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The kids lanyards chalk full of the Brag Tags they earned this summer.
Graham ended up with the most 77 out of 101 ;) |
Wasatch County went and did a good thing this summer. They rolled out the UNPLUGGED program. In a nutshell this program was a way to get families into the great outdoors, to experience our valley and the wonders it has to offer, and to get foot traffic into local businesses. Each time we did one of the activities they received a BRAG tag from the business who sponsored it. The four younger kids became mad about collecting these tags.
Matt said this program was a life saver while I was in Hurricane with the sisters. He was working from home so he wasn't able to entertain the kids. Because of the Unplugged program they entertained themselves by earning the tags they could do at home such as: water balloon fights, paper airplanes, frisbee, looking at the stars, watching a sunset...you get the idea. He called the program INSPIRED.
More ambitious things we did were:
This ride
was the very day that school got out for summer vacation. Local school kids
could ride for free. Mallerie was working so she got to ring up our Starbursts
while being trained on the register. You can see from the picture of Graham
that this was the FIRST brag tag for his lanyard.
"Lemonade
10 Cents!" Ava always gets Callie's hair looking so cute. Graham with his
buddy Tyson. Another day soon after we saw Tyson sitting on our corner selling
WATER. The RS president stopped by with her dollar to see what they were
selling and he grabbed it, "A DOLLAR!" before she could protest. I
said, "No selling water, you'll taint the image of this corner." We've
worked hard through the years to establish a reputation for our little corner
;)
A day at the lake. The tubes blowing
around proved to be quite the entertainment for Graham and Callie who chased
them all over the beach (think that pioneer game where they roll a wheel with a
stick). The wind sent one of our inner tubes rolling away at full throttle
though. It's amazing how fast you can run for a long time when you have to!
After I caught it I turned towards our stuff to see two more roll loose. I
planted my feet and stretched my arms out and caught those suckers as they came
at me 90 mph. Ava and I got the biggest kick out of it.
Laughing our heads off at the lake made for a good time.
Annual trip to the Demolition Derby. Graham was eyeing this girl in the HAT.
"I think I'm in
love."
Fishing on the Provo. Correction, ATTEMPTING to fish on the Provo River. From there we attempted a bike ride up by Kamas. It was a steep mountain trail impossible for the bike trailer so we went to get back in the truck. Graham's lanyard had been sitting on the back bumper since Midway and had not fallen off. A miracle. This miracle boosted my spirits because to be totally honest I was in the worst mood that day. I knew it was silly and I was in the great outdoors with my family and I needed to just enjoy the moment. But do you ever get where you can NOT shake that bad mood?
From there I took Ava and Callie to the Homestead for their summer concert series. The day ended lovely as we enjoyed fresh air, beautiful music, and a sample of fudge!
Walking through the conservation projects at Strawberry. This is where the hatcheries are that ensure Utah lakes and streams are always stocked with fish.
Carnival time! Since the rides made the kids so sick last time I let them each choose one game on the midway to play. Graham chose the balloon dart game. Bam, bam, bam, pop, pop, pop. The first three he threw were the first three he popped. He was thrilled, the same went for Grayson at the basketball toss and Callie picked a marked rubber ducky for her game. They won cheap trinkets but couldn't have been happier. Callie left her purse at the fair. The next day Matt got a call from the Sheriffs office, "I am calling about your daughter Katrina." Matt said his heart dropped to his stomach. They were calling about that darn lost purse. Callie had Katrina's student ID in it. I wonder if the officer thought it odd that a senior in HS only had .28 cents and a bunch of scribbled on drawings in her purse.
Picnic at Whiskey Springs. Wow. It was a lovely night. I took a path off the main trail and found a slide of rocks that seemed a mile long. The moon was out and when Matt sent me this photo he appropriately called it "moonshine."
In these pictures Graham and Callie are proudly boasting their Jr. Ranger badges they had just been awarded. On the hike up the rocks we found a cleared area that seemed to be someone's drinking place. Part of being a Jr. Ranger is a promise to pick up trash and Graham was excited to do this. As he loaded a bag with Budweiser cans he said, "Boy, someone sure was THIRSTY!" I kept thinking of Grace Edwards from Little House when Isaiah's "thinking" place was discovered, "Sounds more like a drinking place to me!" But really, we were at Whiskey Springs, what did we expect.
We weren't quite ready to call it a night after Whiskey Springs so we went to the local outdoor production of The Music Man. I am not familiar with this play but after the opening number we knew it was exactly going to be fast paced. One of Grayson's good friends was in the ensemble. I looked over to see if he was watching his buddy to see Grayson wrapped up like he was in a body bag. Friend or not Gray did not want to see, hear, or SMELL the play.
I thought you had to be Trouble with a capital T to use the skate park, turns out anybody can use it.
Hitting a Bucket of Balls at Wasatch State Golf Course. This was my first time on a driving range. We had a great time but no one more so than Graham. When I asked him what his favorite memory of summer was he said, "Hitting a bucket of Balls." Matt has a football buddy in Grayson but he may also have a golf buddy in Graham.
A new 24th of July tradition has been born! Last year Shafer and Lindsey's family enjoyed a bike ride with Jon and Lindsey's family down Provo Canyon to their house in Provo. We joined them this time around and it was sooo lovely! We started at beautiful Vivian Park and rode past Bridal Veil Falls and under the bridge past Nun's onto University and through Provo following the river. I have passed this trail hundreds of times in my life and never gone on it! It was a real thrill for me.
Katrina surprised us all and rode down Provo Canyon one day with her friend. Except they started in Midway. That is a 22 mile ride! For 7 miles they had to be on the road. This scared me to death and I told her never to do that again. She thought it was pretty miserable getting to Vivian anyway. Thankfully her friend's brother picked them up in his truck at The Riverwoods so they didn't have to ride back.
