A Trip to the Splash Pool

Our neighborhood didn't open it's swimming pool till early July this year, so before that we could only go to their splash pool (which is unfortunate for BR because the age limit is 7 and under....and he's such a little fishie that he was over-joyed when the regular pool finally opened!!)

My sister and I took our kids (minus BR plus an extra neice) one day for the kids to cool off from the infernal heat. I am continually amazed how my kids just can't get enough water/pool time!!

East Canyon

Our annual Dalton family vacation/reunion was the first week of June this year (June 3rd-8th). It was very different this time than other years. First of all GM wasn't there until Thursday night and most other years he came up for the evenings even if he had to go back down the canyon every morning to work. Another big change was that I decided to give my kids more independence this time as long as they used the "buddy system". They were free to go from our condo to my sister Amber's condo, to my sister April's condo, to "The Bus" (my parents' motorhome-ized bus) as much as they wanted as long as they stayed in groups (with their cousins). They slept at "The Bus" or other condos most of the time and lots of times ate their meals with grandma and grandpa or their cousins so I didn't see them very often!! Because my kids are the main focus in photography, and because they were off with their cousins so much of the time, I took very few pictures this time as well.


If you look closely you can see BR in the background eating breakfast and watching TV. :) In the foreground is my oldest niece doing some scrapbooking. (My sisters and my mom and I also did a bit of scrapbooking.)


MC getting ready to go swimming.



I spent a lot of time with my sisters and I took some pictures of Amber's kids (her kids are also some of my favorites to photograph).






We went during the first week of June, from June 3rd through the 8th and it was very cold and rainy most of the time. In my opinion it was much too cold to swim (this wasn't helped much by the fact that I'm not a big fan of swimming), and I thought, foolishly, that my kids would feel the same. How wrong I was!! They went to the pool every single day, multiple times, rain or shine!! The only thing I made them get out for was lightning storms or if no other "big people" were going to be there. (BR would have probably been there twice as much if he could have stayed on when nobody was there or when the weather was too bad to permit swimming! GM and I call him our little guppie!)

GM decided to surprise me and come up on Thursday evening instead of the planned Friday evening. (I was glad to see him!!) We went to the hot tub together, 4-wheeling together and watched a movie or two together, but he also went off and did stuff without me as well. He went shooting with BR and my brother-in-law Alan. He also swam with the kids and I believe he went mini-golfing with BR.

Fun Friday #2

This week was our second "Fun Friday" so my sisters and I and all of our kids all went to the zoo together. There was tons of chaos with so many kids, but it was tons of fun! And the thing that made it the most fun was that we all got to be together! We (BR, MC an I) rode with my sister Amber and her kids. We met up with April, Julie, Grace and my mom showed up at the zoo. They've got a new carousel and so everybody had to take a ride on that, we also got to see a bird show (which is always a highlight), and take an *amazing* train ride (well, at least the kids always think it's amazing). :)



It's always fun for me to see which animals my kids will want to ride on...



This was a bowl that you rub and it makes a surprisingly loud ringing noise.




This cute little baby is my "big Buddha" Big HAPPY Buddha! :)


These boys sat there forever staring at this frog with its tongue hanging out. :)



It's my kin about as far back as the eye can see! And that's not everybody!!














After the zoo Amber's kids played at our house for a while (BR played wii with her oldest son while MC played with the baby and her middle son played with GM's "Matryoshka" doll. There's something fascinating to kids about that doll!! It doesn't matter how many times they've played with it before, they still want to play with it again the next time they come!


As we drove home from dropping off Amber's kids, my kids, GM and I were discussing what we could do that would be fun and different, but cheap. :P And as we were listing off the possibilities we came to kayaking on the Daybreak lake (which is conveniently free) and everybody was game so we rushed over there ASAP. (We got there at 7:15 and had to be back by 8:00). They have 2 man kayaks, 1 man kayaks and also row boats. We opted for the 2 man kayaks into which BR and I were a team and MC and GM were a team. It was tons of fun, in fact it was so much fun the kids were both begging to go again the next day!! (Which we had to decline due to blisters that we both got from the oars, GM's were much worse than mine). :( BR was quite a good little rower!! He and I could just keep up with GM's rowing by working together (our hardest). :P


















Once we were done we decided it was high time for dinner. We grabbed some sandwiches from Chick-fil-a and supplemented those with some left over salad from our fridge. :)

Memorial Day Weekend

This was a big fun weekend thanks to GM's family! Diana and Ashley (sister and sister-in-law) threw a fantabulous birthday party for my marvelous MIL. It was a really great party and many people who love her came to be there for that fun and special night. Her son Wayne made a slide show of her life that was really fun to watch, and really sweet.

On Sunday we did family pictures...or tried. :) It's pretty tough with groups as big as our family is!! But it was an adventure nonetheless. We also worked on a big ol' lego Eifel Tower (I think it was about 3 feet tall in the end). Lots of people had fun with it! It was a huge project!







Then on Memorial Day we continued with our tradition: do a project for MIL's birthday present. She usually wants her yard kind of renovated so that's what we did. Everybody pitched in and helped in their own way:

Thanks to Peggy for posting this priceless pic. (I had to steal it because I never got one of MC outside in the yard).

And also, we just did a bunch of hanging out, which is always very eventful and entertaining!

Our main source of entertianment was my darling little niece...she single-handedly provided us with hours and hours of diversion!!

Is there an OPPOSITE to the mom of the year award??: Confessions of a poor, pitiful mom

I think I would get that after yesterday!!!

Yesterday, being Friday, I really needed a break and decided to just veg and do something completely non-productive and pointless. :) So after cleaning up a bit and then blogging for a while I decided to get out the wii and play a game that ML got for me a while ago. I've been thinking of this game lately and wanting to get it out because of all the talk about wii's and such. It's called "My Word Coach". (A game that my kids (and probably my nephews) wouldn't look twice at, but since I love words and language so much, I get a kick out of it.) :) Anyway, so I start playing this game and then my phone alarm goes off to remind me that I need to go pick up my kids from school. Yes, I need an alarm to remind me to pick up my kids (most days I don't, but some days I get so distracted that I lose all track of time). Well, my kids are currently participating in an 8 week "Fun Friday" after school program where they stay until the normal let out time (Let out time: 3:15 pm. Pick up window: 3:15 to 3:30.) (MC chose dance and PE and BR chose Art and PE.) So when my alarm goes off I look at it, remember the later pick up time, shut off the alarm and resume playing the game. I played a little of everything but I got playing this tetrus-like game (but with a word twist) and got so engrossed that I lost all track of time :/ and when I suddenly came to my senses and looked at the clock it was 3:37!! I start panicking and frantically running through the house trying to gather my purse, shoes and coat and get out the door (worrying the whole time what's happened to my kids...it was so late I was sure they'd have called from the office wondering where I was...so I'm going through all the possible senarios (good and bad) in my head). Just before I scoot out the door I get a call from the office saying that my daughter is there wondering if I was picking her up or, tactfully trying to give me a plausible excuse, if I'd made other arrangements. I tell them that I'm on my way and how dreadfully sorry I am and that I'd lost track of time and how I'm off because I forgot to set a reminder for the unusual Friday pick-up time. I'm sure this lady is thinking "What kind of mom needs a reminder to pick up her poor kids!?!? Yeah, exactly!! My poor kids! Who forgets to pick up their kids?? Because they were playing a lousy game?! Like I say, I'm the prime candidate for the Non-mom of the year award. I wish I could chalk it up to being only a dream where I forgot about my kids, but then wake up and realize I'm not such a bad mom after all.

The Snowman: By 1 wimp and 2 tough kids!

I've always been too wimpy to get out in the cold and build a snowman with my kids. Or too preoccupied with other things. Well, this past Saturday, when we had my nephew with us, I took him and MC to the park because it was finally such a warm, sunshiny day (even though it was still pretty cold, it's all relative) that I just couldn't come up with any excuses not to go outside with them. :) We went to a park that is around the corner from us. It's a climbing park with no traditional swings or slides or anything.





I figured they'd tire of the cold or the park pretty soon, but it was I that got bored long before they did. Finally I pointed to a bridge that goes over a little lake in the neighborhood and asked them if they wanted to go venture across it. They both agreed with alacrity so we headed over there. When we got to the bridge, instead of going on the paved path that spirals up until it reaches the bridge, they both proceed to head straight up the side of the hill through the snow, slipping all the way up. I only had backless slip on shoes (I originally got them as house slippers, even though they are meant to be shoes) and some fairly thin leather gloves but I couldn't very well take the conventional way, they'd be long gone. So I climb up after them, slipping and sliding all the way.







Then we headed over the bridge and down the other side. I figured we'd just head back after this, but that was hardly on the agenda! I finally catch up with them when they spontaneously decide to lay down and take a rest in the snow. MC makes a snow angel and then they're up and running again. After a while they have a half-hearted snowball fight, and then MC decides she wants to make a snowman. She starts piling snow in a little mound and I groan inside at my slothfulness in not having taught my daughter to build a proper snowman by now!! My poor deprived daughter. :) So we start rolling balls in the snow, my nephew in charge of one, MC another, and I the third. Despite my confidence that I'd make the biggest ball for the base, they were all surprisingly close in size. After we stack them all up and the kids adorn the face and torso with various sizes and shapes of bark, MC laments that we cannot take our first snowman ever home to our own yard for all to admire and enjoy. So we've consoled ourselves with a few pictures of our beloved snowman:







On the way back they want to go down the snowy, muddy hill instead of the periphery sidewalk and so once again I have to follow them. I'm also a wimp at going down steep hills so I sit down on my feet and proceed to scoot/slide down the hill. Between the mud, the snow, and my slick shoes I fly down the hill rather quickly yelling, "watch out below!" and MC says with envy, "I wish I had shoes like yours". Meanwhile I'm at the bottom with mud all over me and wondering why I get myself into these messes. :P The things we do for our kids, sometimes, when we're (I'm) not too wimpy. :) How is it that as an adult I've become such a wimp?!!?