Memorial Day Weekend Fun, Day 2

Today we spent Memorial Day at the lake bed with the Smith's and McKee's. We took up the boys' bikes for all the kids to ride and the BBQ grill to make some hot dogs and burgers for lunch.

We got everything set up and then it was time for everyone to play. Mary was nice enough to bring some bubbles for the kids and I think Jaron really enjoyed them...


I'm not sure how he managed to run and jump around in his riding boots, but he did.

Jaedyn started out her lake bed fun with a yummy banana...


It wasn't too long after we got there that the kids got hungry, so we started up the BBQ grill and made some grub for them.

(from left to right...Jaedyn, Brody, Chandler, & Jantzen)


(from left to right...Jaedyn, Brody, Stella's back, Chandler, Jantzen, & Camden)


The kids all ate, except Jaron, then they were off to play again. Jaron was too busy to eat because he was having a lot of fun riding his bike.


Jantzen, Chandler, Keagan, and Kaiden all took turns riding Jantzen's bike since it has the training wheels and this was the first time they have been able to ride a dirt bike all by themselves. Jaron just followed all of them while they rode to help them out if they needed it. He's getting really good at working the bikes. Here he is riding with Keagan, they had a lot of fun riding together...



Jaedyn and Stella had their own fun playing on the trailer, eating otter pops and getting dirty...


I had to get a shot of our "camp" for the day. With the lake bed not having any trees to shade us, it was nice having two canopies to give us the shade we needed. Notice who's under the canopies, yep, it's the guys! I think Kelly was taking a nap under there. I also loved the shot of Mary in this picture...sorry Mary, but you look fabulous!


Jantzen and Camden kept themselves busy with their creative playing they were doing. I don't know what exactly they were playing, but they were both having a lot of fun.


Jaedyn found herself her own McKee boy to play with...Casen. They had a blast jumping and laying on Mary's cot. And yes, it did start to get a little windy on us there. I thought that made for a cute picture of Jaedyn with her hair flowing in the wind, she was loving it.



I can't forget the pictures of the adults. We were all dirty and sweaty, but it was all in fun.

Here I am with a couple of hotties, Mary (middle) and Rikki (Left)...


Here's Josh with Kelly (left) and Todd (right)...


We spent almost the whole day up at the lake bed. I didn't think it had been that long, but I guess we were all having so much fun that time just went by so fast. The boys all had fun riding Jantzen's bike and I had fun chatting with our friends...it was a good day for all. I'm so happy to have my family and good friends to go and do fun things with.

Memorial Day Weekend Fun, Day 1

Yesterday we started off our Memorial Day weekend at Logandale Trails with the Ashby's. We were excited for a day of fun with dirt bikes, 4 wheelers, hiking, and relaxing. As soon as we got there, Jaron disappeared with Jace, and Jaedyn and Jantzen relaxed under the canopy. It was funny because Jantzen sat down first to get a drink and as soon as Jaedyn saw him she had to have her drink and copy him.


The boys did a lot of hiking on the mountains and rocks, I didn't see much of them the whole time we were up there. It was really nice being able to let them run around and have fun. Jaron and Jace were really good about letting Jantzen tag along with them. They found this "fort" in one of the rocks and they played in it for hours.




While the boys were playing on the rocks, Jaedyn just hung out with me. She mostly wanted to drink (Jantzen's powerade) and eat Cheetos, but I did take her on a little hike with Jantzen and she loved it. I would've let her stay on the rocks longer, but she was starting to scare me by getting too close to the ledges, so we went back down. I don't really remember what she was pointing at here, I think it might have been her brothers playing on the rocks.


After playing for a little bit, Jaron and Jace decided they wanted to take the 4 wheelers for a ride. Don't they look so cute?...(Jaron's in the blue shirt).


Jaron and Jace have never driven a 4 wheeler before, so Josh and Gregg joined them to help them out on their little adventure. Jaron had a lot of fun and he didn't crash into anything! I think he enjoys his dirt bike more though.




After Jaron got back from riding, it was Jantzen's turn. Josh helped him get his helmet on while Jaedyn ran up and down on the trailer. Jantz is so funny with all his green stuff he wears all the time, it does make it easier to keep track of him though.



Then, Josh took Jantzen for a ride. Jantzen was so excited and he said he had a blast!


While Jantz was out with Josh on the 4 wheeler, Jaedyn made herself her own ride. She climbed on the cooler with her legs out the handle and pretended she was on her own 4 wheeler, it was so cute!


Before we left for the day, the boys played some more on the mountains and rocks...


And they got a little braver. They went up really high and right on the edges of the rocks. Personally, I wouldn't do that because I'm afraid of heights, but they did and had fun doing it. Even Jantzen got in on it, although he didn't get too close to the edges.



We didn't get to stay up there as long as we wanted because the wind started blowing pretty hard, but we did have fun while we were there. It was warm and we all got filthy, but we had fun together and that's all that matters. I love that we have a hobby that we all have fun doing together as a family and with good friends.

Jantzen's Kinder Field Day

Yesterday Jantzen was able to have his field day at school, they called it "Kinder Field Day". He was so excited for it because Jaron had already had his earlier in the month and he told Jantz how much fun it is. Jaron even let Jantzen wear his Tartan Field Day shirt.

Here's Jantzen's kindergarten class waiting patiently to get started on the fun...


Can you see the excitement on Jantz's face?...


All of the kids were split up into 4 different groups for 4 different activities. Jantzen's group started out on the scooters. They had to race each other, and yes, things did get a little out of control, but they all had fun. Jantzen only fell off his scooter once and he just laughed about it.


Here, Jantzen's racing his friend Mason...


Bailey's line was taking too long, so Jantzen let her cut in on his group and have a turn. It ended up only being the two of them in their group, so they both got a lot of turns on the scooters.


Next up was the sponge toss. They got to dip a sponge in a bucket of water and toss it across to a friend and then they had to catch it in their scoops(?). Jantzen loved this game because he got to get wet. And, of course, he had to be by Bailey as much as possible...




After the sponge toss, they went to play with water balloons. This game has always been Jaron's favorite, so Jantzen was excited to play it too. The kids all had to pass the timer ball with a water balloon inside before the timer went off. If they didn't, the balloon would break and they'd get all wet. Jantzen did pretty good with passing the ball, it never broke on him.


Since none of the balloons were breaking on the kids, the fourth graders (who were helping out) decided it would be funny to get the kids wet by throwing water balloons at them. Jantzen was one of the kids that got a lot thrown at him (maybe because they know he's Jaron's little brother), but he was a good sport about it and he just laughed.


The last activity they did was a mini obstacle course. It started off with a water hopscotch pad (I love how I caught a pic of Jantz in the air)...


Then there were some hurdles that the kids had to jump over and crawl under...



The last thing on the obstacle course was a tube that the kids had to crawl through...


After about an hour of playing games, it was time for field day to be over. Then came the best part of field day, besides the getting wet part, the otter pops. Of course Jantzen got a green one and he loved it!


Jantzen told me on the way home that he had so much fun and he can't wait until next year when he gets to do it again.

Family Outing with the "Titanic" and "Bodies"

Last night we took the kids on a family outing to the "Titanic" and "Bodies" exhibits. Josh is doing some work for a friend of the owner of the exhibits, so he was able to get us in for free. At first we thought we were only going to see the "Titanic" exhibit, but to our surprise, they let us into both of them. I'm so happy they did because if we had paid for them it would have cost us over $200. We were all excited to go see everything, but I think Jaron was the most excited. He is so fascinated by the Titanic.


We started off with the "Titanic" exhibit. Before we went in we were all given a boarding pass that had the name and information of an actual passenger that was on the Titanic.


This was Josh's pass...


This was my pass...


This was Jaron's pass...


This was Jantzen's pass...


This was Jaedyn's pass...


The exhibit was awesome! There were so many artifacts that were on display in glass cases and they each had a description of what they were and what year they were retrieved. There was a soundtrack playing in the background that simulated seagulls, waves and the ocean breeze, making it seem like you are actually setting foot on the Titanic, it was pretty cool. As we walked through more of the exhibit it looked as though we were actually inside the ship. We went through hallways and rooms that were replicas of the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd class cabins. There was also a huge block of ice on display that simulates the iceberg and freezing temperatures the passengers experienced on that night. That was Jaedyn's favorite part. She kept touching the ice, she didn't want to leave it. We found out that most of the people who died didn't drown, they died from hypothermia (what a horrible way to go). At one of the displays Jantzen was messing around and he set off an alarm. It freaked him out, he screamed and then cried...poor kid!

At the end of the exhibit they had all the names of the Titanic passengers on a wall. They were separated by their class and whether they had survived or died. We got to look for our passenger and see if they made it or not. It turns out that only mine and Jaedyn's passengers survived, the boys all perished.

Since we weren't allowed to take any pictures inside the exhibit, we had other pictures taken for us. This is a picture of "The Big Piece". They call it that because it's the biggest piece of the Titanic that has been recovered. It weighs about 20 tons and measures 25ft by 15ft. It has four portholes, three of which still contain the actual glass and brass fittings. The side pictures are of it being recovered from the ocean floor. It was very interesting to see it in person.


This is a replica of the "Grand Staircase". Even though it wasn't the real thing, it was still beautiful. There were a few pieces of the actual staircase on display.


This is a 3D picture of us on the "Grand Staircase" with a ghost of the captain behind us...


Next, we went to the "Bodies" exhibit...


At first we weren't going to tell the boys that the bodies were actual real bodies, but we decided to. They weren't too sure about it at first, but then they thought it was cool. There were 21 whole bodies as well as more than 260 organs and partial body specimens on display. The exhibit is an educational walk through of each of the major systems of the human body. Each body part is on display with an explanation of what it does and why it's so amazing. There are also fun facts about the human body posted around the exhibit such as the fact that the tongue is made up of 16 individual muscles. And yes, there is a tongue on display. The respiratory system exhibit had a set of lungs blackened from smoking and next to it is a box for people who smoke to immediately throw away their cigarettes. I was surprised to see that it was halfway full of cigarette boxes (who knows if they were really full of actual cigarettes though).

This is a picture of how one of the "Bodies" was on display (I couldn't take pictures inside, so I had to get this off the Internet)...


The boys thought it was pretty cool that it was the same body cut in half, giving itself a "high five".

There was a section of bodies that were all babies. This exhibit kind of made me sad, but it was amazing at the same time. To actually see the human body in it's developing stages was so fascinating. There was a set of conjoined twins, which made Jaron sad, but I loved how they were embracing each other. Jaron was embarrassed by the reproductive exhibit, I really don't blame him. He asked if he could skip over the female "parts", of course I told him he could. I just had to laugh at him, he gets embarrassed so easily. The only part that grossed me out was the skin. It was a body that had all the skin peeled off in one piece...that was a little too much for me. At the end of the exhibit, we all got to touch a real kidney and liver. Jaron and Jantzen wanted no part of it, but Josh and I quickly touched them. After telling them that they felt like candles, the boys decided to be brave and touch them. To their surprise they didn't get grossed out by it. They're so funny sometimes!

It was a fun and educational night out with the family. I'm so glad that we were able to experience both of these fascinating exhibits and the kids all had a good time. I definitely recommend everyone seeing both exhibits.