Field Trip Time!

One of my favorite things about Valerie is how organized she is about summer field trips for the kids. She does her research and makes a schedule for the entire summer. Not just a week or two in advance, but the entire summer. Field trips on Tuesdays and hikes on Thursdays.

I need structure like that. I don't plan anything more than a week in advance. I'm more of a "what-should-we-do-today-because-you-guys-aren't-in-school-and-need-to-get-out-of-the-house-before-you-drive-me-crazy" type mom. So it's really nice to have Valerie do all the work and I can just tag along. :)

Our first outing was the Dinosaur Park in Ogden.

Lots of things to climb on...

Unless you're little and then you're stuck in the stroller.
Swings!

Yes, I was actually there...

Helene loves PB&J.

And I really do let her out of the stroller sometimes.

Thanks to Ben for being so helpful with Helene.

Next outing was a hike at Ensign Peak. I'm not much of a outdoorsy-type gal...to say the least. But despite the quick rise in elevation, carrying Helene most of the way (thanks to Valerie for helping to carry her), and my children whining--it was a beautiful hike.

A stunning view and lots to see along the way.
(Unfortunately, most of the pics from this hike and the next field trip were on my phone and the SD card got corrupted and I lost them all, so this is all I have. And if you say the words "file back up" to me, I will tell you to shut up...and I mean that in the nicest possible way, of course. Can you tell I am still bitter?)

The last outing before we headed back to So Cal was the Wheeler Farm. After visiting more kid-friendly farms like Underwood...this was a bit of a disappointment for the kids, but we went on the tractor ride and walked around and say the animals. And went to Sweet Tomatoes (same as Souplantation) for a late lunch, so it was all good.

Yep. That's Helene with an ice cream cone AND a brownie.
Girl after my own heart.

After this, we are headed back to So Cal for a few weeks for my niece's wedding and Hannah's birthday.

Discovery Gateway Visit

Valerie and Dave had a wedding in AZ to go to, so her wonderful mom stayed with us for the weekend and helped out. We decided to take the kids to the Discovery Gateway Children's Museum in Salt Lake.

All the kids had a great time. I loved that there was plenty for everyone to do, regardless of age. Helene loved the ball area. She probably could have spent the entire day there.

And she was a little obsessed with the baby doll stroller.
Hannah's favorite thing to do was deliver the mail...

While Helene enjoyed a little shopping...

and sampling...

I tried to tell her that meat is gross, but she can just find out for herself I guess.

A little drive time for the girls...

Cute Lucy
Sammy decided to try a little mail delivery.

Hannah made a few sandwiches in the deli...

Helene wanted to help out.

Some water play...
Crazy Hannah...
I even attempted a little rock climbing. Too bad the flash didn't go off, which made the picture blurry. Can't see my cute shoes...

And that was just the downstairs! We didn't even make it upstairs after spending over two hours there. We will definitely be headed back soon.

Memorial Day

Memorial Day had everyone finally feeling better and actually gave us some warm weather with temps in the high 70s--YAY!

We BBQ'd (burgers for everyone, fake chicken patty for me) and had all the fixings of potato salad, chips, fresh fruit and root beer floats.

Everyone happily played outside pretty much all day.

Helene LOVED the swing...

And apparently this burger...

Is that not the funniest thing ever?!
And it wasn't a one time thing. I was just only able to catch it perfectly on camera once out of the 20 times she did it.
And no--she's still not a meat eater. Turns out she was just eating the bun.
But I can't for the life of me figure out why she didn't just pick it up and eat it with her hands.
Funny girl...