thrills and spills

Yesterday we took the whole fam (yep...extended too!) to Lagoon. The last time we all went together was 5 years ago. They added lots of stuff to the kiddie rides..yay!..and the new coaster "Wicked" was a big hit! Not for me of course...I'm more of a take-the-little-kids-on-rides person. We stayed from 11:00 a.m. til' nearly 10:00 p.m. We came home exhausted, sore, ready for bed, and with a car load of very happy kids! A little disclaimer: the pictures aren't my best...I didn't want to bring my nice camera, so I took Tim's backpacking camera. It is fine for still shots but if there is any movement, everything goes blurry.

Waiting in line for the log ride... everyone still soaked from Rattlesnake Rapids.

Dino drop...just perfect for the kids.

watching and waiting

Hey! Who's driving this thing? Cause no one is looking!

Little kids...little boats...just right!

Karate during lunch! Of course!

Carter reassured Trey all through the ride that he was okay...Trey disagreed..."too fast!"

This is probably one of the last pics of Carter with his glasses on. Tim took him on the Wild Mouse later in the afternoon. As they reached the highest point of the ride, he pointed out something for Carter to look at. Carter turned to look, the ride jerked around a corner, and his glasses flew right off his face. Damon watched them sail away. Poor Carter...the ride was ruined for him. They did shut down the ride and look for the glasses but to no avail. We checked the lost and found as we left...no glasses there either. Of all the ways to lose glassses....only my kid!

Ry and Bailee ready for take off.

So...you'll see a bunch of pics on this ride. It was one of the few that most everyone could go on. Laityn came off soaking wet...all the water sprayed over grandma's head and right on her!

Ty was lovin' the power of her own gun!

This is what happens when you are one inch too short to ride on Colossus with your dad. Papa fixed everything by sneaking her onto Music Express (another ride she missed by an inch!)

Yea...I know...this one is out of order.

Taking a last ride on the train.

Ty plugging her ears and smiling all the way!

So, so sleepy.

After Lagoon, I am so ready to take everyone and head back to Disneyland again. We are so lucky to all be so close and get to do so many fun things together. Such a great day!

mr. carter is nine..well...almost!

#9 is coming up fast for Carter...His bday is on Saturday, August 1st. Since the entire family will be on our annual camping trip, we celebrated on Sunday in Grandma's backyard. It seems like we just finished his baptism day...a year can go by so quickly. Carter has loved every minute of being 8...baptism, scouts, pack meetings, second grade...all of it. He is a thinker....and would be a computer addict if I didn't set some time limits! He is a sweet brother, especially to miss Lady. He will help her set up her Polly Pockets and then use his ninjas to play with her. And when Jace won't settle into bed, Carter will read him stories until he gets sleepy. Don't get me wrong, he loves to tease almost as much as Tim...he will be a professional by the time he is 12!

We've got to invest in some elbow and knee pads before we turn him loose on the skateboard!

I've been shot at more than once today from this little gun!

And no, Carter is not giving that smile because he is so excited about the new stuffed lion...he is smiling because that is a Webkinz and it comes with a code so he can make a new character on the webkinz website. Webkinz=heaven for Carter.

Makin' a wish...but not releasing the much coveted disc-shooter-gun-thing. Fun night, good cake, great presents...a very happy day for my boy!

sparkle eyed

Tonight was our annual 24th of July BBQ/fireworks show. We were a small group with Lindsey and her family up in Park City (celebrating her beyond awesome 10K today! She ran a 32:37...I think....beat her best time by more than 30 seconds! Came in 4th behind 2 Kenyan olympians and another girl who is also competing at a national level. There was only a 15 second difference between runners 2,3, & 4....needless to say....Lindsey rocked the race!). Nicole and her family were up at their cabin with Kelly's parents, so that left my parents, Damon, and his kids (Ora is on vacation). I know, long unneccessary explanation. We made bomb burgers...hamburgers, crumbled blue cheese, melted provolone, topped with pineapple...super yummy! As soon as it was getting dark, we pulled out the chairs and started throwing poppers and lighting the sparklers.

Carter throwing his handful of poppers yelling "firebomb!"

Jace being careful to only throw one at a time...he had to make sure each one popped.

ooooohh.....sparklers!

Carter turned and yelled "expelliarmous!"....been reading a lot of Harry Potter...wands are now a common occurence at our house. Jace ran around all morning waving a sword and yelling out spells (anything long and rhyming is a spell).

The wind started kicking up...Maddy thought she was pretty brave letting the sparks hit her hands.

The trailer made the perfect seat for the girls...Lady was memerized.

There is something special about summertime fireworks.

Trey wins the award for the best sparkler picture of the night. He just couldn't get enough! Maybe summer is the most wonderful time of the year?!

Cascade Springs

We took the kids to Cascade Springs today. I told the kids it was a hike, but really, can you call it a hike when the trail is paved? There were signs posted telling you what certain plants were, and what wild life to look for. It was a nice little walk... only .6 miles....and there was shade on about half of the path. Of course, we got started later than we hoped, the drive was longer than we thought, and by the time we got back to the car, the kids seriously thought they were starving right to death!

7 million gallons of water flow throught this spring every day.... who knew?

Taking a rest...surprising how many of these the kids thought they needed!

The only successful picture on the bridge...I tried many.

Biggest discovery of the day: the lizard with the missing tail!

After making it back to town, we took the kids to Gandolfos to use the free kids meal coupons they got at the parade last Saturday. Apparently, if you starve kids and then take them out, they eat really well! They didn't even have time to fight because they were too busy eating!

what do you do in the summertime?

Do you sit by stream and lazily dream as the clouds go by? I can't say the kids were dreaming or sitting, but they were sure having a blast today at the children's gardens at Thanksgiving Point! I took my kids + one and met my parents with Damon's kids at the gardens. They have added some new exhibits to the children's area...the kids, even my big girls, were totally entertained.

Climbing through the bear caves.

Lady thinkin' she's old enough to hang with the soon to be Jr. High girls.

Makin music on the wooden xylophone.

They added these slate tables and blocks made from scrap wood...the kids built all kinds of fun stuff!

Papa helping Trey make his own music!

This was my favorite shot of the day. Jace was building a tower...this dragonfly landed on top. I told him to touch the wing and make it fly away, but it didn't move. So I had him do it again, and caught it with the camera...pretty cool!

Karate moves on stage!

Just got hit by the water...chilly!

The wading pool was not working, so the water on the sprayers was turned up full blast. They were all soaking wet and happy! Love, love, love summer!