This has been anything but the leisurely summer I had imagined. We are so busy playing it is simply exhausting! Josh often says, "you can sleep when you die." Who needs sleep anyway? Okay, I do, but we have been playing really hard. I've captured a few pictures to illustrate the fun!
It was VERY outside my comfort zone, but we decided to go to the Romer family reunion early and camp with some of my cousins and their families. (I wish I'd taken pictures of the tents to prove it.) We did survive. Getting dirty and smelly isn't my favorite thing, but being with family is. It is really fun to see my kids play with the children of my cousins (who I adore and grow up very close to).
Ali is pictured here with my cousin Tammie's little girl, Cali.
Andy spent his time with my cousin Emily's boys. I'm so grateful to my Grandma Romer for establishing a date and tradition of the family reunion so long before she died so that it continues.
A big part of our summer fun is playing with the neighbor children. There are so many kids around!! We only need to be home for a few minutes before we begin to hear knocks on the door. I need to take more pictures of my kids playing with the neighbors because it is such a big part of our lives, but here is Johnny with Jamison.
And another one with Ali and Devyn. Growing up in the country it is hard for me to image having friends so close and available to play. I think it is a wonderful way for my children to grow up. Now that I think of it, at this moment I have one of my children at home, Johnny. Caleb is at Sports Camp, Cara is at reading, Andy and Ali are at Fun in the Sun Summer Camp. The ironic thing is I am tending two neighbors and two others are over playing with the ones I'm tending. Yep, we live with a lot of kids!
We spent one weekend this summer enjoying some of the fun things in SLC. One day we went to the zoo. It was a cool and beautiful day. I do enjoy the smiles and excitement on my kids faces.
Somehow I got in a few of the zoo pictures. That's unusual.
The highlight for my kids, of any weekend get away, is swimming at the pool at the hotel.
All of my kids love the water, but none are as brave as Ali. She just can't help herself from flipping into the water time after time. She is a little fish!
Cara climbs trees every time she gets a chance, this one was outside our hotel. This summer our cherry tree produced cherries for the first time. (We've had it for 8 years so you can understand our excitement.) I don't think I got more than three of them. Every time I looked outside Cara or some other neighbor kid was up in the tree. At least the birds didn't get them.
Last month a new children's museum opened at Thanksgiving Point. It is amazing!!
We spent FIVE hours there, and could have spent longer except we got hungry.
Of course, Cara loved the art.
Andy is pictured here propelling a train which was moving above him with a camera attached.
Johnny is flying an airplane that is hanging from the ceiling. So fun!
Of course the water room was a hit.
Caleb's favorite thing was a tower that was made of straps. He would climb from level to level. It was really quite cool.
There was also an outside portion to the museum with fantastic park equipment, a cave, and a pond with glass walls for viewing the fish.
The outside portion also included a Noah's arch splash pad.
This summer we also hit an air show at Hill AFB. We saw the Thunderbirds fly. It was breath taking. Josh's family joined us.
