Friday Field Trips

Some of you may be wondering about my lack of blog posts of late. Let me explain: I've been out enjoying the summer with my family, and what a summer we have had! Being the (highly) structured person I am, I cannot handle doing nothing for the entire summer. I also worry about the kids losing all the academic knowledge we have worked so hard to acquire all year.

Sooo . . . school work. Yes, you read that right. Every morning Monday through Thursday the kids have to do their chores, 30 minutes of reading (and write one book report each month), and 30 minutes of vocabulary (http://www.freerice.com/ or www.readinghorizons.com/lemonsforliteracy/lemons.html) and typing on Mavis Beacon or 30 minutes of math (we alternate days). Aspen gets to read her books from preschool (she's alreday through the short vowel sounds and working on the silent "e") and some thinking, counting, and writing worksheets. It's been wonderful! The kids are doing really well. So, as a reward, we go on "Friday Field Trips" each week. Of course, I only take my little camera, and I'm trying to watch 4 kids, so I don't take as many pictures as Dennis might, but we do have some record of the event.

Although there have been more than 3 Fridays this summer, we have only been on 3 Friday field trips because of various events (such as a vacation to California).

Our first Friday field trip was to the Bean Life Science Museum at BYU. The kids really love it there, especially the live reptile show (which is the one we seem to catch every time).

Next we went up to the Church History Museum, just across the street to the west of Temple Square. It was awesome! The kids learned tons about all the prophets, the pioneers, and the tabernacle. They also really enjoyed all the activities in the kids' room such as tying a quilt, building or coloring a stained glass window, dressing up and acting out the nativity, building a temple with blocks, tracing "CTR" in multiple languages, playing with the dolls in the nursery, etc. It was fantastic!

Our most recent "Friday Field Trip" was to the American Fork Fire Department. to the awesome firemen at the AF Fire Station who let us tour their facility, crawl all over their trucks, and listen to them tell us about firefighting for over an hour. They were awesome!!! Devin would like to be a fire fighter, so it was great for him to learn about the training required, hours, duties, etc. They let the kids go up and see their break room, weight room, dorms, etc. They also gave them all "fire chief" hats and coloring books, crayons, and stickers. If you notice Shaylee is suspiciously missing in all these pictures, it's because she's at Youth Conference (although Dennis was able to come with us, hence the multitude of pictures).

Beach Trip 2009 - Take 2

Well, after a crazy spring break trip to the beach (think everyone with the flu craziness), we decided to head back with dad. Woo hoo! What an awesome trip. Always better when Dad's around (mom feels like she sort of got a vacation too), the weather was perfect, everyone's health was perfect. We could not have asked for a better trip.

We drove all night Tuesday night and got there in the wee hours of the morning on Wednesday. We were overlapping with my mom's last day at the beach with my sister Brianne and her friend Melissa. What fun! We tried to be quiet as we got everyone into bed, but Grandma let Aspen sleep with her, and that was the end!

We were up bright and early and out at the beach by 9 a.m. We pretty much spent the whole day on the beach. Grandma and Breezy left really early the following morning (like 4 a.m.). We spent Thursday morning at the beach, then headed to Little Tokyo for our traditional Shabu Shabu. Yum! Aspen even loved it, although Shaylee wouldn't touch most of it. We also stocked up at the Japanese market on foods we cannot get here in Utah. The kids also got some fun souvenirs.

Thursday morning we headed to Crystal Cove State Park and the tide pools. We found TONS of crabs, plus a rabbit and some birds nesting in a sea cave. We spent the rest of the day on the beach. That night, rather than fork out another load of money for our traditional dinner at The Old Spaghetti Factory, we decided to make spaghetti at the house, but Dennis had to have their broccoli with mizithra cheese. Not wanting to give up my parking space on a Friday evening, I roller bladed down to The Old Spaghetti Factory and convinced one of the guys doing valet parking to go in and get it for me--he told me to just go in with my blades on (I had brought sandals in a plastic bag, but it's a hassle to take off your blades, go in, then put them on again). Anyway, that was great.

It rained Saturday, but we were packing up and heading to Great Grandpa and Grandma Pearson's for lunch and an afternoon of games and visiting. Thanks for a great trip!

I make dirt look good!

But Mom says I shouldn't eat it!

Connor loved the water and got all the way in.

Devin got pretty brave with his boogie board.

Check out these waves!

Who knew Dennis was such a water fiend! We had to drag him out (he and I boarded most of the day Friday, and it was awesome!).

Not sure what Shaylee is doing here (then again, am I ever?).

Water soccer, very popular.

My boys . . .

Devin is also quite the sand digger/builder.

Grandma and Connor had a great time.

Heading to the pier for our evening walk and Balboa Bars.The girls . . .

The ducks (they enjoyed our leftover rolls)

Connor couldn't get enough of them.

You don't think I'm going to let you make me leave, do you?

Let's go to the beach!

I wasn't kidding about that kid wanting to live in the water!

Check out my man! What a hottie!

Our sand princess--although she said getting in the water was the highlight of the trip (it took her 3 days to work up the courage to put her toes in--I was so proud of her!)

My girls . . .

Crystal Cove State Park (above the tide pools)

Check it out!

Careful, slippery when wet.

Our rabbit friend

A crab

Birds nesting in a sea cave (did I mention Connor is a bird watcher like his Grandpa Pearson? couldn't get enough of them).

Playing Skip-Bo with Grandpa and Grandma Pearson