Summer Flying By

Summer goes by so quickly!  It has been so ridiculously hot this year that I feel like we've been sluggish at ever wanting to leave the house, but we have managed a few things lately, such as bowling.  Cameron still likes to ham it up with the ramp, bumping the ball with his chest or rear end and bouncing the ball back and forth off the bumpers in strange patterns!

Parker's form kind of cracked me up.  He just lurched up to the line, often with one hand in his pocket, and flung the ball.  Actually managed a strike that way, too!

Kenzers gave me a run for my money (I need to practice without the kids or something, because this once a year bowling thing seems to mean each year the kids do better and I do worse!).  

We got ice cream at Macey's the other day, and the worker was extremely generous - the ice cream cones were so large he had to put them in giant cups instead!  Kenzie couldn't finish hers, so this is a genuine smile from Parker that he got to finish Kenzie's after finishing his!

More ice cream - while Kenzie practices driving us around, might as well stop for blizzards!  Nobody seems to mind that strategy!

Cameron said he wasn't interested in taking the training wheels off for the longest time, and then suddenly the other day he wrote down that his goal for the day was to ride his bike without the training wheels.  I ran alongside him the first few times, but by the second morning he was telling me, "I need to do this myself and not rely on you."  So grown up!

He is quite wobbly still, and veers off into the grass, but he's getting there!

Going swimming!  The county pool still isn't offering swim lessons, but at least the pools themselves are open!

The boys enjoying the motor boat.  What's funny is the battery died on them, so they paddled back in with their arms (Cameron claimed it was "Fun and soothing!" which made us laugh).  I'm glad they're enjoying their summer!

All Done Camping

Our last morning, having some french toast for one last meal in the trailer!  Cameron woke up with a huge grin on his face each morning, like he always does in the trailer.  Kenzie and Parker were definitely being teenagers, and they didn't roll out of their sleeping bags until I said, "French toast" and even then I was met with some grunts!

Kenzers always is a good sport helping disassemble the trailer and pack everything up.

The boys were done and they piled into the car, ready to head out.  Cameron has 100% fun until the second he's done, and then he was on his tablet ready to leave.  Kind of funny how that always works.  We came back to the sweltering heat and started laundry, took showers, and picked up pizza for dinner since we were all tired!  Always a lot of work, but worth it!

 

Ledgefork Day 2

Monday morning it was nice and dry, so we woke up late, had a big breakfast of hashbrowns, and then embarked on our favorite camping activity - sitting around doing nothing!

Cameron really couldn't just sit around when there were rocks to throw, though, so he invited me to go along back to the stream.  I suspect it was mostly so I'd help him gather large rocks!  (He did encourage me to throw some myself, though, and would tell me, "Good splash!")

He was having a great time.  "This is my perfect habitat!" he exclaimed.

Then Parker came and joined us for a bit.

There was even more throwing of rocks!  Cameron said, "I like this experience!"  He's a goofball.

Here's what Kenzie and Dad were up to!  Hammock time!

There were some little raindrops here and there again in the late afternoon, and Parker was quite concerned we wouldn't get a fire going.  Kenzie started the fire and was very proud of herself!

Tinfoil dinners!  When asked what they wanted to eat while camping, it was the only thing they all mentioned.

Parker was super happy that they could roast marshmallows after all!  The wind picked up, so we doused our fire early and didn't start another one, so we actually never used most of the firewood we collected the first night, but at least we managed to take care of the essentials with the s'mores!

Another tradition has been to play a little simple role playing game in the trailer.  Chris downloaded a packet several years ago, and it was aimed at little kids.  We were starting to think probably only Cameron was the right age now, but the older kids still sat there and played along and they all reminisced about how past games had gone in prior years.  Kind of cute.  I am glad they all have such fun camping!

Ledgefork Day 1

All packed up and headed to go camping Sunday afternoon!  We were hoping it wouldn't be so crowded camping at the tail end of the long weekend, although it was still pretty full at the campground!  Everyone else had the same idea!

Cameron was very eager to start exploring the campsite!

Cute Parker also excited to gather up firewood and challenge Mom to lawn darts!

Kenzie is still happy to go camping with us, too, and is quite helpful when setting up the trailer!

Kind of hard to see in the picture, but there's a deer right in the middle of the picture.  Several deer wandered across the campsite at different times, along with the standard squirrels and chipmunks.  Always neat to see.

It rained a little bit just after we set up the trailer, so we had dinner inside this first night!

When the rain stopped, we took the path directly behind our campsite and walked to the stream.

Kenzers picked wildflowers the whole way (she has a little collection going of pressed flowers).

We spent quite a bit of time gathering a huge pile of firewood so the kids could make s'mores, but then the dark clouds really rolled in, and it POURED for the rest of the evening.  We hunkered down in the trailer, and had hot chocolate and patriotic themed Hostess cupcakes instead to celebrate the 4th!  Thankfully we only had a few tiny spots that leaked a bit in the trailer, so we all stayed dry and warm, and went to sleep hoping the rain would let up for our next day!

Summer Fun for Cameron

I have a bunch of random pictures piling up of Cameron, so I figured I'd make a post for them.  Kenzie, Parker, and Chris all spent a couple of days at Youth Conference hiking, visiting Temple Square, and having a pool party with the youth.  Cameron and I had our own fancy date night to keep him from feeling too left out.  Cameron picked out the Christmas tablecloth and then insisted we have pretzels as a side dish to our chicken cordon bleu!  He was happy, though.

Visiting Grandma & Grandpa Arnold.  Cameron got to steer the boat and take Grandpa around the lake.  Grandpa came back laughing because apparently Cameron was narrating the entire ride: "Okay everyone, we are now reaching cruising speeds.  Please settle in!"

I laughed at this -- the Executech summer party was not that exciting to our teenagers!  Cameron had a hard time convincing anyone to play on the playground with him after our lunch!  Parker did finally throw around the frisbee with him.  Here they were waiting in line for churros.  (It was a slow line, to be a fair, but worth it!)

Cameron wearing my sweater the other day when we went out for ice cream.  

Kenzie has joined the marching band, so we needed to watch the Riverton Town Days parade yesterday to see her go by (unfortunately I pushed the wrong button on my phone and didn't make a video like I thought, but when she marched by she was on the opposite side of the street and they were taking a break between songs anyways!).  Thankfully the parade route now goes right down 2700 West, so we only had to walk a few houses down and stand at the end of our street to watch it.  Cameron was really excited, and then once he realized people were throwing candy he was really, really excited!  He managed to fill both his pockets and then also caught an Otter pop.   This kid has been having a busy, fun summer!

Kenzie is 16!

Somehow Kenzie is now 16!  She acted like she was too cool for McDonald's and hinted we could get it "for the boys" because "they like that".  I told her to be proud of her heritage (as her great-grandma and great-great-grandma were both pretty impressed by McDonald's!) and just admit that's what she wanted for her birthday meal.  As a little kid Kenzers always wanted "Happy Donald Mealins" so I guess even though she's getting older, not too much has changed!

We wound up celebrating over several days, which Kenzie was more than okay with.  On her actual birthday she was at Girls Camp, so the weekend before she opened all her presents!

After she opened all her presents, she did also pick she wanted sushi and a fancy piece of cheesecake for her dinner (this was the day after McDonald's - quite the opposite end of the culinary spectrum!).

Showing off her present from Mom & Dad - tickets to see the Frozen musical at the Broadway theater in Salt Lake in October.

Parker was so proud to give Kenzie the stuffed seal he picked out!  It really is so soft and fun to squish!

Here's the birthday girl the day after her birthday, when we saw her again!  She had fun at camp (they gave her a whole box of chocolate donuts and even let her sleep in a bit, so the leaders obviously know Kenzie well!).  

We are glad to have Kenzie around.  She's a good kid, and always the mother hen to her little brothers.  She helps me put away groceries without being asked, she does well in school, and she keeps her room pretty clean!  All around a really good kiddo!  Kind of crazy how quickly she's growing up!