Trippin'

Field trippin' that is! Our elementary school year came to a spectacular end on Friday, even if the par-tay events of Thursday had to be held inside due to snow and other generally gross weather conditions.

I thought I would take a moment and reflect on the year. First, Nixon and Easton both had fab teachers. I'm grateful for both of these ladies and the love they gave my children this year. Second, we really do have a great school. The facility is superb, the parents are involved, there are more fun events than I could list here. And lastly, the kids have fun! I'm thrilled that my children are enjoying their learning experience! Part of it might be all the field trips. Between my 2 boys, here are all the field trips I've tagged along on this year ...

Clark Planetarium

Ballet West performing the Nutcracker

Strawberry Reservoir to see the salmon run

Coldstone ice cream (the kids rode the city buses - which are always free!)

Jordanelle Reservoir/Red Cliffs Nature Area

Great Salt Lake/Antelope Island

Ballet West performing Sleeping Beauty

Swaner Nature Preserve

This is the Place State Park

I also missed a field trip to downtown Park City to see a play at the Egyptian Theater.

I learned that beavers secrete oil that you can see on the water. I got to wade in the Great Salt Lake and collect shrimp brine. I learned that in pioneer times, where we have a mattress, beds had reeds woven to form a base to sleep on. Sometimes you had to tighten them before sleeping, hence the term "sleep tight". I learned ice cream that you make with 3rd graders is DELICIOUS before it gets frozen. I learned there are salmon in Utah! I learned about wetlands, salty bodies of water, and how to "read" ballet moves.

The kids also left the school for other things. The 4th graders walked everyday in the wilderness by the school. Even in the cold! By the end of the year, they had walked enough to "walk around the state of Utah". My boys were able to snowshoe out in the wild, and to play in the great public park across the street from their school. The 3rd grade had swimming lessons. They had fun days to celebrate mountain men, and field day, and they were in plays, and there was a great end-of -the -year movie with pictures of their school from the whole year!

Yea for a great year! Yea for Summer!

Dear Weather Person ...

I have a comment. It is 32 degrees and something that looks and feels suspiciously like snow is falling from the sky in Park City. Perhaps a check of the calendar is in order. I believe you may have confused June with January. This could put a damper on the end-of-the-school-year beach themed party scheduled for tomorrow. I trust the situation will be corrected in a timely matter. Thank you.

Lessons from Camping

So there is a lot to be learned from a camping trip. For instance ...

If your 9 year old packs his own bag, and even if you ask your husband SIX times if he has checked it, you should only expect to have the following:

2 pairs of shorts, the child's best zip-up SWEATER, one or two pairs of underwear, 3 stuffed animals.

You may be missing:

Pajamas, long pants of ANY kind, sweatshirts and/or coats, water shoes, bathing suit, toothbrush.

If you arrive at your camp late at night and set up your tent in a hurry in the dark, some of it may fall on you during the windstorm in the middle of the night. This may cause your teenage daughter to sit up every 20 minutes until 5am exclaiming "The tent is falling! We're going to suffocate!"

If you hike with 11 children and want to keep track of them, do not bother giving them numbers and trying to get them to "count off". They won't get it right until the afternoon of the very last day on the very last hike.

If you are hiking with the same 11 children, DO NOT give them each a walkie talkie. You may be able to tune out the constant chatter on them, but the strangers around you will not appreciate it.

If you plan on ditching your kids in the Junior Ranger program so that you can go do an adult hike, make it a good one. You won't be able to talk the kids into going back to the "most boring thing" they've ever done. Also ...make sure the 5 year old you are trying to pass off as 6 doesn't look too young.

Also ...Camelbacks are the BEST invention ever, Zion National Park is beautiful, kids love to be dirty (and the dirt is coming home with you)!

And the last lesson of all...camping with fun friends is a great experience - do whatever you need to to make it happen!

More pictures here.

Bounty Hunter vs. Marine

This is the difference between playing Bounty Hunters at recess or playing Marines.
Details provided by Easton:

*A bounty hunter works alone.
(Nixon chimes in here. Apparently, he also has knowledge of this recess game. "A bounty hunter is hired to kill people. That makes him a paid assassin").
*Bounty hunters have jet packs.
*Bounty hunters have guns. So do Marines, but not laser guns.
*Bounty hunters have armor, wrist launchers, grenades.
*Marines have grenades too, but they throw them on the ocean. Because they're mostly on water.
*A bounty hunter has a helmet.
*Marines have rocket launchers, ships. They go on land to help out the army. They help out the navy a lot.

Someday you may be lucky enough to have boys that learn these kind of things on the playground too. Until then, I didn't want you to be out of the loop and not know the difference between the two. We are camping with 2 other families and a couple this weekend at Zions. The husband half of the couple is a Marine (he's in law school and is reserve and will be JAG when he graduates), so I can't wait to find out if we adjust our description next week! This is not a picture of Easton at recess, I just like his goofy smile in it.

Anti-Flashers at the Office

Did you see the episode with the flasher? The wanted poster that Pam drew of the flasher (Dwight with a mustache!) had a phone number.

1-800-984-3672

Call it.

Really.

Thank me later.

Signs of the Season

You know summer is on the way when ...

The ice cream man comes for the first time:

Flowers are everywhere - your blog background, the yard, the cakes you decorate:

You play the first baseball game of the year:

I *heart* summer!

Swim Lessons at School - really!

Yes, the school here really does teach swimming. Every year, for 2 weeks, to the 3rd graders. It cracks me up. Having had pools at our home since the boys were little, I think they learned how to swim not long after they learned how to walk. But not very many people (I don't know of anyone!) in Park City have pools in their yards. I suppose it isn't practical, what with the 8 months of winter and all. So there might be quite a few 3rd graders who don't know how to swim.

Maybe Easton is one of them. On the first day of class, he got sent to the lowest group - in the baby pool! At first, I was going to go in and let them know he really did know how to swim. But he didn't care, in fact, I think he was enjoying the fact that he didn't have to do any real work. So I stayed out of it. And Easton loved riding the bus to the middle school and swimming every day. So all is well. The last day, the kids just get to play, and Easton got to display some of his flipping/twisting/spinning moves off the diving board. Here is Easton and his friend Noah playing with the water basketball hoop. I'm sure when these two team up, they can give any teacher a run for their money.