Once we were home from the beach we jumped right into sumer activities. We went the park, to splash pads and even went up to Ogden and to Midway for a few fun afternoon with cousins. We kicked off summer with our first (and incidentally, only) outdoor movie at Adobe. The movie was Big Hero 6- one of our favorites. The boys brought their sleeping bags and put them to good use! I guess after a full day of fun in the sun both Brady and Ryan were wiped out- only staying awake for the first 30 minutes or so. Camden, on the other hand, had a great nap that afternoon and was wide awake for the whole show.
I took the boys hiking to Battle Creek Falls one Monday morning. We had big plans this summer of sticking to a weekly schedule and Monday was dubbed, "Field Trip Day." So our first "field trip" was up to Battle Creek Falls. There was lots of complaining on the hike up, but the kids had fun once we reached the water fall. Ryan jumped right in!
I think it was good for the boys to do something that didn't come easily to them. In the end, they felt like they really accomplished something.
Tuesdays were declared, "Pool/Splash Pad/Water Days". So on Tuesday we met up with Lindsey and Rick at the Provo Rec Center and got our swim on.
Both Brady and Camden took poolside naps- allowing us to spend 5(!) hours at the pool!
There were some big water slides outside that Ryan was nervous to go down. Rick offered him $1 if he would try it once. Money motivates and after one trip down he was ready for another! And another. And another.
Zach was out of town so after swimming we grabbed a pizza at Costco and went to Lindsey and Rick's house in Provo to hang out.
The kids had fun on the swing set in the backyard and watched a couple episodes of Curious George after eating pizza. It was a perfect afternoon.
On the way home from Lindsey's house, we stopped at the Snow Cone Shack by our house. The boys had had their eye on it since it opened at the end of Spring and it was fun to check that off of their summer bucket list.
Wednesdays were "Library Wednesdays" because Ryan's elementary school opened its library to students from 10am-noon all summer long. We don't have access to a free public library (Thanks a lot, Cedar Hills!) so it was a treat to get to go each week and pick out some new books to read.
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| Camden wouldn't agree to a picture- but I got him in the reflection! |
And what's a visit to the Dino Museum without a stop at the mirrors to admire/kiss yourself?
We decided that Thursdays would be "Friends and Cousins Day". On this particular Thursday we met the Smiths up Provo Canyon at Bridal Veil Falls.
We packed picnic lunches that we planned on eating at some picnic tables that were a short walk down the trail from the falls. When we go to the tables, however, there were high powered sprinklers going off soaking the tables and all the surrounding grass! We ended up eating in the back of the van- which was probably more exciting for the kids anyway and it was well shaded!
Pleasant Grove had Strawberry Days and we went to check out the carnival rides one night after Zach got home from work. The prices were outrageous! We told Ryan he could pick one ride to go on. He chose the roller coaster. $5 later... (!!!) he loved it! Luckily, Brady was in a foul mood and didn't want to ride anything. We didn't argue with him on that!
The next day was Friday. Friday was supposed to be "Crafts and Out to Lunch with Dad Day" but we bent the rules a little and went to Huck Finn Days in Pleasant Grove instead of doing a craft. It was a cute little festival with carnival games for the kids where they could win prizes and it was all FREE!
After the carnival games and rides we met Zach for lunch.
This was the only week that I documented each day's theme but we did try to stick to it throughout the summer. It was fun to have something to do together everyday! I love hanging out with these three little dudes!
2 comments:
What a fun idea to have themed days! I've been trying to have play dates every day (sometimes two, one in the morning and one in the afternoon) with one outing a week to somewhere outside of the house. The playdates have been exhausting and leave my house a week.
It is too hot to do much outside though. And I admit that going out more often than once a week is intimidating for me. I hadn't realized how tiring and potentially dangerous having one adult with four kids (when the oldest is six) would be. I did the children's museum on Friday, and it is really hard to handle infant diaper blow outs and nursing with toddler melt downs with a preschooler who wants to try to do all of the exhibits and a first grader who actually wants to read everything and actually do all of them.
I had a young woman go with me to the movie theater last week just to have more arms. (And all I paid for was her movie ticket and candy!) I think I will ask her to come with me the next time I go out.
That balloon wonder of the world was really cool. And crazy. Who thinks of that? :)
How do you not have a public library??? That's wonderful that his school is willing to open during the summer. Do they open to the public or only to their students? Like if Ryan were still too young to go to school there could you get books?
They let Brady pick out books under Ryan's name. I think you have to have a student currently enrolled to check out books.
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