June Fun
/June has been filled with my first attempts at gardening, Grandma Camp, Braille Camp, the splash pad with Aunt Desi and cousins, a few trips to Lagoon with Buckholts cousins, RAD kids class, an overnight camping trip to YMCA's Camp Roger, Laura's trip to the Thanksgiving Point Gardens with Linda and Kim, Activity Day Camp for Marilyn, Father's Day, watching the air show in the backyard with Daddy, dinner out for me with ALL of my sisters (Megan was in town for GC) and my mom, walks with my amazing husby after the kids are in bed, and heavenly weather and sunshine.
It's been a GREAT month.
My Garden: Up until this year I haven't had a single flower growing in my yard and I've liked it that way. It was neat, tidy, and easy to maintain. It pretty much sums up my personality. Marilyn has had other preferences though and has been begging me to grow pretty things. So we caved. And now I'm hooked. I'm the most doting flower mommy there is now over my pathetic beginners gardens and I'm loving every minute of it.
RAD Kids: I've signed my kids up for as many classes and camps as possible to keep them busy and happy AND NOT FIGHTING WITH EACH OTHER! RAD Kids was a class taught by the city police which taught them all about personal safety including how to fight an abductor. If a child is abducted and they don't make any noise their chances of survival are something like 3%. If they fight back and make a lot of noise the percentage goes way up. It was such a fun and useful class that I'm going to sign them up every summer from now on. And did you get that? In order to keep my children from getting bored and fighting with each other I had professionals teach them how to fight? Ha! Luckily they haven't used any of their new moves on each other yet.
Overnight Family Camping Trip: Noah's going to the YMCA's Camp Roger for a whole week in late July so we went up as a family for an overnighter to test it out at the annual "Open House". It helped put Noah more at ease getting to experience a little of the atmosphere and fun ahead of time. Max especially loved the campfire program full of silly songs and skits that the camp counselors put on, Noah fell in love with the horses and had fun doing the archery, and Marilyn liked having her own bunk bed in the cozy little cabin. The kids got to do all kind of activities including roasting marshmallows, archery, horseback riding, mountain biking, face painting, and an orienteering mini class. Noah's going to have a fantastic time there later this month.
Day of Service at Grandpa and Grandma's house: Right after school got out Noah and I spent a day at my parents house helping them with various things and Noah got some time with my sister's doggie Dash. This is a rare treat for Noah because he is highly allergic to animals. He so loves Dash though and it was excellent play therapy for both of them! Afterwards he got a long bath in Grandma's special jet tub and felt like a king.
Grandma Camp: The 3rd Annual Grandma Camp was a smashing sucess! Megan, Joel, Paisley and Emerson flew in from San Diego which made everything complete.
Day one we went to the Museum of Natural Curiousity, had a picnic outside, and we played all day long. We had the biggest group participate in the high ropes course there, which delighted me because I've been talking a few more of my niecephews into doing it every year. This year the adventurers were me, Marilyn, Noah, Max (for the first time and he loved it!), Linda, Kim, Andrew, Krista, Gwen, Emily, Sam, and Jami. Everyone tested their limits and found out they were stronger than they thought.
Day two we hiked to Timpanogos Cave, then had a yummy lunch at Taco Time, and then Krista and I took our kids plus Jami to Cascade Springs. I loved the chance to teach my kids about the rocks and flowers and give them a chance to push their bodies. My kids did great, hiking up the mountain like the exertion was fun, and it was. I was proud of them. Noah was so thrilled with the cave that he stood next to the guide the entire time answering a bunch of her questions and when we exited our tour he was so lit up all he talked about the whole way down was how he wanted to be a forest ranger when he grew up. We got down the mountain and he spent 45 minutes with Max and Andrew completing a workbook so they could earn their Jr. Ranger badges.
Day three was Krista's amazing Amazing Race. This is a big favorite at Grandma Camp every year and this year's race was focused around a bunch of places that played a big part in how we five sisters grew up: all three of our schools and Chick-Fil-A (where all five of us worked). It was fun to show our children more about how we grew up. This time we had to take pictures of ourselves in all the places the clues led us to and doing the challenges and then send the pictures to Krista by our phones and she would then text us a picture of where we would go next and we'd have to figure out the location from just the picture. It added a fun dimension to the race. For the challenges we had to pick up a certain colored marble in a swimming pool with our toes, build a marshmallow launcher, eat baby food, draw pictures of each team member and write nice things about them using sidewalk chalk, memorize and act out a poem, figure out the flavor of 6 unnamed jelly beans, complete a water challenge, make and deliver get well cards for cancer patients in one of the wards Krista works in at the hospital, and a few more. This year for the first time ever MY TEAM won!!!
Day four we had a card/board game marathon, made craft projects, and homemade soft pretzels.
Day five we spent some time cleaning up after ourselves at Grandma's house, took a tour of the Conference Center (it's where Grandma and Grandpa serve their mission), had a delicious lunch at the Lion House Pantry, competed in a sit up competition, and explored the new church history museum.
Braille Camp: Marilyn got to participate in a sleep away Braille Camp sponsored by the Utah Foundation for the Blind and Visually Impaired. She slept at a hotel, played lots of literacy based games, went swimming, to go see a movie (with audio descriptions), and even learned how to do tricks on a flying trapeze. What a fun time!
Air Show: One of the perks of living by the Air Force Base is that the kids got to watch the air show in the backyard with their Daddy. (Sometimes it feels like there is an air show every day.)
Looking back on June I have a hard time believing we did all of this in one month! It was a happy time
