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!

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!

4th of July shenanigans

I love the Fourth of July, it is by far my favorite holiday. Growing up with parents working in politics the 4th was always a busy time we would attend three parades that day, not counting the one or two we did the day before. If you were super lucky you got to ride in the convertible and throw candy. It was always a fun time that might be capped with swimming and a BBQ and fireworks, there were always fireworks. I love celebrating the fourth. I love spending time with family and friends celebrating the freedoms this country provides.So here is how we celebrated this fourth...

Cul-de-sac of fire. We had fun with friends and we had fun with neighbors
as we attended the neighborhood firework show. It even came with a fun
BBQ this year. It was fun just spending time with family and friends and enjoying
each others company.  I love my neighborhood

We only had two munchkins this year so the matchy shirt picture
was a little small, plus we wanted to get it before Abby drooled or spilled
over her shirt. 

Our annual breakfast out. Matt enjoyed some chocolate pancakes

As a little girl I always remember looking at this cake in magazines
and wishing that I could have it. Now I make it every year and it is my
favorite. 

 Christian got a smoker for Father's Day and really wanted to smoke a brisket so we invited our neighbors and family over for dinner. We had fabulous smoked brisket and great side dishes that everyone brought. It was fun to be together and enjoy great food. Later we had fireworks and had a rather scary moment. One of the fireworks decided to malfunction and send some explosions right at us. There were a couple of small burns and singed clothing but everyone seemed to be okay, if rattled.  We're still not sure what happened as the firework was was still standing up and everything appeared normal but it was a our scary moment of the night (well that and a tiki torch catching fire earlier in the night...it was rather eventful).

Matt and his cousin Sophie playing with Pop-its

Our gathering for dinner

Abby had already had to be bathed before the cake came out. I can
tell by her face she quite enjoyed the cake this time around. 

Relaxing and enjoying the fireworks. 

The older kids came home on Tuesday morning so we recreated the 4th for them, minus the firework mishap. They even had left over brisket and cake!

Pop-it time! 

Matt creates a new super hero - Termite man

Matt lit his first firework this year...I lit my first one too

Termite man evolved throughout the night- we love glowsticks here