Another Palindrome Day

6-2-26 was another palindrome day. I wrote the date on bags I was filling with rotisserie chicken Nichole divided up. Thanks, Nichole. 6-2-26 was National Rotisserie Chicken Day.

It was also the anniversary of when Babe Ruth retired. We talked about Ruth in the Bible for scripture study.

 

6-3-26 was not a palindrome day. It was Repeat Day. I asked Jeremy, "Pete and Repeat were in a boat. Pete fell out. Who was left?" He did not have a satisfying answer. 

I wore the same shirt as the day before. I did have to go back and do some things over that day. Sigh.

The day before I took Nichole and Jet to the Provo Library for some library activities. On Repeat Day, I took Jeremy to the library to do a story trail with me. "Crocodile's Treason." The kids and I read that one on a story trail back in 2022.

Lots of Summer Reading activities going on.

Summer Reading part 1

For the past couple of months we have done a lot of Summer reading and related activities. 

Woohoo! Summer Reading! You know we love it. 

The theme for both Provo and Orem libraries was "Colour Our World." Here are some things we did in no particular order:

 

Story Trails 

Provo Library had a Story Trail along the outside of the library. 

"How the Brazilian Beetles Got Their Gorgeous Coats"

We went to that one on National Trails Day, June 7. It was also Play Outside Day. Both worked to celebrate.

 

Lion's Park

"The Nightingale"

Jr., Nichole, and I found the end of the story first so I walked backward until we reached the beginning of the story. Luckily it was a well known story so there were no surprises reading it back to front. I went another day on a walk there to read it front to back. You know I like going for walks.

 

Lakeview Park

"How the Kangaroo Got Her Pouch" 

We had to dodge sprinklers for our "title page" picture.

 

Kiwanis Park 

"Dotson' Sa, Great Raven, Makes the World" 

Jeremy and Nichole got to read this one while I watched Jet on a playground. I had to come back another day so I could finish it.

 

Quail Orchard Park

"How the Finch Got Her Colors" 

As we were reading this one we were trying to figure out how the finch could be considered really colorful. We're used to house finches, goldfinches. They have colors but not lots of colors like the story was describing. Happily, the story explained that it was a Gouldian finch and we were content. We'd never heard of that finch before. We have now. Look it up. It is a very colorful bird. 

 

Crafts

Jet and I had some fun doing crafts from the Provo Library.

Pumpkin Friend

Wooden Spoon Butterfly  

 

Some of the kids and I made bookmarks. 

 

We spent plenty of time in the libraries. Besides sitting down to read, there are so many different activities and programs at the library. 

I'll talk about more Summer Reading later.

Fun in July Other Than Celebrating Holidays

We didn't just celebrate holidays in July. We had other fun, too. Some things worked for Summer Reading.

Dressing up (total Harry Potter vibes going on).

He stole my pajamas and put them on himself.

Crafts- it's Dixie Fox.

Bonding time- One day Jr. needed a break so he came into my room. I suggested we play a game so we did... until Jet came and decided to mess up the cards. Sigh.  He wanted to "play," too, I guess.

We brought back some treats from Washington. There were jelly snacks in a frog shaped jar. Jr. and Jet named the jar, "Senor Frog," so at one point Jet said, "Aww. Senor Frog. He's so cute." Jet's so cute.

We've continued to try new recipes. This was BLT pasta salad (big hit with several family members) and Hawaiian baked beans (I was the only one who liked them and I really liked them).

We did one more story trail that they set up on the Provo Library grounds. The Golden River.

Nichole went to a Lord of the Rings marathon at the Orem Library. Jeremy made her a food for one of the breaks.

We weren't able to get tickets for a movie night to watch Wonka at the Provo Library so we checked the movie out and had our own movie night at home with popcorn and brownies.

Nichole and I got out for walks with friends.

A couple family members won prizes from the Orem Library and Jr. won a prize from the Provo Library. Jeremy won a movie night at the Orem Library. Jet won some new Pete the Cat books. Jr. won some play tickets. We all got some prizes just for participating in the Summer Reading programs.

July was busy.

Uncharted Worlds

We got to see Jeremy's sister and brother in Washington. His other brother and family visited Utah after we got back. It was Pioneer Day, July 24, as was it National Cousins Day.

So our kids got to go with their cousins (the youngest of which we got to meet for the first time) to "Uncharted Worlds: A Journey with Giants" at Ashton Gardens at Thanksgiving Point. It is similar to Dinosaur Island which they had the last couple Summers there. 

 

Aaaagh! It's going to get me!

Always have to get a picture of me with my favorite dinosaur: stegosaurus... and with my Jurassic Park shirt. It's important to wear that shirt to a place like this.

Of course we had to stop to feed the fish... ducks... and a turtle.

That leatherback sea turtle looked menacing.

 

Pirate ship fun. "Ahoy, matey!" 

 

Look at Jeremy, the uncle with the interesting beard.

Watch out! High Voltage! Didn't you watch Jurassic Park? Oh, yeah. You haven't watched it yet.

It was fun after watching Jet holding hands walking around with his older cousins at the zoo in Washington to watch Lucky doing the same thing with his little cousin.

Oh, no. Trapped in ice...

...next to the mammoth. 

 

We had a great time with this family.

Later Jeremy and Jr. were working on a project at home, so Jet and I went out for a drive up Kyhv Peak Road (it used to be known as Squaw Peak. It was hazy because of fires both in state and out) then a walk along the Provo River Parkway and by Bridal Veil Falls.

Afterwards we read a Provo Story Trail, "How Coyote Stole Fire," at Quail Orchard Park.

Since it was Pioneer Day, at the end of the day, Jet and I watched fireworks from the front lawn with our neighbor.

It was a big day but a good one full of family and fun.