Coloring is hard work

Ryan was coloring while I went to put Zachary to bed. When I came back this is how I found him.

I guess coloring can be pretty tough on a little guy.

Candy and Space

Thursday, August 12


We had another fun day. It's been nice to have these little day trips. We started off our afternoon by going to the Sweet Candy Factory tour in Salt Lake. We weren't able to take any pictures inside, and we forgot to take one outside. Oops. But the boys had a blast on the tour. They loved seeing how taffy was made. Kevin liked walking into the room where they covered the orange sticks in chocolate. And the samples were delicious!


After our sugar rush we headed to the Clark Planetarium for some space fun. We were amazed at the scale-sized planets they had. We didn't realized how much bigger Jupiter and Saturn were then everything else.
Zachary kept yelling "planet, planet!" everytime he saw something. They loved the rockets and the astronaut gear.

Ryan even saw some M&M's packed in one of the meals they eat on the shuttle. But the best part was the landscapes of the moon and Mars. The kids had a great time pretending to be out in space.

Rubbermaid - Really?

Rubbermaid promotes its roughneck storage box as being: "...rugged, durable storage box that is shatter resistant." Apparently they never tested this with a five year old and a three year old.
Really, I have no idea how they did this.

Thanksgiving Point

We realized this last month that summer was quickly coming to an end and we needed to get in gear for some family fun before school started. Kevin took a couple of days off during the month so we could do some fun day trips around the valley.


Tuesday, August 3


We started out the day by going to the Discovery Park in Pleasant Grove (thanks for the great tip Wendy!) Kevin had never been before, and it is the perfect place for little boys to run around.

We then tried to go to the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point because of $2 Tuesdays, but there was a huge line out the door. The kids were pretty disappointed that they couldn't see the dinosaurs, but we convinced them that the farm animals could be just as fun. So off we headed to horses, cows, chickens, and tractors. The boys actually had a lot of fun. Matthew and Ryan liked the bunnies and the little goats. Zachary was enchanted with the chickens, especially the rooster. It was cute.

They also had a lot of fun riding the ponies. When we were all done Zachary made sure to say "bye, bye horsey." We had a great time and hopefully we'll be able to make it to the dinosaur museum sometime soon.

Missing tooth

After Thanksgiving Point, we headed home for lunch. Little did we know that we were headed for more excitement. Matthew lost his first tooth that day! It had been loose for about a month but I have to admit that I was too chicken to pull it out. He was just eating his tunafish sandwich and ta-da! He looked at me with a shocked look and told me his tooth had fallen out. He was so excited for the tooth fairy to come. He was very careful to keep it in some water and get it ready for bedtime. We put it in an envelope and he put it under his pillow. He was very excited to find an envelope with some money in it the next day. He has now informed me that his other bottom tooth is loose. It's only the beginning!

More Randomness

Here's a few of the fun things we've done this summer:

Cleaning pencil marks off the walls

Reading books



Having battles

Slip and Slide anyone?

It's hard to believe summer is almost over.

Camping

So we braved our first camping trip with all of the kids the weekend of July 24th. I was very excited to be up in the mountains and the kids were excited to have their first big sleepover in the tent away from our house. Let's just say that Kevin was mostly excited.

We left on Thursday afternoon and reached our campsite in the Spruces up Big Cottonwood Canyon. Our little campsite was just right for the boys - lots of trees, dirt, and a little stream that ran through the back part. I was actually very impressed that we only had one water casualty while we were there - Ryan tried to jump on a big rock and missed. After seeing how cold it was the other boys decided not to follow suit.

After we got the tent up, we went for a walk to find little sticks for the fire. We found where the bathrooms were and even took a tour inside. I had told Matthew and Ryan about my experiences camping there as a girl - i.e. one big hole in the ground to go in. They were surprised - and a little smug- that the site now had flush toilets.

After the stick gathering we headed back to camp for dinner. The boys watched the brave little chipmunks and squirrels race around the campground getting their little paws on every bit of food they could. Zachary was actually not a fan of the little critters and started saying "Shoo!" everytime he saw one.

After dinner we went for another walk to distract the boys because Matthew was impatiently wondering when the marshmallow roasting would start. We told him he had to wait until it was colder and a little darker, but try reasoning with an overly anxious 5-year-old. We went back to camp and I convinced the kids to have some fun by throwing rocks into the water. That finally got their attentiion! After lots of splashes we were finally ready to make our fire. Bring on the s'mores! Ryan wasn't impressed - he wanted the licorice instead. Zach and Matthew thought they were great. We had fun talking around the fire and making up stories about Star Wars and Cars.

After s'mores we started to get things put away. We started to get ready for bed after the first star came out. The boys were tired, but somehow got their second wind when we got inside the tent. It was a lot of bouncing and jumping and giggling, all fine and dandy for a few minutes but not so great when you are trying to get them to go to sleep. And on top of it all Zachary was not very fond of the tent or the graco he was sleeping in. So after splitting up the boys and singing some songs, we finally got the kids settled down and to bed, I'm guessing somewhere around 10:00. Zach was quiet but didn't fall asleep for a long time. The night wasn't exactly a restful one, but I was happy to be in the mountains nonetheless. I had finally dropped into a deep sleep when I start to hear the birds chirping outside. I knew that would be our wake-up call. Sure enough, Zachary started to rustle and let us all know about the birds. It was about 5:30 or 6:00 in the morning.

Well, since everyone was up, we thought we would get some breakfast going. Pancakes and eggs are always yummy. The kids had their breakfast and we started a small fire to keep them warm. After clean-up the kids informed us they wanted to go home now. Home? Really? You don't want to play outside in the dirt and rocks? We could go on a hike or go up to the ski resorts for a walk. Nope. They had done what they wanted: rocks, water, dirt, s'mores, tent, sleeping bags, and bugs. Zachary wasn't exactly a happy camper with his little amount of sleep and was even more irritated by his furry friends. So we packed up our stuff and headed out at 8:30 in the morning. I was sad that we left, but eveyone else was ready to go. Zach and Ryan fell asleep on the way home because they were so exhausted and Zachary took a four hour nap later that day. I guess camping was too much fun for them!

Overall I think the kids had a great time. We'll have to try again and use the things we learned so we can stay longer next time. If there were only a way we could get the birds to sleep in...