TBT - Flo

The 3rd Grade at the kids' school always puts on a living wax museum in May.  Cat looked forward to this for weeks and didn't mind carrying out the mini projects that led up to the wax museum itself.  When the kids first had the chance to choose a famous person to research and portray, she knew exactly who she wanted to be.  She didn't understand why all of the girls in her class were fighting over Mia Hamm.  Cat thought Florence Nightingale was a much better choice, and she loved her even more when she finished the project than when she started.  She read an entire chapter book about Flo and loved telling people about her when we were on the subject.

Of course, with a living wax museum, the costume is the most important part.  Cat was so anxious about making sure she had her costume right that she had it collected in her room for two weeks before the big day.

Of course, Eliza wanted to get dressed up as Florence Nightingale too.  And the girls took turns nursing Jack through a life-threatening illness, which his sisters somehow inflicted on him.  He didn't seem to mind too much, though.

At the living wax museum, each child had a button for visitors to press, which made the wax figures come alive.  Then the wax figures recited a 1-minute summary of their lives.  Cat did a great job with this as well, even using a lovely British accent during her monologue.

Another Fun Cousin Day

The big adventure today was a trip to the Xtreme Air Sports gym in Provo - so fun!  The kids had a great time jumping, trapeze-ing, rock climbing, sliding, running, and even ninja warrior-ing.  Luke was quite entertained just watching everything going on around him from the stroller, but was excited to get in on the fun toward the end.

I know I've been a little obsessed with videos lately (mostly because I finally took the time to figure out Windows Movie Maker and I love the effects you can do!) so you won't be surprised when I say that I want to put together a movie with the video clips I made of the kids at the gym.  I haven't done that yet, but it's coming.  Here's a picture to tide you over:

Eliza with her one-year-older-and-wiser-too (almost do the day) cousin.

Tonight we also had a game night with all of the adults, Cat, and my two older nieces.  It was really fun - probably my favorite part of the visit so far.  We just have one more day together.  We're looking forward to some more adventures tomorrow!

Fishing, But Not Catching

We braved stormy weather to try to get some fishing in this afternoon.  We drove through cloudy skies and some rain on our way to Wasatch Mountain State Park, and it was still rainy when we arrived, but after killing some time in the visitors' center, the rain stopped and we were able to go out to the pond to do some fishing.  It still sprinkled on us periodically, but never enough to make us want to leave.  I guess that's the beauty of rain in Utah.  When it does happen, it's usually not very much.

The kids loved getting to fish!  Even Luke tried to get in on the action.  He kept wanting to hold a fishing pole, and a couple of times he tried to get into the pond to get a closer look at the wildlife there.  Even though we (the men, and sometimes Cat) had to replace bait several times, nobody caught any fish.  Disappointing, but that's the way it goes sometimes.  We were all wondering, "Where's Papa (the Master Fisherman) when we need him??"

  

It was also fun to feed the ducks while we were there.

Eliza was holding bread out on the bank of the pond,

thinking a duck might come to her so she could pet it,

but it didn't happen.

 

I pulled out a kite I've had stashed in my car for a while now,

and even though there wasn't wind, we took turns running the kite

around so that it would fly.

After fishing at the park for a while,

we headed home by way of Ice Cream.

A great way to spend the afternoon!

Today's Adventure

This afternoon we all went to Bridal Veil Falls, one of our favorite spots around here.  We walked up the path to the base of the waterfall and the kids loved walking in the water and climbing on the rocks.  Jack even started making his way up the mountain, all on his own.  Then the kids fed the trout in the trout pool and were excited to get to touch some of the fish.  Cat claimed to have touched 20 fish, or at least to have had 20 fish-touching experiences, and Jack was glad to have had 2.  Luke seemed excited to see the fish, or maybe he just wanted to get into the water.  We didn't let him, though.  That water is cold!

  

 

Cousin Time

We have some family visiting from Florida and are loving getting to hang out with them!

And we're looking forward to more adventures in the coming week!  We love it when family comes to visit!

Kids at the Park

I took The Bigs to the park yesterday for a play date with one of Cat's friends from school.  Eliza found a dead beetle right away, which she was hoping to take home with us.  In the end, she forgot it at the park.

Then, after some good playground and soccer and snack time, a girl wandered over to us, walking two 5-month-old kids on leashes.  The (animal) kids became the center of attention for the next 30 minutes as the (human) kids petted them, took turns trying to walk them, and fed them leaves off of the tree as well as snacks that had fallen on the ground.

 

Pioneer Day Extravaganza

For Pioneer Day yesterday we headed to Provo for their Pioneer Day Extravaganza.  We attended two years ago and had a lot of fun so we were looking forward to going again.  Unfortunately, we didn't make it there until about an hour before the event was over, but we did what we could.  Of the two dozen (ish) activities and demonstrations, ranging from a (tractor-pulled) ride in a covered wagon to root beer chugging to tomahawk throwing, here's what we managed to experience.

The petting zoo!

The jail!

The Indian Hoop Dancing performance!
(And afterwards, Jack, Eliza, and I participated in a Friendship Circle dance.)

The Indian guess-which-animal-this-pelt-came-from activity!

The dart throwing!

The Indian stone carving!

The Mormon Trail maze with a buffalo chip collecting game in the middle!

The duck shooting!

The 1917 American LaFrance Fire Truck!

Jack actually waited patiently in line for about 30 minutes so that he get
a firefighter's hat and ring the bell on the fire engine.  He loved it.
(Also, you can barely tell in this picture, but Eliza got her face painted.)

So, we managed to have some fun in the time we had.  There was so much to do there, but it was more crowded than we remembered it being two years ago.  Note to self: if we're in the area next year, go early.

Then, in the evening we had some friends over to grill out with us.  In honor of the first Pioneers arriving in the Salt Lake Valley, we ate Greek, Chinese, Brazilian, and French foods.  (Completely accidentally, by the way.)  But at least we had good ol' American Blueberry Pie for dessert.  And everything was delicious.

As always, we had a good time as a family and enjoyed spending time with friends as well.  Happy Pioneer Day!

TBT - Jack's Birthday

Jack has loved Transformers lately, specifically the Rescue Bots show you can see on Netflix.  So he requested a Transformers birthday, complete with a Transformers cake.  I looked and looked for a very Transformers-ish cake I could make, but in the end the best option seemed to be to make a cake that looked like a hillside (a little?) and put a Transformers figurine on the cake.  We found a little Bumblebee toy to use, but Jack preferred that it be in Vehicle Mode, so it doesn't really look like a Transformers cake, haha.

We invited a family to join us for cake that night, and Jack had a great time!  The best part of the evening was after our friends left, though.  That's when Jack was able to use his special birthday gift for the first time.

As you can see in the video, Jack got the hang of balancing on the bike after just a few tries that night - no training wheels necessary.  Soon after, he was starting on his own, and after just a few weeks he was able to start, ride, brake, and stop independently.  He LOVES having a bike.

Jack also enjoyed an extended birthday celebration.  I wasn't able to be with him in his class on his birthday, so he chose to bring treats to school the following day.  He loved it when everyone sang to him and when he got to do his Show & Tell (something students only did when they were Student of the Week, which typically coincided with their birthday weeks).  For Show & Tell, he chose to bring in one of his birthday gifts from the day before - a "Mater the Greater" jump kit.  His classmates were appropriately excited about the toy.

After school, he opened a few more presents that came in the mail and started playing with them immediately.  Yeah for an extended birthday celebration!