Summer Vacation 2011: Part 3

Warning: Very long post ahead...just had to get it done!

The next day we went on a little hike up at Cascade Springs with John's brother, Mark, and his family.  It's a quick hike, which is good since it was pretty warm up there on the mountain, but so worth it for beautiful views like this...

It's perfect for young kids...the cousins had a great time together.

 

 

These guys were my picture posing pros...

Sadie had it made in the shade...

But, of course, she had to get down and do a little exploring on her own too...

The other explorers managed to find a few fish swimming around...

We spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out at Mark and Candace's house - the kids played, the adults talked...it was great. We even got to help Emma celebrate her 3rd birthday that night (a fun little peek at what I'm in for as Sadie grows up - a whole lot of princess and pink!).


We met up with them again on Friday in Park City. John's mom (along with 6 more cousins...that's 12 total for this outing!) came too for some Alpine Slide fun.  Granny Sylvia watched Sadie for us while we took the boys up the chairlift...

The ride up was fun, but it's way better coming down! John managed to catch me and Matt Mo crossing the finish line...

Later, we met up with my brother, Josh, and his family for dinner. They happened to be driving down from Wyoming for the weekend - lucky for us! We ordered a pizza and let the kids run wild at a nearby park...

 Our kids are the same ages and they had lots of fun together. Sadie and cousin Zach are only 3 weeks apart...

 

It was fun catching up with them, we could've stayed all night chatting...especially the 2 lawyers discussing work (with a side of fishing/camping...yawn).

Our last day of fun before the LONG drive home was spent with cousins again...yay! This time, at Rock Canyon Park. There's a nice little river flowing through it from all the winter snow - perfect for the kids to go tubing down...

 

From what I was told, the water was FREEZING cold.  It obviously didn't phase the big kids, but Sadie was not having it...

She still had a good time though...

She was happy to chase the dog and run away from her crazy brothers...

Later that night, we met up with some of John's high school friends and their families. Sadly, I completely forgot to take any pictures! It was a great end to our week in Utah though. Definitely a summer vacation to remember. We're already missing the mountains and the cooler weather, but nothing beats home, sweet, home!

Summer Vacation 2011: Part 2

The next day, we headed up to SLC to one of the boys' favorite places...the Discovery Museum!

I think they could spend all day in the "ball contraption" area alone...

They also really love the "construction zone"...

 And, of course, the water area is always a hit...

Sadie was excited to splash around too...

But her favorite area was probably the play house. She wanted to rock the babies, push the pretend vacuum and talk on the phone... guess she wants to be like her mommy!

She also got a kick out of pretending to drive...

 And pretending to ride...

I'm certain the Discovery Museum will be a "must do" every time we visit Utah from here on out!

After Sadie's nap, we all went up to Deer Valley resort for a picnic dinner and a free concert...

The weather could not have been more perfect and the band was pretty good too...good enough for Sadie to bust a few moves!

To be continued...

Summer Vacation 2011: Part 1

Whew...we survived another long road trip to Utah for summer vacation. Aside from the many hours in the car, we had a wonderful time. We stopped in Colorado on our way up to visit GG and Papa. It was so nice to take a day off from driving and just hang out and relax with them. As is tradition, Sadie took a ride on Papa's "horsey"...

She was fascinated by the boys' headphones so those made it onto her horsey ride too...haha.

Our first day in Utah was full of 4th of July fun. We started it out with the Provo parade. The boys were a little disappointed that no one was throwing candy (like they do in Manassa, Colorado for the Pioneer Days) but they still thought it was fun. As you can tell by our red cheeks, it was pretty darn hot too...

Afterward, we met up with some of John's siblings and their kids for lunch at the Riverwoods. The kids had a ball cooling off in the fountains...

Cousin Lucy and Ben

Sadie drenched herself (and thought it was quite hilarious) within five minutes. I ended up running into one of the stores to get her some dry clothes to ride home in. John says I can always find an excuse to shop, haha!

Afterward, I took Sadie home for a nap (she was exhausted from all our travels) while John and the boys hiked up to Stewart Falls with the cousins...

Sad I missed out on this gorgeousness...

The boys were so excited to find that there was still some snow left on the mountain right by the falls! All that snow from this winter also meant the falls were coming down hard and fast, which they loved, of course...

John, Mo, and Ben at Stewart Falls

Cousin Matt Brown and Matt Mo at Stewart Falls

Later that night, we had a family BBQ at Uncle Cory's house. We gorged ourselves on yummy shish-kebabs and home-made ice cream while the kids ran around the backyard. We were having such a wonderful time I didn't even think to take pictures...dang it! I also didn't get any pictures of the impromptu fireworks we saw coming from every direction around the neighborhood...it was pretty darn cool though. We saw plenty more from the car as we drove home to Midway that night. We planned to watch the fireworks show up there, but the kids fell asleep in the car. You know it was a good day of playing hard when this happens...

We decided to use the next day to recover from all our fun and travels. We played at the park, ate pizza, got ice cream cones, and just enjoyed the beautiful weather. It was heavenly.

To be continued...

Preschool Party

Eek! June is more than half-way over and I have yet to post about Mo's end of preschool party, so here goes.

While we were waiting for all the moms to arrive, Miss Andrea's son, Tyler, offered to read the kids a story. It was pretty much the cutest thing ever...

 Then we gathered around to watch a slideshow of all the fun they had this year...

When an up-beat song came on toward the end, the kids just couldn't help themselves and a dance party broke out...

Miss Janette also made the cutest memory books for each student with photos, art work, and other projects. The last page was an interview with some pretty hilarious Q&A's. Some of my favorites were:

What is your mom's job?  She always gets to go shopping all the time. (Ha! If only, little man!)

What is your dad's job?  He plays games with me. 

Who is the President of the United States? My daddy. 

What is your favorite thing to do? Play games with Ben. (Sweet, even though this almost always ends in fighting and tears.)

After the party, he requested to go to Taco Bell for a celebratory lunch. It's hard to turn down those big brown eyes...

End of Kindergarten

The last couple weeks have been crazy with all the end-of-school happenings, but we survived and now we're ready for summer! The end of kindergarten kept us especially busy - lots of activities, performances, and awards. First up was Field Day...

Kind of like a "3-legged Race", but with a ball instead of being tied together

Tug-of-War (Ben is in the back row)

Ben's cute teacher, Miss Swarts

Ben said his favorite activity was the Slip & Slide. Even Miss Swarts wanted to join in the fun...the kids thought it was hilarious!

Next was the "Kinder Kitchen" musical performance. All the kids wore chef aprons...

As you might have guessed, the songs were about food... "On Top of Spaghetti", "Peanut, Peanut Butter, & Jelly", "Apples & Bananas", etc. It was pretty darn cute, I must say.

The next day, Ben's class performed at the school's morning assembly. They sang "Hello, to All the Children of the World"...

(Ben is the 6th one from the left)

Ben representing Japan. Too bad we don't have any lederhosen...he could have dressed up to represent Switzerland!

Then there was the Kindergarten "Moving Up" Ceremony...

Each kiddo got to walk the stage and receive their certificate. They also played a slide-show of all the fun they had in kindergarten this past year...I'll admit it, I got a little teary-eyed over it. It's hard to let your baby grow up! And maybe a little bit of it was knowing that I was about to have all 3 kids at home ALL day for the next few months...haha!  Ben is actually much easier these days. It's the combination of all the kids (especially the boys together) that scares me.

Finally, we made it to the last day (I should really say, morning, because we were headed home at 9:30). After the morning assembly, we went to his class room for Miss Swarts to hand out her "Candy Awards" to each of the kids. Ben received the "Peppermint Award"...

It says, "Awarded to the classmate who takes our breath away with how hard he has been working in his writing journal."  Miss Swarts said she would have to tear him away from it when it was time to move on to something else. He has learned so much this past year and we are so proud of him!

After another slide-show with his friends (and more tears from all the moms) it was time to say good-bye...

Ben with one of his good friends, Grafton...sad he'll be moving this summer!

A shy good-bye hug for Miss Swarts...I could barely get a picture he was so quick!

You tired yet? I told you there was a lot going on... and we haven't even gotten to Matt Mo's end of preschool party yet. Guess I'll save that for another day!