More Summer

June 23-30

We managed to squeeze all of these activities in one week. Oh, and a birthday party. Whew! Good think my kids are flexible!

We've been to the pool 5 or 6 times this summer. Not as many as I thought we would at the beginning of the summer, but plenty nonetheless. It's a lot of work to get to the pool and it's difficult to work around naps. And it wears me out! I always feel like I need to sleep as soon as I get home. Molly has loved the pool this year. She has always enjoyed the water but this summer she has turned into a fish. I think her head is under the water more than it is above. She's not afraid of anything. She loves to put her life jacket on and just swim in the deep end.We tried to squeeze one trip to the pool in between Stockton's naps. I knew he'd be tired on the way home so I gave him a sucker in hopes that he would stay awake until we made it home. He only lasted about 2 blocks and he was out. But he sucked on that sucker for a few more blocks.

Oh, and I did not take this video while I was driving. We were stopped at a red light.

Molly wanted to ride her bike in the parade on the 4th. In order to do that, I knew that she needed a whole lot of practice. She has Tiana's old bike (more hand-me-downs, we love 'em!), but she really hadn't rode on it much. We practiced every night for a week before the parade. She caught on quick, although she's a little slow. Speed will come, I guess. We aren't doing this every night now but we still enjoy our bike rides 2 or 3 times a week.Sometimes Justin joins us and we get funny looks.The first couple rides were hard so we would come home and have ice cream cones. Molly now thinks that bike rides=ice cream cones. Hey, why not?I got this fun lunch idea from Rachelle and Heidi. I've done it a couple of times, just for a change-up, and it always seems to go over well. Although I think I need to find a smaller muffin tin. Six would be much better-it's hard to find 12 different food items and then it's hard for Molly to eat that much food!Justin was itching to go fishing and had heard that Salem Pond was a promising place. So we headed there one night. Justin and Molly fished for a while, we made some hot dogs on the butane stove, and the kids played in the water. I wasn't sure how clean the pond water was for swimming but lots of people were swimming when we got there so I figured it was okay. I didn't pack any swimsuits so Molly just swam in her clothes. Stockton was happy splashing in the mud.I just noticed last night on KSL that there is a warning out for swimming in Salem Pond. The water is contaminated with bacteria. Oops.

Justin and I took Molly to see Toy Story 3 at the movie theater. She (and Justin) is a big fan of the first two movies, so we knew it was a must. A shout out to Heidi who watched Stockton for us...he cried the whole time. Molly loved the movie, as did Justin and I. It was really funny. There were some scary parts, luckily Molly didn't get too scared and she hasn't talked about any of the scary parts at home.

Our last big activity before Ali and Gavin went home was the Aquarium. I've heard mixed reviews about the Aquarium, but I thought it was great! The kids loved it...although I do think that it wouldn't have been as fun without the penguins, which are new there. It was also a great place for just-turned-one babies. Stockton loved it every bit as much as the older kids. I don't know why I even took a stroller in-all he wanted to do was be held right up to the fish tanks. Good thing Grandpa came along to help!
Molly was feeling a little out-of-sorts the first hour or so we were there. After some lunch she cheered right up...she talked about the Aquarium for days. In this video you can see how active and fun the penguins were and how excited the kids were to be there.