Summer Shenanigans

This post keeps getting longer and longer... Here are some snapshots of what we've been up to:

Swimming

We have done more swimming than ever before this summer. Above, we are swimming with friends at the Bangeter's backyard incredible pool. When summer swim lesson signups happened, both kids said they wanted to pass on lessons. I learned my lesson. Next summer I won't ask for their input. There was a last minute cancellation and I snatched it. I'm glad we got in! Izzy needed a confidence boost. At the beginning of the summer, she seemed to have forgotten everything she has learned in the water. Lessons did the trick. After the first day back at lessons, I got this text: "Isabelle is doing so amazing! I'm thrilled!" Let it be known that both kids asked if we can do more swim lessons. Huh! They savored every moment they had in the pool the week of June 17. 

We have been swimming a handful of times at Jessica's in-laws pool in Eagle Mountain. Big thanks to the Crandalls! It's like swimming in our own private pool. It's extra fun when Chris' sister Kelsie and her family join. Our kids get along well and are similar ages. We spent the 4th of July there and had a scrumptious BBQ.

Izzy went to Cantrelle's birthday party. She went last year too and they rent out the entire Riverton pool. It's a blast. At first, Izzy was too scared to jump off the diving board. I dashed home and put on my swimsuit. Last year, I wore my swimsuit and didn't need to get in. This year I came prepared with a good book. Didn't get to read that but it was oh so worth it. Once I had my swimsuit, I basically had to pry Izzy into practicing jumping in the deep end. The rule at that pool is that you cannot jump off the diving board with floaties on and you have to be able to swim to the side on your own. I'm so glad I pushed Izzy to do this. She went off the diving board over 30 times! She's is such a fish! After, Cantrelle's mom texted me commenting on Izzy's skills! James tagged along and he went off the high dive at least 30 times. No fear! Swim lessons are worth every dime. That evening at the Riverton pool was a delight.

June 22

Skate Park

James and Taft are buds. They thought they were so cool at the skate park on their scooters. They also thought they were professionals. James came home saying he could do all the hardest jumps. He was dripping sweat. He had the time of his life. He sure is growing up.

June 18

Gymnastics

Izzy has been wishing she could try gymnastics. I told her she could do gymnastics this summer. Her friend Rosie in our ward is in the same class and we carpool. Isabelle goes to go to gymnastics on Tuesdays for an hour. Isabelle only has a few weeks of gymnastics left. It seemed like Izzy was really loving gymnastics, but the novelty has worn off. I wasn't too sad to say goodbye. I had only intended it to be a summer thing anyway.

Track

James did track this summer along with Taft. Track lasted for 6 weeks and was on Tues/Thurs evenings for an hour. The heat was blistering at times but James didn't protest. In fact, he lived for nights he got to run. It was the perfect energy outlet for him. There were 3 track meets and watching James race was glorious. 

One of my favorite parenting moments to date was watching James at his last track meet. He won all 3 of his events! He won the 50M, 100M, and 400M. I cheered so loud my voice was raspy. James also won the 100M at his 2nd track meet at Taylorsville High. (He only competed in 2 races that week since we had to leave early for a party.) My boy has talent. I was sad to see track end. We will absolutely be signing James up for track again next year. The best news is that Papa will be around to support him at his meets. I sent some videos of James running to my parents. I'll admit, I can't stop rewatching and reliving that sweaty morning at Herriman high where James kicked butt. 

3 Mrs. B Camps: Science camp, Beach camp, and Olympics camp

We're not ready to say goodbye to Mrs. B. Isabelle and James had a fabulous time at 3 camps at her house. She lives close and the camps are such a bargain! Camps are 3 days long (Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursdays) and are usually 2 hours each day. The cost is $35 per child. Every time the kids come home with a craft. This year, Olympic medals were a highlight. The camps are the perfect break for the kids and me. Apparently 3 camps wasn't enough! The kids begged me to sign them up for another, but our schedule didn't allow it. (And she has a waitlist!)

Inside Out 2

We met my Grandma, sisters, and their kids in Lehi to see the new movie Inside Out 2. We went on $5 Tuesday. Penny surpassed my expectations and behaved during the movie. Popcorn obviously was a part of the experience. After, we attempted to go to J Dawgs. To celebrate their anniversary, since they were giving out free hot dogs. After seeing the line wrapped around the building, my sisters and I drove away. We couldn't even find a parking spot. Grandma stayed and waited in the beating sun for 2 hours. Then she passed out and hit her head. Things were scary. It brought back emotions from when my grandpa (her husband) passed after a fall and brain bleed. Grandma was taken by ambulance to the hospital. She had a bad concussion, stitches near her eye, a fractured wrist, and lots of bruising/bleeding.

June 25

Rock Concert

For our birthday gifts this year, we chose experiences. (remember the cooking class?) Andrew chose a concert by his favorite band, Yellowcard. We got tickets to this event months ago. Yellowcard was the second opening band for Third Eye Blind. They performed for about 45 minutes. Full disclosure here-- I was not a good date. Poor Andrew. It had been an emotionally taxing day with Grandma's fall earlier that afternoon. Penny also was screaming her guts out for my sister and I felt bad about that.

Things were looking up for grandma and she was discharged from the hospital, so we felt okay to go forward with our plans and attend the concert. While we were there, grandma took a turn for the worse and had to return the hospital. I was a hot mess. We ended up leaving immediately after Yellowcard's set and didn't get to see Third Eye Blind. I went to the hospital. I'm glad Andrew was surrounded by other hardcore Yellowcard fans who sang their hearts out because I was not in the mood. Sorry honey. He was very understanding and lost his voice belting the words. I've never seen him jump so much or so high for that matter.

June 25

Outdoor Movie at Thanksgiving Point

We don't keep our kids up late often. We stayed up to see "Kung Fu Panda 4" at Thanksgiving Point. Our kids hadn't seen this movie before. It was scarier than I expected, but that didn't stop us from having a good time. The movie began at 9:15pm and we got home a little before 11:30pm. We were watching Daisy for the weekend, so she tagged along too. All children slept hard on the drive home. I got 6 monstrous bug bites. Like the biggest and itchiest things you can imagine. They took awhile to heal. Next time, I will wear pants or bring bug spray. The experience was worth being night owls and I savored sleeping Penny in my arms.

June 28

Hiking Bloods Lake

I was in a Bunco group briefly. One of the girls in the group mentioned her favorite hike in Utah is Bloods Lake Trail. I have had this hike on my list to-do for a year! It's a popular hike! Many reviews on All Trails say that the parking lot fills up quickly. To avoid this, we opted to leave at 7:30am to beat the crowds. The empty spots were plentiful when we arrived around 8:30am. When we finished the hike around 10:30, there was a line of cars waiting to park. 

It is critical to bring bug spray on this hike!! I've never seen so many mosquitos. Who knew they could bite through my pants, but they found a way. The lake was serene and peaceful. There was still snow! There was a steep part near the end and it took a team effort to make sure all the hooligans made it safely. The trailhead there says it's 1.4 miles to the lake. That was an underestimate. All Trails says it's 1.8 miles each way. By the time we finished the hike, we had walked 4 miles, so it was closer to 2 miles each way. The kids did an outstanding job! On the way there, I got an extra workout in carrying Daisy in the hiking backpack. Utah is beautiful! There's no better way we could have spent Andrew's day off of work.

July 5

Painting in an Art Studio

For Harrison's birthday party, the older kids got to go paint at an art studio in Pleasant Grove. They love crafts. At the party, the teacher gave ideas of what to draw and how to do it, but James went in with his own design. My pants will remember this event because as James was adding stars to his masterpiece using the technique they showed (flicking the end of a toothbrush), my pink pants got some stars added to them (the paint isn't really noticeable after going through the wash). I got to catch up with McCall and snuck out and got takeout from beloved "Cravings" which we miss dearly.

Saturday, July 13

Despicable Me 4

For completing the online Upstart preschool program, Izzy was rewarded with tickets to a movie. We saw Despicable Me 4 at the Lehi Megaplex. I was merry that immediate family members got in free to the movie as well. The kids giggled endlessly. I saw snippets of it. About 50 minutes in, I had to take yelling Penelope out. Thanks Upstart for the entertaining afternoon!

Tuesday, July 16

Bowling

A bowling alley near us offers kids 18 years and under 2 free games of bowling on weekdays throughout the summer. How generous! We only had to pay for shoe rentals which cost $8 total for the 2 kids. We went with the Bradshaws. We didn't quite make it through 2 full games (Penelope lost it--bowling isn't super baby/crawling friendly), but watching the kids encourage each other and succeed was a treat. The bowling ramp was handy! I coped with the wailing child by prolonging our time in the car (bad idea) and picking up a pizza on the way home (good idea). I had a coupon and it was $4. We hope to make it to bowl for free once more this summer with Jessica and George. Time is a ticking though...

Friday, July 19

Kangaroo Zoo 

The Hendricks invited us to the indoor inflatable bounce house place called Kangaroo Zoo in Pleasant Grove. We had this on our calendars for a couple of months. McCall had free passes for the kids to get in and I was appreciative. We hadn't been to Kangaroo Zoo in years. The kids got sweaty and bounced for nearly 2 hours. My kids got gnarly scrapes on their backs from some of the slides. I'm not sure how that happened, but that didn't stop the kids from playing nonstop. Penny managed to get a snooze in while cuddling with Andrew which was very much needed. After, the Hendricks had us over for Papa Murphy's pizza which hit the spot. It was an ideal Saturday afternoon and time went by far too quickly.

Saturday, July 20

Photo cred James

Basketball Camp

When James grows up he still fantasizes about being an NBA player. I'll be his biggest fan! In the meantime, I signed James up for a basketball camp at Sports City. The camp was 1 hr in the morning for 8 days. It was kind of a lot. Izzy started dreading basketball camp (Ditto) and it often interfered with Penny's nap which complicated things. I wasn't very impressed with a few things one being the ratio of adult to children. One day I counted and there were 17 young children who dribble uncontrollably and 1 adult. Other days, there were fewer kids. Today was the last day (Yippee!!) and there were 11 kids. James had a good time and that's what matters! James got new basketball shoes and now he looks the part of an NBA player. We'll see how he plays during junior jazz basketball this winter. Maybe he got Nana's genes. Nana played college basketball!

Hiking Cecret Lake: July 27

Hiking is one of my absolute favorite activities to do as a family! It's always a hassle to get to the mountains, find parking, pack snacks, put on sunscreen, bugspray, etc, but every time it's oh so worth it.

The last time Andrew and I hiked Cecret Lake was on August 16, 2014. This hike was even more breathtaking than I remember. I honestly thought it was prettier than Bloods Lake. The wildflowers surrounded us and the fresh-air does the body good. It was crowded for sure! In fact, the line to get up the canyon and pay was several cars long and we had to wait for open parking spots before we were allowed to drive up. (It's $12)The Bradshaws squeezed in our car with us for the last mile to avoid having to wait longer for parking. By the way, we left at 7:30am for this hike. Fortunately, we only waited about 20 mins for a spot. Once we got to the lake, the kids enjoyed "rock climbing" surrounding the lake and could have stayed there longer if we'd let them. They explored different rocks in nature for 30 plus minutes. Major win!

We didn't see any moose this time around. The herds of people stampeding around were probably alarming.

Kennecott Coppermine: Monday, August 5

Checking this activity off of our summer bucket list wasn't easy. We had tickets to go to the Coppermine on Wednesday, July 10 with friends and family. Unfortunately, due to heat, our tickets were cancelled. The evening of August 4, we got another heat warning and I thought, "great, here we go again. The tickets are going to be cancelled." They weren't though! Yahoo!

Unfortunately, Jill and Daisy couldn't join us as we explored the Coppermine since our original tickets didn't workout. We went with Mandee Parduhn and her kids. Izzy was giddy to hangout with Lydia. 

I think I talked the mine up a bit too much. I told James there were ginormous vehicles which is true. Apparently he thought he would get to ride in the vehicles, so that was a letdown. He was quite disappointed to learn that we didn't get to go down into the actual mine either. Sorry bud. On the bus, the driver spotted off lots of information. It was tricky to hear since there wasn't a microphone. He said that the vehicles in the mine need 6 of these tires and that each tire costs $60,000 and need to be replaced every few months! I guess I shouldn't moan that we need new tires after all..

I had told the kids beforehand that you can see the Mine from the moon and it's one of the few things you can see. How cool is that? Izzy was sad when we got home and told me "Mom, we didn't get to see any of the stars like you said we would."

I'm making it sound like we had a miserable time. We did not. I will say there isn't a ton to do at the mine, so it was a fairly short activity. (We took the 10am bus there and went back on the 11am bus.) When we got home, the kids spoke highly of the experience once they were over the initial letdown.

A Few Tips:

• Go early! Our tickets were for 10am. It gets extremely hot and there isn't shade. The bus is also warm.
• The bus leaves every half hour, so plan your arrival time accordingly.
• Pre purchase your tickets.
• If you have young kids, go before they turn 6 years old because they're free!

Other Random Happenings that can't be forgotten...

• Trying the restaurant "Sauce Boss" for McCall's birthday dinner. I'd eat that chicken again and try some different sides. (Skip the greens and mashed potatoes.)

• Reading Harry Potter 1, 2, and 3 with the kids. After we finished each one, we watched the movie. We got drumstick ice cream cones to eat during the first movie and donuts during "The Chamber of Secrets." The movie theater near us is showing the Harry Potter movies for a short time, and we'll take our kids to see "The Prisoner of Azkaban" in theaters in September. Andrew should seriously consider being an audio book reader. His voices are phenomenal as he reads aloud to the children. He gets so into it. The kids started to get scared while we were reading the 3rd book. James came in with nightmares about Professor Quirrell and Izzy was terrified of Dobby. We will be retiring the series once we finish "The Prisoner of Azkaban." After taking a little break, the kids don't seem as afraid.
• Many game nights! We had the Thoman's from the neighborhood over, Cori (my friend from high school) and her husband Steven over. Later this month the Jensens and Bradshaws are coming over too. 

Penelope went through a rough phase in June/early July. She sure kept me on my toes! Who knew month 8 would be so tricky? Penelope crawls and is into lots. She also decided to grow several teeth at the same time which meant I didn't get much sleep. She decided shrieking is the best way to cope with car rides. During this time, Penny was quite the momma's girl and fussed when others held her. We tried to leave her twice in June while we had free babysitters (my sisters) and she wailed. We made it through! And even during this rocky month, she was adorable. She is back to her chipper self now!

Penelope is getting too big too fast and it is heartbreaking. She claps, says "uh-oh" and "hi." She also stands! She shakes her head no a lot too... 

It has been a splendid summer! The fighting is picking up and the boredom is setting in. Bring on cooler temperatures and routine.