All the rest of our summer activities bunched into one big blog post.

I was going to be better this year.  I was going to blog at least once a week so I could add all the little details I want to remember in our family life.  But then life happened.  It's better to live life, than to just blog about it, right?  So I only feel partially guilty about this big picture dump.

This summer turned out to be so much busier than I thought.  We started our first week out with swimming lessons, band, karate, etc.  I had it planned perfectly.  Summer band from 8:00 to 9:00 at our junior high.  Then swimming lessons at 10:00.  But then summer band time was changed to 9:00 and moved to a junior high much farther away from us.  And swimming lessons still at 10:00.  So every day for the first two weeks, I ran Nathan down to Willow Creek Junior High for band.  Then I raced home to get the other kids ready for swimming, raced back to the junior high with all the kids, and took Nathan out of band early, to make it back to swimming lessons (which is RIGHT BY where his band was supposed to be).  We were always late.  The kids were always cranky.  Then we were off to karate a couple evenings each night, Young Mens/ Young Womens, scouts, etc.  Our schedule just didn't open us up for as much free time as I wanted for taking day trips.  So we ended up cutting out Karate and gymnastics, band was cut short, and swimming lessons only lasted two weeks.  Now we're talking!  I'm glad we ended up with a more relaxed schedule.

So here are some of the random things we did this summer:

I met up with some high school friends at a splash park in Provo.  Between the 4 of us, we had about 13 kids running around (and not all the kids came).  It was fun to see my friends, but it was hard to really get to talk with all the kid tracking.  So we decided to meet up the next week while they were still in town, and go out for dessert without kids.  Why don't I do this more often?  It was so much fun.  I still don't feel like I should be this old!

My crazy brothers are always coming up with some strange contest--they are so competitive it's ridiculous.  The contest this time:  Make the most disgusting drink possible, and whoever draws your name has to drink it as fast as possible without throwing up.  Anything goes.  Vinegar, Mayo, eggs, baking soda, ANYTHING.  Spanky's friend Conner and future wife Angie were involved in this one....so it's not just my brothers who are crazy.  I remember when I used to be dumb enough to do things like this.  Then I grew up and realized that stupid things that make me sick aren't fun.  My kids loved watching this contest, but luckily haven't been tempted to copy them on this one.

 

Tanner has become  really attached to Spanky's roommate Conner.  He comes up to my parents with Spanky for Sunday dinner, and Tanner can't leave him alone.  Most of his time is spent on his shoulders.  Even eating dessert has to be done on his shoulders.  Conner has been a good sport about it all, and Tanner really looks forward to Sunday evenings.

 One of the girls' favorite activities every summer is playing in the sprinklers, and on the Slip 'N Slide.  We had a great set up this year with three Slip N Slides to race on.  But then we ended up with a major water shortage, watering the lawn during the day was prohibited, and any culinary water in the yard was forbidden.  There goes all the fun!  We ended up spending lots of time at pools instead.

I tried to make good use of our 7-peaks pass of all passes.  Besides the attempted weekly trips to the water park, we tried some fun new things.  Once a week we could get into an extreme sports place for free.  The kids ended up LOVING it.  It is one of those places where I could take my kids and the 12 year old was entertained as much as the 3 year old.  I think the trapeze was the favorite for all but Calla.  It was a perfect air conditioned activity for a hot summer day.

Calla was made for this place.  All the running, jumping, and climbing she could ever desire.

I let the girls loose to make a cake on their own.  It was made out of ice cream sandwiches, chocolate and caramel magic shell, and lots of whipped cream.  They were so proud of making it without mom's help.  It ended up tasting really good too!

The last few years we seem to have been out of town or too busy for the Lehi City celebrations.  This year I was determined to take the kids to a bunch of the activities.  The parade was a must.  The kids had the worst attitude about it.  It was hot.  They were tired.....but then somehow someone ended up being sprayed by a water bottle.  Of course, a water fight commenced, everyone was soaked, and in much better spirits.  We had no drinking water, but the kids were much happier. The rest of the parade was a lot more fun. We ended up going into Porter's Place and getting a big iron port for the kids to try.  It got mixed reviews.  Of course, Tanner loved it.  If it's soda, he will chug it down.

We hadn't been to the Lehi rodeo since we moved here.  That means the girls have never been, and the boys were too young to remember it.  I thought it was the perfect year to give it another try.  I got tickets really early, to be sure we were sitting by where the bulls come out.  I wanted the kids to have a good view of the bull riders.  The announcer made some joking comment about the bulls coming over the fence into the crowd.  That scared Anika so much, she worried about it the entire time.  It ended up being a really fun night that I think the kids will remember for a while.

Jon ended up really sick for the 4th of July this year.  We were going to go up to his parents for the kids to be in the parade.....to make a long story short, we just stuck around our place during the day, thinking Jon might feel better.  By late afternoon, he wasn't feeling any better, and the kids were getting anxious to go have some fun.  So we went down to Nana and Grandpa's for the family games, BBQ, and fireworks.

The next day Jon was still feeling sick.  We hadn't attempted a hike since our memorial day disaster with Calla.  I was going crazy because hiking is my all time favorite summer activity, and we hadn't been on a single hike all summer.  So I decided I would attempt to take the kids on a couple short hikes on my own.  Another disaster.  Calla is pretty persistent in letting me know that she is NOT a hiker.  We ended up just doing our little walk up Rocky Mouth canyon, wading through the water and throwing a bunch of rocks, and heading back home with me totally discouraged.  We will have a decent hike this year if it kills me!  Calla might have to stay at home with someone....but it WILL happen. 

Jon was finally feeling better for Pioneer Day.  I had some Young Women's meetings, so Jon took the kids up for their last chance to be in a parade this year.  Calla was so excited to get to meet the "REAL Cinderella."

Carrie and her family came into town, so Grandpa Cook decided to take everyone on a boating trip.  Here's Calla and Sammy hanging out and swimming.

 The kids really love riding in Grandpa's boat.  They aren't big into water skiing, but riding on the tube is always fun.  They also loved jumping out and swimming in the lake as they waited for the next person to get on the tube or water skis.

 I love the wave runner.  There's just something about not having a road to stay on, and being able to drive as crazy as you want.  I wanted the kids to all have a chance to experience it with me.  Nathan and Tanner were a little hesitant about the whole thing-which is OK.  Their roller coaster love can be shared with me instead.  Anika and Calla were both yelling "Woo hoo!  Faster!"  Yay!  It's fun to share the interest.

Their other favorite activities:  Jumping on the trampoline, and just swimming in the lake.  Nathan and Tanner swam out to an island off in the distance with Tim.  They have gotten to be pretty good little swimmers.

I found out that our 7-peaks passes included some free days to the Tracy Aviary.  Some kids had better attitudes about trying it than others.  Nathan is getting to the point that hanging out with family is not nearly as fun as hanging out with friends.  (Actually, all of the kids but Calla feel this way, but the older they are, the stronger they feel it, and the more they complain.)  But I was so determined to get all the kids out for time together.  It's all about the memories.

 For all the complaining, they sure looked like they were having fun.  Their favorite part:  The mist machines.

 They had to give me one last nice, smiling picture before they could go home.  The funny thing is, now that the summer is over, they look back and have good memories of the outing.  Lesson learned:  It's worth it to take them out for time together, because no matter how much they fight and complain, they have good memories in the end.

With it being the hottest summer on record, we had to make it to one more splash park before the summer ended.  Anika invited a few friends, and Calla loved being included.  She thought she was just another one of the big girls.   Next year we better be able to use our sprinklers.  Summer just wasn't the same.

One of the kids favorite summer activities is the family backyard camp out.  We ended up having to reschedule it many times, which really made Anika mad.  But in the end, it did happen.  She would have disowned us if it hadn't.  It's nice that even the boys look forward to this activity.  It's something that they all enjoy.  The tradition:  everyone gets to pick out one game to play.  We set up the tent on the trampoline, which makes for some very difficult game playing when it includes pieces that fall over any time someone moves.

We had to include some s'more making and marshmallow roasting.  What kind of camp out would it be without that?  I think Anika was this happy the entire night.

It was going to be Calla's first time getting to sleep out in the tent.  Unfortunately, she was VERY excited about it, and had a hard time falling asleep.  All the other kids were getting upset with her (which is saying a lot, when my kids are total night owls.)  After many threats, I ended up taking her inside to sleep.  She was so mad at me!  I told her she could have a sleep over with me on my bed.  That wasn't good enough.  She had to sleep on the floor in the family room, and I wasn't allowed to join her.

Tara ended up coming into town just before school started.  We ended up hitting  $2 Tuesday at Thanksgiving Point.  I really miss having the pass there.  Maybe next year.....
The kids had lots of fun running around with cousins.

The kids love a shaved ice place called Taste of Tahiti.  It's extremely expensive, so we don't go there too often.  We have made it a tradition to go on the last day of summer.  We lay out a blanket, eat our snow cones, and rate the cars that drive by on a scale of 1-10.  This year we went a few days before the end of summer.  Nathan, as you can see, was not happy to go this year.  He wanted to spend every last second possible playing with friends.  Even inviting some neighbor kids to go with us didn't help lift spirits.  The other kids loved it though....probably because they are the ones that had friends join us.

I wanted to go to Temple Square last spring.  It never happened.  I didn't want the summer to go by without going.  So for our last activity for the summer we met up with Jon after his work, and made it a fun evening.  What a great way to end the summer.

So that's a few of the things we did this summer.  There's nothing like a bunch of un-scheduled time to spend with family.  Yes, the kids could have been at sports camps or other lessons, becoming some sort of "prodigy."  But to me, it was worth it to just make some memories together and let them be kids.  Hopefully it pays off in the end.