Under the Sea....urrr Pond

It wouldn't be a summer post if I didn't post about swimming. That's pretty much what has filled up most of our summer.

We have the pond up the road and our friend, Bonnie, has a pool and lets us come whenever we want. We've taken advantage, especially during the 2 weeks of theater when we were up by Bonnie's house every day.

The kids have loved it and Mary and Andrew especially have taken off. Gone are the days when going under was a torturous experience. It has been fun to watch progress.

Can you see those 2 blobs under the water? It's Mary and Andrew seeing how far they could swim from the pole.

Annie does dramatic Annie things like sticking the tip of her nose in the water or laying on her back just enough to get all her hair wet. She and Whit also love to smear wet sand all over their suits and bodies and then make me tell them to go take a bath.

We've even become diving board lovers. Go Mary go!

Andrew is a nose plugger but he loves it.

The pond makes for some great castles and trenches dug all the way to the water. Sometimes it seems like they hardly get in the water at all.

Happy Summer Fun!

I Love Trash

Last week we headed with our neighbors to the Trash Museum in Hartford. It had more to do than I thought it would and we had a lot of fun.

Here's Annie in front of the Tower of Trash. They had a fun scavenger hut sheet for the kids to find certain trash on the tower.

The kids loved sending recyclables up the ramp.

They especially loved watching the actual area where all the recycable stuff gets sorted. It was really interesting!

Baby, Take a Bow!

The 2 week highlight of Mary and Andrew's year has come and gone--Children's Theater week. They've talked about it for months and we heard about it non-stop for the past 2 weeks. Friday night was their performance. I really enjoy seeing the kids SO happy.

Andrew was in the K-2nd grade class. They did a performance of "The Golden Goose." Andrew was an old man.

Here he is sharing some food with 'Simpleton.' I'm loving Andrew's wig and beard. He did a nice job!!

Mary was in the 3rd-5th grade class and they did a performance of "The Loudest Sneeze." Mary was Annie, one of the soccer players.

Here's part of the team discussing the upcoming games and their uniforms.
Baby, take a bow! She looks so proud.
What a beard/wig combo. Wow!!
What great audience members. We did bring their blankets as back-up. With theater and swim lessons every day, Annie has been TIRED and falling asleep most nights before 7pm. She held out though and didn't fall asleep til we got in the car to drive home.
Happy kids.

Bringing Home my Baby Bumblebee

We had a bee incident 2 weeks back. An 'it turned out better than it could have' type of incident but still gave Matt an opportunity to wear a beekeeper suit.

Monday evening during dinner we had to kill like 8 or 10 bees in the kitchen. Matt went outside to see where they were coming from and saw them coming in and out of the oven hood vent outside the house. I quickly taped up a big trashbag blocking the oven vent in the house and we called our beekeeping friend. We actually have 3 beekeeping friends--I love knowing people with cool skills.

So Tuesday evening, the Hughes came over and John let Matt wear his bee suit. Matt had previously sprayed a bunch of Raid in the vent so when he finally opened the vent it was mostly dead bees but still a massive amount of hive that he had to remove. Grossa-rossa!

Final Snapshots of Vacation

Just a few more pictures of highlights from our trip last month....

Mom and dad bought all of the kids rocks from their trip to Colorado. Mom made little bags for each kid. Her hope it buy rocks for them when they go on future vacations. Anyway...we had a whole 'picking out your rocks' event that the kids loved!!

Horrible picture of Matt and I but probably the only one from our trip besides the one we took outside the temple. It sums up a lazy part of our trip though--the discover of the game Drop 7 on my iPod. I'm playing it intently and Matt is probably critiquing his last game in his mind.

The kids squinting in the sun at dinner after Hailey's baptism

A HOT trip to the Museum of Transportation. The trains would have been a lot more enjoyable if it weren't 100 degrees outside.
Still they were troopers, though I think they had the most fun at McDonalds afterwards

Mom and Dad have a jacuzzi tub and these girls took as many bubble baths as they could!

1 small pool, 2 inflatable water slides = outdoor heaven!

Who needs a big pool or slide though if you have a mini-pool?

We got so many good splash pictures, it's hard to tell who it is. I think this is Hailey.

A whole family trip to Tequilas for lunch! What fun to have a kid table and an adult table.

And that's a vacation wrap up!

Six Flags

I think this was everyone's favorite day of the entire trip. Six Flags with cousins. It was approximately 8 billion degrees out and we sweat like crazy but there were ZERO lines. We rode anything we wanted and for many rides we could get off and right back on or even just stay on and ride again. Perfect!

The day before everyone came to mom and dad's house and we helped the kids make tye dye shirts--they turned out awesome! The kids loved them and we loved being able to spot all of them so easily.

Papa and Brenton on the Scrambler (it has a new name these days but I don't remember it)

Andrew and Matt on the Colossus

Happy kids!!!

Hank and the kids getting ready to be soaked from the big splash after the Tidal Wave. They rode the Tidal Wave 3 times in a row (no line). Everyone was drenched when it was done (and totally happy). By the end of the day, even some adults and old children were experiencing diaper rash--ha ha to wetness!!

A train ride at the end of the day. We were there from open to close.
Couldn't get enough of the tye dye. I loved their shirts the entire day!

Happy Whitney on the spaceship ride. The grin didn't leave her face all day--she's a brave one!

Waiting for Thunder River. More getting soaked--the kids loved this ride.

Mary and Whit on the swings.

I could post more and more from this day but should stop. Happy happy day.

Enough said.

We're Havin' a Party (Tea Party that is)

We held our 2nd annual Cousin Tea Party. When Aunt Ginna died, Kellie and I each got a set of china. Last year, Kellie had the idea to have a tea party with her china. It was so much fun we had to do it again. The kids were excited to dress up, eat on fancy dishes, and dance.

The pre-tea party picture. It was Aunt Megan's birthday so we had to send her a greeting. Check out those fancy party clothes. We love that Ethan chose to be a tiger. :)

Oh Andrew, that hat!!

The tea-partiers

A fancy meal indeed--finger sandwiches, grapes, strawberries, cheetos, party punch, and donuts for dessert.

Who knows how much longer the boys will be up for the tea party. In the future, we might end up with waiters. :)