Archive for category: Family Activities

I’m trying to be more diligent about our week-in-review pages. I forget the little details of our life as time goes by. This week was mostly all about Abe… with his school program… his birthday… his teddy-bear picnic. He had a lot going on… and enjoyed it all.

I’m not sure what happened the rest of the week in all those small moments. I think I felt like giving up on my job as mother a few times. Luckily… I recuperated and plunged forward every day, I guess … not without a few tears over the antics of Truman and Max. We had a few errand days when we were “That” family at walmart and at Costco…. carrying Tru in and out of the store screaming … and wrestling Tru into his carseat. A toddler running where ever he wants in a parking lot or store = not a good idea. I felt like the not-so-stellar whale-of-a-pregnant mom hauling a screaming kid. Ay-ay-ay!

Hannah’s big thing this week was the father-daughter campout. She loved having time with dad. They set up the tent together… played some wiffle ball and other games. It was chilly and rained a little during the night. They came home tired smelling like camp fire. But overall… she claims she had a great time.

Next week – last week of school. Yay! Gearing up for a change of schedule. I’m excited.

Our stake had the annual father-son campout this weekend. We planned on Jimmy and Abe going (now that we finally have a tent!)… but when Abe had a belly ache all week, we decided it might not be the best option to send him out to the boonies with no facilities or running water for his 1st campout. He was pleased as punch to get to camp in the backyard…. so we made it a family event.

First up – set up the tent. Check (thanks for dad’s help!).

Next… bbq with hamburgers and hotdogs… a crowd pleaser around here.

S’mores… sorry to admit but we microwaved them. We didn’t think an open fire was allowed in the neighborhood… and Tru was such a rascal I feared he’d burn himself on the coleman stove or bbq. The tots still enjoyed them.

Pumping up air mattresses. We squeezed 1 large and 2 small air mattresses in that 4 person tent. Wait until we have to really rough-it.

Wrestling… I think Tru was wrestling and having fun… I think Max was pushing and screaming because Tru was on his bed most of the time.

Movie Night… The tots watched Tangled and ate popcorn.

All night I kept thinking that we should be having more fun together and it shouldn’t be so hard for everyone to get along … Then we put Truman in Bed. Sigh… Peace on Earth once again. (Tru… we love you kid, but 18-month-olds get into a lot of mischief when bothering sibling, crawling all over everyone, spilling root beer, etc. I also decided that I’m not ready to be a camping family until our kids are old enough to not cause a million disasters or fall in a fire.

Hannah opted out on the sleeping outside thing. But she read and had snacks with the boys. Abe, Max and Jimmy persevered and actually fell asleep out there. I was amazed that the boys lasted longer than 30 minutes. They all slept outside until 6:15 and then we enjoyed a breakfast of cinnamon rolls and scrambled eggs.

For Easter we got the kids some new Sunday movies to watch. I hadn’t heard of them until I saw a bit of one at my friend Laurie’s house. These Liken The Scriptures dvds are like scripture musicals. They are a bit corny but are fun for kids. They make me laugh (like in the following video when Thurl Bailey says, “Do I look like a dog to you?”). But I honestly really like them. Hannah loves them. Abe moans whenever a new song starts because he says that he doesn’t like singing in movies. Ha-ha… such a boy. But I have caught him several times singing the tunes when he’s alone… and he was excited when I put the music (we got free cds) to put on the family ipod. And Max keeps asking for the GIANT movie. We got David and Goliath, Daniel and the Lions Den, and Samuel the Lamanite. Anyhoo… they have been a fun addition to our scripture movie collection.

This is my favorite song and scene from David and Goliath.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2t5HGStN1Q&feature=channel_video_title[/youtube]

When Max heard we were heading to BYU today he was ecstatic about going to “The Bayou” (which is exactly how he says it. It’s so cute.)

I wanted to take my kids to the Carl Bloch exhibit before it left the Museum. We waited for 5 minutes in stand-by and headed into the very quiet exhibit. Quiet exhibit + 4 tots = aahhhhh. Tru was on one today and didn’t want to ride in the stroller or be held for long. He wanted to be free. Luckily we kept him semi quiet with sneaky “Tandy” while we whisked everyone to see the main 4 paintings. It really is neat to see the lovely displays with the huge paintings. What a talent this painter had! I can’t imagine creating such masterpieces with just a canvas, paint, a brush, and my imagination. My favorite is Christ and the Young Child. I love the light.

We quickly went through another exhibit about WORDS. We didn’t realize until we were up close, but that is a sculpture comprised of approximately 80,000 pounds of books — the equivalent weight of 30 to 40 cars. It was really cool. But a sign that says “no touching” + 4 energetic tots in the same room = ahhhhh. We quickly went on our way to walk around campus. We ate tasty donuts and icecream from the creamery. Abe saw his name “Abraham” on the ASB sign. We were on campus amidst a kazillion highschoolers there for a language fair. Imagine Truman wandering aimlessly on the sidewalks amidst oodles of kids = ahhhhh. But – we survived and glimpsed a bit more of campus. Plus it was great weather and we saw the sun.

The kids favorite was definitely the Tree of Wisdom sculpture. It was the coolest thing to them.

Here’s the video of all the fun they had running in-out-around-and-through:

Bye, Bye Spring Break. It was nice having you. See ya next year!

Yesterday we decided to go on a quickie spring break trip to Arches. We didn’t want to deal with a hotel and little cranky tots so we left about 8:15 a.m. (hitting construction traffic starting at our I-15 exit) and arrived home about 11:15 p.m. Each way was about 4 hours. A 15-hour day with lots of ups and downs… but overall a really cool adventure for our family. This is a major photo overload, but I just have been so stinky at recording our life lately and I don’t want to forget all the funny things about this trip.

We made it to the park and had a picnic. Tru only wanted to dig in the sand. He was in heaven. The kids found prickly pear cactus and thought they were so cute and little. They were glad to escape the car and get to run around. The weather was about 60 degrees and great! We walked .3 miles around Balanced Rock. It’s so amazing to see all those stacked and barely perched rocks. I definitely wouldn’t want to be there in an earthquake, but it really is an incredible creation in nature. The rock on top is 8000 lbs and will fall someday because the rocks underneath are being eroded. Abe always cracks us up with his funny poses. He also has to wear sunglasses and a hat because his eyes are soooo sensitive to sunlight.

We drove to see some of the sites… double arch, delicate arch (from so far away), Garden of Eden, North and South Windows. Hannah had her own map and followed where we were going. Tru loved walking his own way and at his own pace (which was very fast). He doesn’t exactly watch where he is walking but it’s so funny to watch him swinging his right arm so swiftly. He was oh-so-tired since we arrived right at nap time. He hung in there and was glad to be outside and he loved the hikes.

Landscape Arch (In Devil’s Garden) was the longest hike we did at 1.6 miles. I felt pregnant and slow (see that big belly!). Luckily Max was going slow so we were pals. He would stop every few steps and say, “You see my footprints”. I think he said it a hundred times. He loved the sand. He also carried his “Camera”/binoculars on every single outing. The funny thing is that he looked in the wrong end so everything looked little. He was a great little hiker. Abe carried all our water and he and Hannah ran ahead and all around. They really enjoy hiking too. Truman quietly fell asleep at the end of this hike on Jimmy’s back.

This is the same hike to Landscape arch, but Hannah kept calling it the Hike of Love. She commented on a couple and said, “They must be on their honeymoon because they are holding hands and they are dressed alike.” Then she turned her licorice string into a heart. And she found a huge rock shadow that looked like a heart. We held hands to show her that married folks with kids can be in love too. And she told us to kiss for a photo. Funny girlie! Abe and Hannah drew hearts in the dirt in honor of the LOVE hike.

The end of our journey. I renamed the 3 gossips to be the 3 wisemen… a cool rock statue. Pizza Hut at Moab. Hannah said it was such a fancy restaurant. We obviously don’t get out much. This pregnant mama loved having a hot tasty meal. We saw the petroglyphs in Moab and some rock climbers going straight up a sheer rock. Amazing! The tots finally fell asleep watching a movie. I looked back and Max had his blankie over his head. I think he likes to sleep snuggled in his blankets in his bed so he must have felt at home that way.

I wish I had more patience as a pregnant mama. I was a bit feisty with the tots when things didn’t go too well in the car. But overall, I really enjoyed our trip. Jimmy was really patient and fun. The kids got a surprise dvd for the trip (TANGLED). They loved that! One part that wasn’t photographed, but should be included as part of this adventure: public restrooms. I really think we took 50+ trips washing hands, taking 3 tots and a pregnant mama to the potty, etc. Public restrooms make me 1,000 happy to arrive home. I rejoiced in a nice warm shower to wash the grit and sand out.

Hopefully the kids will have a fun memory of our Arches trip. Hannah said, “Thanks so much for taking us on this most amazing awesome trip.” A good day with the fam.

{As for Tuesday: I knew we’d be cranky. I didn’t anticipate everyone waking at 8 a.m. after going to sleep at 11:30 p.m. I’m afraid my tears showed themselves this morning. We took Tru to his dr appointment and I was so grouchy that it was the longest wait we’d ever had at that doctor. Luckily, I just let the kids watch movies until lunch and quiet time. Then we rested. We enjoyed a nice supper of chef’s salad, baked potatoes, and yummy slush. Hannah gave an FHE lesson on honesty (a needful lesson after her day)… and we rejoiced when all the tots finally went to sleep at 8 p.m. We are one tired family. Hopefully the trip was worth it.}