A few of the girls in Cat's Daisy Girl Scout troop were scheduled to go to sleep-away camp in July, so the troop leader, Joy, and I put together a little camp out in her back yard so that the girls would have an experience away from home before they went to camp.
The girls came on a Friday evening and we started out with a hike in Pleasant Grove.
We thought the girls might enjoy their hike a little more with a project: collecting items for a fairy house. They took this task very seriously.
Unfortunately, this made them even slower than a child's normal hiking pace. (This is Joy's 5 year old son, who joined us on the hike.)
It took some coaxing to get them to move forward.
I tried to convince Cat not to collect rocks for the fairy house, but she was apparently determined to use this hike as a weightlifting, as well as a cardio, workout.
All the girls, halfway up.
Keep going! Almost there!
At last, we arrived at the top of the hike, and were rewarded with a beautiful double waterfall.
The kids immediately wanted to cross the stream...
and climb the slope on the other side.
Then they found a tree that crossed the water downstream.
As we hiked back to the car we had a perfect view of the mountains across Utah Lake, where the first of the summer wildfires had just started. I couldn't believe all the smoke, and it barely even shows up in the picture.
When we got back to Joy's house, the girls changed into their pajamas and got to work decorating their fairy house.
They also played in the back yard and hung out with Rufus Mefus.
Campfire-cooked hot dogs are a must during a camp out.
Joy found instructions for a fun camping dessert - orange peel cupcakes. Cut off the top of an orange, scoop out the fruit, and fill it halfway with cake batter, and replace the top. Wrap it in tin foil and let it cook in the coals for 20 minutes or so.
Unfortunately, only 2 of the cupcakes were cooked through, but we all shared them and they were delicious! Yellow cake with a lovely orange flavor. Joy decided to leave the other cupcakes on the coals for the rest of the night. Of course we were very surprised when we found them all completely burned the next morning. So... if you try this and decide that 20 minutes isn't enough time to cook your cupcakes, be sure to check them again before the 10 hour mark.
When the festivities were over, the girls were finally able to go to sleep. They actually settled down pretty quickly - we must have done a good job of tiring them out!
I slept here, on a mattress Joy keeps in her back yard. It was definitely the best overnight outdoor sleep I've ever had. Forget the air mattress - I'm bringing a real mattress next time I go camping.
I didn't consider the implications of sleeping under a bunch of beautiful blooming flowers... until I woke up to the sound of buzzing in my ears - tons of bees getting their breakfast. "In the leafy treetops, the BEES sing good morning..."
Good morning!
"Fairies came to their house last night!" "How do you know?" "Because they left glitter of course."
We were so happy to have NO problems with the girls. No behavior issues, no homesickness, no trouble sleeping, nothing. Looks like these girls are ready for sleep-away camp.
I had the kids make videos for their grandmothers for Mother's Day. They sat on the couch and I asked them about why they loved Grammy and Mema, special memories they had, etc. And just as sweet and funny as the videos themselves were the poses they struck during the interviews.
I should note that while it may appear that Eliza has nothing on under her skirt... she actually does. It was just a bad color choice. Of course, I didn't think the color would be visible to anyone, but still.
I wasn't able to make it to Cat's last soccer game in the spring because Ben was out of town, and one of the little ones was sick. So Cat went to her game with our neighbor, whose daughter is also on the team, and our neighbor was kind enough to take these pictures and email them to me. I'm still surprised at how much fun Cat had playing soccer last spring. We'll see if the enthusiasm lasts for both fall and spring this year.
Another neighbor of ours put together a team for a small co-ed 4 on 4 tournament called the Kohl's Cup. She asked Cat to join, and of course Cat was eager to get involved. Their team didn't do very well, but everyone had a good time anyway.
The whole team with their coach, Amy
The gals on the team... The girl on the left side is Ruby, a member of the family who owns the house we lived in during the school year. We didn't expect to be in the area over the summer, so it's been a treat to get to hang out with their family some, and get to know them better. Ruby and Cat really love being together - they seem to be two peas in a pod.
We rushed home after our zoo trip so that everyone could use the bathroom and I could throw together a picnic dinner. Then we drove to the lawn east of the Bean Museum on the BYU campus for our first ever carillon concert! I was really pretty ridiculously excited about this, and hoped that the kids would enjoy themselves too. All in all, I think it was a good experience for the whole family. Except for Ben, who was out of town, and missed out on the fun.
For those of you who don't know what a carillon is - I didn't until I looked online - it is the instrument housed in a bell tower, comprised of an organ-like keyboard connected to the bells themselves. I hope that makes sense.
I loved that the carillonneur played a good variety of music. He played some Classical-type pieces that I didn't recognize, some popular songs (I was tickled to hear "Somewhere Out There," one of my all-time favorites), and of course some Patriotic songs.
So this was a unique concert experience in that there is nothing at all to see. You simply go and listen. We found out afterward that if you walked to the base of the bell tower during the concert, there was a live feed video of the carillonneur performing. Oh well. But the kids had a fun during the concert anyway. They ate some picnic dinner then found a tree nearby with limbs for climbing and many other kids around to play with. So I sat and enjoyed the music while watching the kids play and eating my strawberry vinaigrette salad. Not a bad way to spend an evening.
Oh - and there was also dancing. (Jack is in the background breaking sticks and such.)
When the concert was over the kids and I walked over to the bell tower to get a closer look.
Best I could do on my own...
As it turnsd out, one of the BYU students who plays the carillon on a regular basis was down in the practice room at the bottom of the towerr telling people about the instrument and answering questions. Notice how my kids pushed their way into the center of the room, but maintained a safe distance from the practice instrument.
..until they jumped on the bench...
Aaaaaaand... started playing the instrument. Aaaaaaand the BYU student doesn't mind them playing, as long as they don't get too loud. Awww, how nice.
Notice how instead of keys like you find on a piano or an organ, these are actual levers and a carillonneur plays them by pounding his fist on them. And he operates the foot pedals simultaneously. How in the world do you play fast music? I don't know. But they do. And Cat thought it was awesome. That night she found out another reason why she should stick with piano: we were told that most carillonneurs begin playing after learning organ. And what do most people play before learning organ? That's right. Pee-pan-oh, as Cat would say.
