Pioneer Days

We are now down in Utah for our annual summer trip to Springville. We spent Wednesday (July 23) driving down and made it in a record 12 1/2 hours. I packed all the kids a huge snack bag to munch on all day. That way we only made quick potty stops and only one stop for dinner. The kids were so excited to arrive at Nanny and Grandpa Hansen's house and hit all their favorite spots right away. Sean dove into the toy box. Chad ran out to the back yard to catch bugs and jump on the trampoline and Halle played with the barbies and all the new outfits my mother had knitted for them.

Thursday was Pioneer Day here in Utah. I was excited to be down for Pioneer Days with my kids as they really don't know what that is all about yet. We started off with a great parade in Spanish Fork for their Fiesta Days and parked our car on the road leading into our old neighborhood where Chris and I started off our married life. Chad was into the different cars, clowns, and military equipment. Halle waved to every princess. Sean kept rolling himself into a burrito with our blanket. And even though it was 97 degrees outside we had plenty of cloud cover to make being outside enjoyable.

After the parade my dad spoiled the kids by taking them on the carnival rides. Sean and Halle stuck to the little kids rides. Chad got adventurous and went on a ride with his dad that was pretty wild. You were strapped into a seat and then sent twirling around and upside down and all over the place. It was hilarious to see both Chad and Chris's faces as they flip flopped from terror to delight every couple of seconds.

The next adventure was to get everyone down for naps! After a long drive and an early morning we grownups were exhausted!

We then ventured over to the Spanish Fork swimming pool. It is the greatest pool in the world! A deep end with two diving boards. A huge swimming area. Three different kids' areas and a big slide to go down. And what was the price? Only $3 per person!!!! Why can't Spokane have better and more affordable pools?!!!!

Finally we had a BBQ with my grandparents and then lit fireworks. My dad gets excited to spoil the grand kids! And after hearing me whine that fireworks are illegal in Spokane, my dad set out to make amends. He bought a box of fireworks as tall as he is! The kids were ecstatic to pick their firework out and then have dad or grandpa light it for them. As soon as it was lit they would run as fast as they could away from the firework and yell, "Run for your life!" It was so funny.

It was a great Pioneer Day! Although, I don't think my kids still understand what pioneers are. But they had a lot of fun.

Today we got to go boating at Yuba Lake. My brother, David, joined us. It again was perfect weather (under the shade)! Hot enough to make the cool water feel refreshing and a slight breeze to help cool things down. Just to make things interesting, by dad build a fire to cook hot dogs. That's right. A fire in 100 degree weather!!!! What we should have brought was a solar cooker - it would have worked great!

The kids spent the day catching bugs, swimming in the water, tubing behind the boat and riding in the boat. We almost got Chad to water ski. He got all the way in the water but then quit as soon as Grandpa tried to get the skies on him. Oh, well. There is always next year.

Chris and I skied only once - that is all we had enough energy for! As we were getting ready to leave a huge storm came in and tried to blow all our stuff away. Sand was blowing everywhere!!! It was really crazy. I was glad we were not out on the water any more.

After a great dinner of KFC (my absolute favorite fast food!) we again had my grandparents over and did more fireworks! Yes, there were still plenty left from the night before. It took about an hour and a half to finish them off tonight.

The kids are now tucked into their beds. They are sun kissed and so happy to be having so much fun. And this exhauseted mommy is going to bed! Goodnight.