Another Barbecue

July 20 was National Hot Dog Day. Jeremy grilled us up some polish sausages and then we made s'mores.

That's all I have to say about that.

 

Except for something cute. When Jr. Jr. was little, he misheard when we said, "polish sausages." He called them "polar sausages." Even now when he wants one he will ask for a "polar sausage." It's cute. I'm trying to think if he ever even calls them "polish sausages," though he does know that's what they're called.

Stick Out Your Tongue Day

July 19 was Stick Out Your Tongue Day. I did... a lot. Some of the kids were offended at first until they realized I was celebrating a holiday.

Jet wasn't offended. He thought it was great to copy me so he stuck out his tongue a lot that day, too.

Catch of the Day

 

Get Out of the Dog House Day

On Sunday, July 17, one of my children kept asking for ice cream over and over and I kept saying no. Had I looked at the calendar, I would have said yes because July 17 was National Ice Cream Day.

Well, the next day was National Get Out of the Dog House Day so I made sure to let the children have ice cream and redeemed myself. Phew.

July 18 was also National Sour Candy Day and we did celebrate that on the right day.

It was also Ocean Day in Japan so we started watching DisneyNature Oceans.

I gave my children lots of hugs that day as well for Global Hug Your Kids Day.

Ginger Rogers' Birthday

We like celebrating Ginger Rogers' Birthday every year on July 16. Sometimes we watch Ginger Rogers' movies. Sometimes we dance around. Sometimes we drink ginger ale. This year was one of those years. Not the dancing and movie watching, but the ginger ale drinking.

Jr. asked about ginger ale for Ginger Roger's birthday. I told him that would justify the ginger part but what about the roger part. He told me when I said yes, he'd say, "Roger Roger."

Creativity gets rewarded in this family, which is why Jr. Jr. got orange soda because if you rearrange the letters in "orange" you sort of get "roger." r-o-g-a?-e-and cut off part of the 'n' to get 'r'. Told you creativity is rewarded. So ginger soda and rogaer soda.

July 16 was also National Fresh Spinach Day and Personal Chef's Day so we had salad bar with spinach for dinner that evening so people could prepare their salad however they wanted.

Got to Catch Up... But Not Right Now

Well, I've got catching up to do again.

So before I do that, I will show another picture of the sky. It's a thing.

This time it was the morning sky.

The KAT's Meow

When headed out the door to an appointment-

Mommy: Do you want to take Spinosaurus?

Jet: No.

Mommy: Do you want to take Pteranodon?

Jet: No.

Mommy: What dinosaur do you want to take?

Jet: Acrocanthosaurus.

Mommy: Ha Ha Ha Ha. Acrocanthosaurus it is. 

  

Jr. Jr.: How do you make poached eggs?

Mommy: I don't know actually.

Jr. Jr.: I do. You have to steal them.

Mommy: Oh, because they're poached.

Jr. Jr.: What's an etto?

Mom: What?

Jr. Jr.: People keep talking about singers singing in falsetto. So I'm wondering what an actual etto sounds like.

Mom: Oh. Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha.

Lucky (after seeing it on facebook): I was going to cook an alligator for dinner then I realized we didn't have a croc pot.

French Mac & Cheese

July 14 is Mac & Cheese Day.

Jeremy came home and made mac and cheese for us.

It was also Bastille Day. I didn't have time to make French bread but I had French bread rolls I took out of the freezer. I think Jr. Jr. had one. 

And that's about all the celebrating we did on that day.

Music Video

We had an exciting family activity tonight. We ate snacks and watched my niece's music video premiere on YouTube. Jr. Jr. especially liked the "popcorn" part in the video. We ate popcorn as one of our snacks.

"Give Me Something to Talk About" by Carina Hodson

Check it out. She is a talented singer/songwriter.

Chili Cheese Fries With Hot Dogs Again

It's that time of year again. July 13 is National Beans 'n Franks Day and also National French Fry Day so we had Chili Cheese Fries with Hot Dogs again just like we had for the past two years.

As it was Embrace Your Geekness Day yet again I gave Jeremy a big hug as we looked on the internet at a Star Trek Next Generation Bluetooth Communicator Badge. Fun.

Cow Appreciation Day was that day as well. The boys played a game called, "Bulls and Cows." Every time Jr. would mention cows in the game, I would say, "It's Cow Appreciation Day."

Eat Your Jello Day

July 12 was Paper Bag Day so we had lunch in paper bags.

 

It was also Eat Your Jello Day so we checked out a book from the library called, "Celebrating 100 Years of Jell-O," then I made plain lime jello to go with dinner.

 It was National Simplicity Day. I didn't want to put effort into making any of the recipes in that book. 

Happy Birthday to You

Friday, July 8, was Video Games Day. I didn't take any pictures of the video game playing that happened but video game playing did indeed happen.

 

Saturday, July 9, we celebrated Nichole's birthday after the boys got back from Young Men Camp.

Nichole wanted a barbecue for her birthday dinner so Jeremy grilled hamburgers, hot dogs, and corn on the cob, and we made homemade ice cream which we haven't for a few years.

Jr. Jr.: Corn on the cob rules.

Lucky: Can somebody make sure that no ants eat my food. Oh, and Jet qualifies as an ant.

Jr. Jr.: Because he's teeny tiny and steals food.

Nichole and Joshua went to a teen after hours event at the Orem Library that night so we had cake and ice cream late that night.

 

Nichole opened cards and her present, a bird photography book.

Jet went around for the next couple days singing, "Happy Birthday," to Nichole.

Birthday fun.

6th of July

On the 6th of July, Jet, Nichole, and I got up early and went hiking to see the giant American flag, "Lady Liberty," flying in Grove Creek Canyon. We couldn't fit that in on the 4th of July and it was going to be flying all week anyway so went that morning.

We hiked higher than we ever had while the flag has been flying there before (probably because we usually come at the hot part of the day) so we got to see it from the other side. That was fun.

We beat the sun so we didn't have it in our eyes as we were hiking but got a touch of the morning sun on the flag on our way back down the trail. Good timing.

The 6th of July was International Kissing Day so Jeremy and I did a little of that, too. How fun to have two kissing holidays only a couple weeks apart.

5th of July

The morning after the 4th of July celebrations, we sent the older two boys off to Young Men Camp.

Bye, boys.

Yes, I cried as I drove home.

I made a trip to the library, came home, sat on the couch and...

 

Eventually I got up and got some stuff done. Not as much as I would have liked but some.

 

I managed to make Hawaiian haystacks for dinner that night since the 5th of July was National Hawaii Day.

While we were eating dinner, Jeremy in a whiny voice said, "Please can it be the fifth? I really want it to be the fifth." I looked at the kids' confused faces and said, "He's pleading the fifth." Ohhhh.

4th of July

Around here the 4th of July usually becomes a big weekend event, with fairs and activities lasting for several days, fireworks displays on multiple nights. Sunday is skipped and lots happens Saturday and Monday, this year Independence Day falling on a Monday.

This year on Saturday the 2nd, Jeremy and I got up in the wee hours of the morning to look for common poorwills which we heard again but didn't see. 

We were so tired after that, especially Jeremy who drove the kids past Balloon Glow the night before (unfortunately it was just flames because there was too much wind to inflate the balloons) because I couldn't stay awake then he spent most of the rest of the night building a balloon sculpture for a balloon delivery in the morning. I drove him to that because I got more sleep than he did. I was tired later, though. I went back and forth that whole Saturday sleeping and reading Jeremy's novel with just a little bit of fireworks watching that night. So tired.

Monday the 4th we certainly celebrated. Everyone in the family participated in celebrations one way or another that day. Some of us went to all the activities we did, some went to just some. So here's what we did:

We drove by Balloon Fest (again because of the weather/wind, the hot air balloons couldn't lift off the ground and they just had a few inflated).

We explored the Pioneer Village in Provo by North Park. I have driven by that place so many times but have never actually gone so after driving by the hot air balloons, I checked their 4th of July hours and we fit it in our schedule. 

There was a scavenger hunt the kids were able to do there and learn a bit about pioneer history. I learned things, too. I never realized that the Mormon crickets that destroyed so many of the pioneers' crops weren't actually crickets but a type of hard shelled katydid. And those things were huge. Fortunately a miracle happened and gulls came down and ate the "crickets" and saved the crops. And that's why the California gull is the state bird of Utah. I did know that part.

We were also able to play- games, music (on a hammer dulcimer), and "chores." Jet was so happy to play in the water, he kept running back there after we had moved on.

I shared a little family history with my children (besides coming from pioneer heritage and sharing one of the pioneer stories they'd already heard. This was my personal history). My grandpa did woodworking and he built stilts for us like these when we were younger. I remember walking around on them a lot. Good memories.

 

Later that day some of us walked to Scera Park where they had the Colonial Heritage Festival. We weren't able to stay long but we were able to learn a few things and the kids got to do some weaving.

We walked home again and some of us immediately hopped in the van again to go to the Scera Theatre to watch "Cries of Freedom," a musical put on for the Freedom Festival about different people throughout history who fought for freedom in different ways. It was nice to support some friends who worked with and were in the show and it was really neat.

We got some pics with the flags by the Scera and headed home again.

We ended the night with sparklers and watching fireworks.

It was a long day but worth it.