Vacation 2013: Happy Fourth of July!

Eric giving some last minute directions to the little kids about the parade and water fight.

Waiting, waiting, waiting...it's almost here...maybe.

The traditional start of the parade: the Civil War salute.

It's almost time...

Ready, aim, 

FIRE!!

Our favorite part of the parade is the water fight with the firemen.  This year we passed the torch to the kids, they had so much fun!

Face painting, balloon animals, and some fun new friends at the park's annual carnival.

Looks like more than one person was worn out by all the activities.

Sneaking shots of Grandma and Grandpa Roberts.

Yup, we spent $20 on fire crackers to pass the time until the fireworks.

And some glow sticks/rings too :)

And now for the big event: laying out on the front lawn watching the fire works.

Vacation 2013: Dinosaur Park and other fun

Tuesday Eric and his mom and siblings spent doing the final burial task: selecting the headstone.  While they were off doing that, I hung our at the condo with the kids: watching movies and freezing in the pool.

On Wednesday, after the final tasks were completed, we had a day as a family at the Dinosaur Park (one of the three requests by our children).

The obligatory offering: Maddie did it again this year because Owen and Reed were not okay with being "fed" to a dinosaur.

Making friends with the triceratops.

Checking out the Raptor-Aidan and Aston were deep in conversation.

Maddie got a little overwhelmed this time, and for some reason decided to hold my leg for a few minutes.

I brought some quarters just for the duck food.  Always a fun thing watching the ducks and fish fight for the food (as long as we don't see any rats, we're good).

Finally, Davin's favorite: the Utah Raptor!  Along with a great shot of (almost) all of the cousins (Reed would have none of the dinosaurs).

After the dinosaur park, grocery shopping, and lunch, the kids got some serious time at the park (like they did almost every day). 

Maddie is a born climber, she has no fear of anything.

The kids loved walking and climbing all over these tires.

Davin trying out the climbing wall.

Aidan was awesome with the little cousins, playing with them and keeping an eye on them.

Where's Maddie?

Great hidding spot girl!

Vacation 2013: The Internment

Monday July 1st was Dad's internment.  It was a beautiful day, and hot by Utah standards (90's).

The cement cap, with dad's info.

Our final goodbyes.  

Of course we ended with a huge pot luck luncheon.  We didn't want to waste the time we had together before people had to leave for their own homes.  It was wonderful to see everyone again so soon.

Vacation 2013: the drive up and first day

This year we had the added bonus of being able to pick Aidan up from Scout Camp on our way up to Utah.  Which meant that we brought up a change of clothes for the boy, along with a couple of garbage bags and rope to lash his pack (filled with a week's worth of smelly clothes) to the roof of the car.

We stopped twice to find some geocaches, one was unsuccessful, the other was a great find!

Sunday we went to church across the park from the house.  I love the walk back through the park.

We also got ourselves settled in at the condo we'd be staying at for the week.  All I can say about that place is "WOW"!

Thr Fruits of our Labors

We decided to try out some purple "green" beans.  They won't be a repeat in our garden, too bad.  They looked pretty cool un-cooked, but once you cook them they turn green.  Plus the flavor just isn't anywhere as good as the Contender that we love.

Miss Maddie helped me make some more strawberry freezer jam-love her.

My fancy picture of the nectarine tree and the apple just beyond it.

This was my first ever attempt at a cooked and steam processed jam.  We had an amazing crop off of our nectarine tree this year, and even after eating (the birds took their share too), I was left with enough to make 6 1/2 pints of jam.

We also had a fantastic crop of cucumbers for making into pickles.  I won't be buying any pickling cucumbers for a LONG time.

And after we ate our fill of our apple trees' first crops, I tried my hand at apple butter.  SO very good!

And finally, just one day before we left on our family trip to Utah, we pulled the last of the grapes.  Quite a haul, many thanks to friends who helped us eat them!  Eric turned the rest into raisins to enjoy for a long while after.  And yes, that's all the Thompson's we got this year, weird.

Science Center,

And some much needed kid-time.

The human organ puzzle is tricky, 

Who will win: Eme (pulling up high), 

Or Maddie (pulling down low).

Yup, it was Eme, simple physics :)

And now it's the girls vs the boys, the girls were really happy that they won!

Hard, harder, and hardest...I was surprised that I only had to help Maddie :)

The boys each could pull themselves up, so could Eme (she was so proud)

We always finish with the water table, it's a huge favorite.  They'll spend 15-20 straight on this one piece, I have to remind them to share with the other kids too :)