STEM Boy

He did it! He did it! He did it! Jr. completed all 3 summers of UVU Prep and has learned lots of STEM skills.

He's even found interesting ways to use his skills.

 

Jr.: Alphabet Cow lives!

Mom: This is why Jr.'s doing UVU Prep.

Nichole: So he can bring decapitated children's toys to life.

We've had this toy since Nichole was a toddler. It's been stepped on, dropped, thrown, had heavy objects put on it, you know how it is with some children's toys. It's supposed to be "Alphabet Pal" but it sounds like "Alphabet Cow" so that's what we've been calling it for years.

Well, such is life, Alphabet Cow finally bit the dust. The head cracked and came off completely. Jr. decided to use his skills and tools he had and "bring it back to life." He managed to get it to play music through his headphones since originally the speaker was in the head and he managed to get the lights working. That's my STEM boy.

Jeremy and I were able to go to Jr.'s closing celebration for UVU Prep. We all went as a family the first year and last year they just had a drive-thru to pick up shirts since it was all online.

Jr. had a good experience with this program for three years both in person and online. He was happy to be back in person this year. Can't you tell by his smile how happy he was?

Like the first year the closing celebration was crowded but Jr. was able to show us some of the projects he worked on. He also got a UVU water bottle which he's been waiting three summers for. It's interesting the things he gets excited for. We all have things like that, though.

I'm so glad he enjoyed his time at UVU Prep and I'm looking forward to seeing what kinds of things come from what he's learned in the future. Bringing more decapitated children's toys to life? We'll see.

When we got home that night, I quickly let everyone have a gummi worm since it was National Gummi Worm Day on July 15.

It was also World Youth Skills Day and I already commented on Jr.'s STEM skills.

Action Packed 4th of July Weekend

Joshua had Friday and Monday off of UVU Prep for the 4th of July weekend. That meant four days for Jr. to fit in as much family fun as possible. Jeremy had to work all weekend so it was mostly the kids and me but he was around on Sunday.

Friday, July 2. Balloon Fest was happening throughout the weekend. That's where a bunch of hot air balloons are together and they do different activities. It is part of the Freedom Festival in Provo. I got up early to sit outside to see if I could see the balloons from home. I couldn't see anything. I found out later the balloons didn't lift off the ground that day because of the weather. I did get a little wet while I was waiting. Oh, well.

Later that day, I took the kids for a picnic and Provo Story Trail at Rock Canyon Park. After the story, we continued walking around the park and Jr. asked to use the camera. He climbed a hill and brought this picture back to me.

"Crop Circles! Today is World UFO Day." 

"It kind of looks like a face which also goes along with the UFO thing."

We also looked at "mashed potato clouds" while we were there.

That night we drove by Balloon Glow as part of Balloon Fest. They had several hot air balloons on the ground and shined lights on them to go along with music. The kids and I decided that we'd get up and drive by the next morning to see the hot air balloons in the daylight.

 

Saturday, July 3. Surprise. Surprise. When we got out that morning, we could see hot air balloons from home. They were able to lift off! 

We drove anyway and were able to see them much closer. As we got closer to where they were launched, they were all over the place, some even over the road where we were driving. 

We drove to Carterville Park and everyone was able to get out and get a good view. We were even able to see some where they landed in nearby parking lots. That was a fun morning. I love hot air balloons.

 

 

Before we left, we found a little friend who decided to crawl to a place where it would get squished if we closed the door. I tell you, snails are faster than you think. Jr. nicely moved it so it would be okay. Good kid.

That evening to celebrate Eat Beans Day and Chocolate Wafer Day, we had burritos and chocolate wafer cookies.

Definitely click on this picture to see Jet and Lucky's faces.

Sunday, July 4. It was National Caesar Salad Day so we had chicken Caesar salad wraps with 4th of July type food- potato chips, potato salad.

Monday, July 5. The kids and I went to see the giant flag hanging over Grove Creek Canyon. We hadn't gone to see it since we lived in Pleasant Grove. I blogged about it in July of 2017. It's definitely become a bigger thing- not the flag itself, but the event with it flying. There were flags lining the trail up to a spot to get good pictures. There was lots of informational stuff in the parking lot. Yeah, it's become a bigger deal just in the last few years.

That evening, the kids and I went to pick up Jeremy from work and we had Family Home Evening lesson and treat in the van. Then we did our activity at home. As it was National Graham Cracker Day, our treat was graham crackers with frosting in the middle. Homemade frosting. I got the recipe from The Food Nanny. It is frosting they use on brownies but I think it works great on cake (or on graham crackers).

We were also able to see the giant flag from the freeway. Yeah. It's huge.

So that was Jr.'s action packed 4th of July weekend before he went back to UVU Prep to finish out the last couple weeks. I hope he enjoyed it.

Even though Tuesday, July 6, wasn't part of our weekend, it was International Kissing Day. I got lots of kisses from and gave lots of kisses to my baby and I mentioned later to Jeremy how he and I didn't kiss at all that day. Huh.

Flip a Coin Day

With Jr. starting in person classes again at UVU Prep, things calmed down and we didn't do much.

Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha! Believed that did you?

Busy busy busy busy. That you can believe.

 

June 1 was Flip a Coin Day. Jeremy suggested for dinner we have a potato bar and flip a coin to decide what toppings to put on. Well, I flipped a coin that day and decided to do rice instead of potatoes. And we flipped a coin to decide which toppings to prepare. There weren't that many.

It was also National Olive Day so we kept flipping a coin until we got the result to have olives with dinner.

When Jr. got home from his first day of UVU Prep he used a graphing calculator to do coin flips. 

Jeremy stopped at Costco and asked if he should get a hot dog for me. I kept flipping the coin and got different results so since I didn't give him a straight answer, he brought home hot dogs and drinks for everyone.

Action Packed Summer Vacation a.k.a. Memorial Day Weekend

School finished on Thursday. UVU Prep began on Tuesday. That meant four days for Jr. to fit in as much family fun as possible.

 

Friday, May 28. This was our list of holidays for that day: Whooping Crane Day. Brisket Day. Cooler Day. Don't Fry Day. Hamburger Day. Road Trip Day.

Hmmm. How to fit all or most of those in?

First of all, Whooping Crane Day.

"Whoop. Whoop."

Do you get it? Do you get it? Look carefully in the background of this picture. We planned celebrating this way for weeks before the holiday.

National Road Trip Day. The kids and I went for a drive to Big Springs and went for a walk and looked at bugs and birds.

While we were driving, we saw cows in a field. It was National Hamburger Day. We went home to grill them (not the same cows) because it was National Don't Fry Day.

National Cooler Day. There wasn't room in the fridge so I put a watermelon in a cooler with freezer packs and took it out of there to cut up to go with our backyard BBQ.

We felt pretty good about getting most of the holidays on our list. The last one, National Brisket Day, we wouldn't be able to until Jr. Jr. asked, "What does brisk mean?" He listened to the definition then got up to run briskly around the yard saying, "I'm going to brisk it." Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha!

We also had s'mores because c'mon, backyard BBQ.

 

Saturday, May 29. We celebrated my birthday.

The kokanee salmon experience was kind of a letdown last Fall so we went to see June suckers in the Provo River closer to the lake to celebrate my birthday. The fish were bigger than we were expecting (I just thought they were going to be little minnow-like things. I was wrong). 

We went for a little walk and did a little birding while we were there. 

We also looked at flowers and bees. It was so fun to see the bees with the pollen on their legs (remember to click on Nichole's pictures to see them larger).

Later Jeremy made me my birthday dinner (with orange soda, of course) and we had cake and sherbet.

What I asked for for my birthday I got for Mother's Day so what I asked for for Mother's Day I got for my birthday.

We love The Food Nanny Rescues Dinner which I got last year and use it so much, I wanted The Food Nanny Rescues Dinner Again. Yay!

I also wanted to try out a dough hook (or dough whisk) since I've heard good things about those and that you can use them for so many things. I'm still trying to make up my mind about what I think.

Lucky gave me a Lego sculpture. Each time someone does a chore I can take a piece off and when all the pieces are off we can play video games.

Sunday, May 30. Kids made dinner.

There was quite a bit of creativity going on for Creativity Day. For Water a Flower Day, Nichole forgot to water her flower outside but she made bread so she watered flour. Tee Hee. Dad helped Lucky make a flower out of pieces of red bell pepper. Jr. used lemonade and a mint tea bag to make a sort of mint julep (non alcoholic of course) for Mint Julep Day. Jr. Jr. made chocolate chip waffles for us. Thanks for dinner, kids.

Monday, May 31. Memorial Day.

It was Utah Day. The kids and I went hiking in Alpine, Utah, to see poppies. We brought Daddy along.

There were lots of bees interested in the poppies. These bees had different colored pollen on their legs than the bees we saw Saturday.

The kids all wanted to take pictures with the camera so they had to take turns. We also saw different birds and some snakes.

To continue with the Utah Day celebrating, with dinner we had funeral potatoes and lime green jello with carrot shavings (Utah people should get it). We didn't have fry sauce, though. Ha Ha Ha. We also had smiley face pizza for National Smile Day.

So that was Jr.'s action packed Summer vacation before he started UVU Prep again. I hope he enjoyed it.