First day of school

We have had one full week of school, and it seems to be going well! Here they all are on the first day, Monday.

Max is 7th, Ben 4th and Andrew 1st grade.

Andrew has the same first grade teacher that Max had, and Ben has a teacher we did not know before. But they seem nice, and each boy knows several other kids in his class.  Max leaves earlier and comes back later than the other boys, and he is missed.

I have to find time to be able to listen to each boy individually because they have had a lot of information to share each afternoon.

James started Upstart online preschool this week, and the day after Labor Day his preschool starts at the high school. He can't wait.  When the boys come home, he kind of attacks them because he doesn't know how to use the words to say "I missed you."

Lagoon and school preps

It was a good thing we decided to stick around instead of going to California, because we were able to get haircuts then go to Back to School Night on Thursday at two different schools. And Max was able to go to his 7th grade practice day Friday morning at the middle school.

This is the first time we have a bus-rider in our family, because the elementary school is just down the street. I still was on vacation Friday, so Millie and I went with Max to his bus stop.

I am glad I went, because the bus was really late! I called and they said it was a breakdown or something.  It finally came just before school was supposed to start, but ever since then has been on time.  Max found out on Friday that he knows several of the kids on the bus and has classes with a good variety of his friends from elementary school, church, and basketball. He got the hang of his locker, and felt a lot better about things.

After he got home (it was half-day for them), we went to Lagoon's water park for a few hours. Andrew rode some bigger slides for the first time and did great! Millie loved the lazy river. She wanted to be IN the water and kept wiggling all over to see it/splash it.

Saturday we had a laze-around day before the annual stake carnival that night.

Summer suddenly felt like it had sped by!

MTC Tour and Lego letdown

Thursday's StayCation plans included a tour of the new Missionary Training Center in Provo.

We boarded buses by the football stadium and rode over to the MTC.  JB says he had lots of memories come flooding back as we walked through the halls, because of the 3 months he spent htere before heading to Recife, Brazil.

I remember my mom telling me growing up about how her grandfather's farm and orchards were part of the land that later became the MTC campus.  Memories came back to me of dropping off friends, JB's brother Scott (here is his return), and my brother Seth (here is where I dropped him off).

We walked through the old part, and then the new. I loved the tall ceilings, the light, and the beautiful huge paintings and still photos and quotations on the walls.

Max has just 6 years before he can go!

Max and Ben said the cafeteria looked pretty cool. All those different types of cereal.

On the drive back up to Salt Lake City, we stopped at a place I had read about and told the boys about for several months -- a Bricks and Minifigs Lego Store. I honestly thought it would be fun for them. The big boys have been wanting to use their money on Legos all summer.

The boys had their wallets....but it was SO expensive! It was a visit of about 2 1/2 minutes before turning around and coming back out.  Ben was bummed, Max was disgusted -- and poor Andrew cried and shook his fists and said, "This isn't fun anymore!"  

It was doubly disappointing because we had at one point talked about going to Legoland during this week. But JB the bargain shopper had two new Lego sets at home he pulled out for James and Andrew, and I took Max and Ben to Walmart where they picked out cool sets to spend their money on. And everybody was happy again.

Antelope Island and Ogden Dino Museum

On Wednesday morning we ate another good hotel breakfast (I am being serious, it was quite good!), then we packed up and checked out of the hotel in Logan and drove south. We were going to go to the Ogden Dinosaur Museum first because of driving direction, but switched plans because it didn't open til 10 AM.

So we took the causeway across the Great Salt Lake to Antelope Island. It is very scenic, it's much larger than I expected, but it's not very "fun" for 4 year olds  named James who insist on being the only one to use the telescope viewers.  You can see him below in Max's picture for his scout assignment of some plants on the island.

And then Max took a picture through the viewer of the lone bison we all wanted to see.

We saw another bison on our drive around the island...and some buffalo pooh. Scat. Dung. Droppings. I now have pictures of that, too, on my phone.

So then we went back north east to the Ogden Eccles Dinosaur museum.  This was mainly for Andrew and James, but Ben also came in for fear-of-missing-out and to help me. JB and Max went to get us all some lunch at the Pie Pizzeria location nearby.

Inside the museum was a small-ish room with some skeletons, but upstairs was a robotronic scene that fascinated Andrew and James. We spent a lot of time watching these dinos roar and move. And it was dark and cool and I nursed the baby there.

Baby paleontologist.

They could dig in the sand all day, even though the day before at Bear Lake they had been digging in the sand all day. They showed me every bone they uncovered.

Outside are five acres of dinosaur sculptures. The boys below were running underneath the Brachiasaurus and wouldn't stop to pose.

And then Andrew wanted to be like a T-Rex in front of every predator, just like last fall at Thanksgiving Point's museum.

He made James pose, too. If you saw the video on my Instagram, you saw Andrew trying to get James to stay still for the picture, and James melt down when his arms wouldn't stay inside his sleeves. I just kept giggling as I tried to help them, I couldn't help it.

Then we headed home in time for a quiet time and dinner before Ben's scouts and Max's first Young Men/Young Women combined activity.

Bear Lake

Take me back!

Bear Lake on Tuesday was all right, all right, all right.

We always wake up early, so once we had hotel breakfast, we set off through Logan Canyon for the roughly hour-long drive to Rendevouz Beach. We were the first ones there, though later on it filled up quickly. 

(James with his discovery in the water)

The water level was much higher than two years ago when the boys and I were there with my friend Sarah Allred, but there was still plenty of good sand. I bought sand toys a few weeks ago thankfully.

The boys dug holes, and Millie would climb in.

She was such a beach baby. Loved every thing about the whole experience.

JB had the best idea. He rented a three-seater SeeDo for an hour, and took the boys out in turns. They told me they had a BLAST.  They got to take turns driving it, and they went across to the other side where Max's scout camp was.

Here are Ben and James.

Then Andrew and Max had a turn.

James got cold and tired after his turn.

He even curled up and took a nap in one of the chairs!

Ben, Andrew, and James took turns burying each other in the sand. They tried to surprise the rest of us.

For dinner, upon my friend Sarah's recommendation, we went to Zipz. Very yummy hotdogs and chicken and smothered tots. 

Next door to Zipz is the famous LeBeaus, where we got shakes to share. One Oreo, and one raspberry Oreo. We had a raspberry shake from a shack on the beach that was also yummy. Gosh I could live like that. I guess that's what makes it vacation! 

Staycation

I took a week off work, and we planned something every day the week before school started.

We started by going up to Logan Sunday after church, where we had dinner and spent the night with JB's former mission companion and his really fun, nice, cute family.  Some of our kids met in December 2009 during this epic trip to Temple Square with our two little boys (Darren took the hilarious pictures), and also referenced here during the great mini-van love affair.

On Monday we explored Logan, walking all around USU Campus and getting some Aggie Ice Cream.  Here are JB and Max on the famous hill.

We took a picture by Richards Hall.  Max was on the lookout for wildlife for a Scouts assignment and we snapped this picture of a squirrel on campus but now I notice the sweetness of 6 year old Andrew holding JB's hand.

We ate lunch at Herms by the Logan River after a recommendation from a friend, and that was delicious. The kids were very good at the restaurant.

Then it was play time at Bridger Park. Ben helped me pick it after we googled parks in Logan and looked at images. It was a good one!  JB put up his hammock and I plopped the baby in there so she wouldn't keep dragging her blanket up and down the stairs.

When it was time to check in to the hotel, we went straight to the swimming pool first.  This girl LOVED the water.  Wanted to crawl in it and put her whole face in.

I didn't get any pictures of Max, but I was proud that these three other boys seemed much braver.

Pray for me/James if we start swimming lessons again, but he needs them.

We also saw the Logan Temple and Logan Tabernacle. They are such beautiful buildings.   After a movie in the hotel room and lots of shushing, it was lights out early. We had a trip to Bear Lake the next day!

Bees game

Papa had GREAT seats to a Bees game the weekend of Pioneer Day, and it was Star Wars day at the ballpark! Happy happy fans.

And I spotted a BYU football player at the playground with his kids and secretly sent a picture of him to my fellow fan friends.

And James and Andrew took some batting practice in the kids area, and I realized I should practice with them in the backyard like I used to do with Max and Ben at their age  (like this post). They have improved a lot ever since.

And there were fireworks after the game.

Pioneer Day

So I totally put Millie in a boat at Lagoon and the operator said normally it's a no-no (because babies don't have a ticket, they can only ride the carousel and train) but he would let me this time because LOOK AT THAT FACE.

She was SO happy all the way around and around.

While there, we met up briefly with the Christensens, who used to be in our ward and I miss them so much. Four boys and then a surprise girl (sound familiar?) and then just recently another girl (but that's where the similarities stop for us, Millie's the last-born).

Her kids are sweet and polite and rode rides with my little boys, while my big boys were with JB on the bigger rides.

We were there with the Richards from Texas (via Switzerland) because their oldest boy was going into the MTC that week.  Speaking of sweet and polite kids, those Richards from Texas are just the best-behaved and nicest teenagers around.

Here is JB with Greg (we last saw him in Houston with his brother York before our cruise)

Just the best people.

To round out the day, I snuck in some watching of my favorite movie. James stopped what he was doing and looked up, enthralled, and I snapped this pic.

Joe's house

I am playing catchup.  On a Saturday in July, we drove south to Springville to hang out with my brother Joe, his wife Susan and their cute 4 year old Kaylee. His complex pool was being cleaned (sans notice) so we adjusted quickly and went to the city splash pad. Not bad!

We can always count on fun animals to see at Joe's house. This is Hedwig.

Joe made hot dogs/ sausages and stuff and I talked Gilmore Girls and Harry Potter and the upcoming school year with Susan. We should do it again.