Grammy. Laine even sewed her own. 

Modeling the cool Doctor Who skirts! 

Matt and Abby had a swim party at Grandma's and
Grandpa's. Abby had a lot of fun playing with her cousin June! 

Matt really wanted to go to Story time with Ducks, but when it was
his turn he wasn't quite sure about what was happening. 

He warmed up on the second try. 

I asked the kids what we hadn't gotten to this summer that they
really wanted to do. Tie dye was the response. I haven't tie dyed since
I was a teenager but we bought some dye and white shirts then called
the neighbors and had a tie dye party. 

I love our neighbors and how much fun we have with one another. It is great
to be able to have such great friends. 

Abby shows off her stair climbing and super cute
tie dye. 

After a Tuesday full of dentist appointments, haircuts, and errands it was time to head off for another school year. I was not ready this year, I usually am ready to send them back at the end of the summer but we had a really good summer and I hated to let it or the kids go. But off they went on new adventures, at least I got to hold on to Matt for one more week and Abby for a few more years.

Laine ready for the first day of 8th grade. We found out later
that her theater teacher was my student teacher 20 years ago.
I'm sure that I am not that old. 
 

Eve ready for the first day of 6th grade- the last year
in elementary school 

James, finally finding a hair style that he and mom
both agree on, ready for his first day of 4th grade. 

My elementary school buddies. It was fun watching them play games
waiting for the bus that first day of school 
One more school send off next week and we will be off to the races! Goodbye summer, I just hope the start of school brings cooler temperatures and peach desserts!

Friday, August 5, 2016

Not sure where the summer has gone

There are only 12 days left of summer vacation...something that the kids are not very excited about. The past month just seem to whiz by and for a while I didn't think we had done much but then I started realizing how much we had actually done and it helped me figure out why I have been so tired this month...we have been going non-stop and plan on sprinting to the finish of summer as well. So here is a quick recap of our awesome July! 

Free Slurpee Day

When I was a senior in high school I remember going to get a Slurpee every day, it was a staple in my life at that point. I mean who doesn't love that cool sugary   bit  of heaven? My kids seem to feel the same so we celebrated free Slurpee day with most the rest of the city, we did limit ourselves to only one visit though, something to celebrate. 


Abby takes selfie 

Abby loves phones and she loves the camera on the phone. When going through my pictures a couple of weeks ago I found out that she had taken her first selfie, definitely a child of the 21st century. 


Swimming at the Murray Pool

We had a fun morning swimming with our neighbors and just having a blast. All the kids love the water and Matt was even brave enough to go on the slide all by himself. 


Abby is our water baby, she might be part fish



In addition to swimming we made pyramids and James found a kindred spirit in his friend, Bear, when it came to picture taking. 

Block stomp

Our neighborhood is super cool. Once a year one of the neighbors hosts a neighborhood stomp. There is music and dancing and just all around fun with our great neighbors. 



Aquarium 

We haven't been to the aquarium in a couple years and we sure hadn't been to their new building. It was so much fun, the kids loved it and I loved the extra room to explore and play in. Abby loved the fishes and would cry when we moved her away from an exhibit until we reached the next one. 



Pioneer Day- our own special Utah holiday

My brother Adam and his family came in for a visit from Florida. It was so nice to see them, we hadn't seen them in a couple of years and it was fun to watch as cousin bonds strengthened and  grew. We had two days of Pioneer Day celebration both of which included good food and fireworks. Oh and lots and lots of glowsticks. These two days of celebration also kicked off the biggest stay-cation I have ever done. Activities every day, cousin sleep overs or late overs almost every night. By the end of the week we all needed naps but we were happy. 




Zoo Trip

We decided to tackle the zoo on a 100 plus day, not sure if that was our best idea but everyone was a good sport and we had fun.

Abby decided that she liked her Uncle Adam a whole lot. She even let him carry her. 

We got all of them looking at the camera, a great feat. 

Abby the amazing escape artist, Poor James was a bit sad that she
ruined the picture with his super cool pose. 
 Laine and Ezzie were great friends. Ez adored her and Laine seemed to reciprocate. It was fun to watch their interaction each day. 

Since it was so hot the kids decided to cool off in the splash pad, they might have had a bit too much fun.

This boy loves being wet. Look how big that grin is

Abby decided that she had quite enough of  the zoo and
decided that it was nap time-right as we were leaving. 

Alpine Slide 

I had never done the Alpine Slide despite living in Utah all my life. It was a fun adventure, even if I was the slowest down the mountain. The kids loved it though and I am sure we will be back. 



Thanksgiving Point

Grammy and Poppa decided to buy a grandparents pass to Thanksgiving Point so that meant we got to have a fun time playing at the Museum of Ancient Life and the Museum of Natural Curiosity. The kids had so much fun running around and learning then later zip lining and making a big water mess. 





Lagoon 

It had been about ten years since I last visited Lagoon and my had it changed. So many fun roller coasters and places to visit. Matt had a blast, even if he got a bit nervous on some of the rides. We decided to visit on a day when it was 102 degrees outside, not the best idea that we ever had but we survived, mostly due to a ride on Rattlesnake Rapids about 2:00 where we all got drenched and were wet until we left that night.  Some of us were even brave enough to try Cannibal, best roller coaster I have ever been on. 

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This is James' grumpy man face. I can't decide if he is Carl
from Up or Mr. Magoo. 

Waterfight

Our last night together we went to Grammy and Poppa's for a pizza dinner. The kids then had an epic boys vs girls water fight. 


It was pretty evenly matched until James and Boston decided to turn on Poppa and they learned the greatest lesson in a water fight....

Don't mess with the guy who welds the hose. 

Abby and Sam avoided the water fight and just had fun playing together



It was a pretty successful July one for the memory books!