Other September thins

Other things we did in September:

 

More Walks-

alone (or with the birds)

with Jet (he still really likes to ride in the stroller)

 

Can I just say what a gorgeous place we live in? It is a treat just to walk outside and look at our mountains.

 

FHE fun-

Jeremy's been trying to come up with ideas that are not the usual ideas for Family Home Evening activities. We did the glow stick story back in August. In September, we played "Keepy Uppy." We even put on the accompanying music and had fun. If you don't know, "Keepy Uppy" is a game the family played in an episode of Bluey. We even turned on a fan and added more and more balloons to our game. It was fun.

 

Creativity continues to happen.

I thought I was being nice one morning and made scrambled eggs and got out cheese and tortillas for making breakfast burritos. I even made a sign that said, "Go for it. Enjoy! (Love) Mom," with an arrow pointing toward the burrito fixings. 

Someone thought it would be funny to move the sign so it was pointing at the chocolate chip banana muffins that were in a different spot on the table. "Go for it? Enjoy? Oh, thanks, Mom." 

I agree it was funny. Points for creativity. Of course I was fine with them eating some muffins with their breakfast burritos. I love this family! 

 

One evening I was having a rough time and I needed to take my young men to a fireside at the stake center. I decided to stay for the fireside instead of just dropping them off and I'm glad I did. I needed the extra little spiritual uplift that night and sharing it with my boys was nice. I love my children so much.

Lots of reading. Jet likes it when Daddy reads to him.

 

Dress Up! 

Looking like Mommy? Or a ghost? Boo!

Comet Hunting

You know we've had varying levels of success with viewing comets in the past. We decided to try our luck again since there was supposed to be a comet around in October. So on Saturday, October 12, we went out in the evening to search for the comet. We went up West Mountain to where we saw the other comet in 2020. Unfortunately it was a very cloudy evening and we got up there later than we wanted to. We saw no comet but there was a gorgeous sunset.

We did, however, see the Y lit up on the mountain in the other direction. Nichole let us know this is the 100th anniversary of "Light the Y." I remember participating in "Light the Y" way back when I was in college.

And the moon looked cool as it often does.

That day was also International Moment of Frustration Scream Day. Often when that holiday comes around, I don't feel like celebrating in the way it's intended. That's a good thing. This year, I did feel it. I had my moment. I went back to my room, had a silent frustrated scream, then put together a shopping list and went shopping.

It was also Breakfast Burrito Day in Denver so we ate breakfast burritos to celebrate.

The next day, October 13, I wore my bow earrings because it was my cousin's birthday.

We had an at home potluck. It had been a while since we had one of those. These were the contributions from oldest to youngest: Stuffing, onion roasted potatoes, mint lemonade (not pictured), apples, and sour strawberry peeps. Jet didn't contribute.

Then we went for a relaxing Sunday drive up West Mountain, this time all the way to the top, to look for the comet again. As we drove, I mentioned that it was International Skeptics Day and Jeremy said, "I don't think the comet's actually a comet. I think it's a projection on the dome of our flat Earth." Heh heh heh. 

It became even cloudier than the day before sadly. We actually did get a glimpse of the comet through binoculars during a little break in the clouds. We weren't able to get pictures, though. We couldn't wait for the comet to come back into view, though, as we got chased off the mountain by lightning and thunder. Not so great on the top of a mountain.

Both nights had beautiful sunsets at least. The observatory was cool to look at.

What a view.

Both nights we drove by a house with some pretty fun decorations. Jet is really into Halloween decorations right now.

Jeremy and I did go out another night with Jet down to the lake and were able to see the comet again way up in the sky... without us being way up in the sky that time. Still no pictures.

Annular Solar Eclipse

The morning after "Creatures of the Night," we got up really early and drove down to Fillmore. The reason? Another solar eclipse.

The last one we went to in 2017, we drove to Idaho (that was a long day) because it was a total solar eclipse and we wanted to be able to take off our eclipse glasses during the time of totality. That was an amazing experience.

This time, it was an annular eclipse, which meant in the path of totality there would be a "ring of fire." We weren't able to take our eclipse glasses off at all this time while looking at the sun but it sure looked cool through them. We got to experience a similar eclipse with friends back in 2012.

Because this eclipse was also a big deal, numerous places were planning on having eclipse viewing parties. We were able to get a couple eclipse glasses at events in September at the Orem Library then Jeremy bought us a few more for not too much.

Orem wouldn't have the "ring of fire" so that's why we headed down to Fillmore. Jeremy's done balloons at Fillmore Library a number of times so he got a hold of his contact down there to find out that they were having an eclipse event there for the public (and where it was because it wasn't in the main library building) and we were absolutely invited. Such nice people.

So as I said, we drove down to Fillmore early to miss traffic (not as early as when we went to Idaho) and to make sure we got parking, then napped until it was time for the fun to start.

The library had some great activities. We made beaded bracelets that glow in the dark and change color in the sun. 

We used stencils and a black light to create images on paper.

We made an annular eclipse simulator that showed the path of the moon over the sun to create the ring of fire.

Lucky popped a balloon using a magnifying glass.

There was an inflatable planetarium we went in to see constellations and planets.

Outside, there was a telescope set up with a special filter to look at the sun. Lucky was the 200th person to look through the telescope.

The eclipse was of course awesome and a great family activity. Outside we were again in a park with many people like the last big eclipse. There was music playing, people getting excited when it was getting darker (not as dark as a total eclipse obviously, but enough to be noticeable), and when the ring of fire part of the eclipse happened, whoever was in charge of the music put on "Ring of Fire" by Johnny Cash. I loved that.

Lucky managed to get pictures with his little camera and eclipse glasses. Way to go, son.

We had fun looking at the shadow crescents made from the light shining through the tree branches when the sun had moved again.

We had lunch in the van before heading back toward home. The traffic wasn't too bad heading back. It got busy at some places but some places were pretty clear. It was definitely easier than our Idaho eclipse trip. 

On the way, we ate Oreos, and I made a "ring of fire" out of mine. Ha Ha Ha. I am so cute.

We got home in the afternoon, not the night. Yay.

For dinner that night we had breakfast burritos because October 14 is Breakfast Burrito Day in Denver. How random can we be finding reasons to celebrate?

It was a great day and well worth the effort.

The School Year Ends

We did it. We survived the school year. The last day of school for Jr., Jr. Jr., and Lucky, I was going around singing, "Today is the day. It's the last day of school. So many new things to learn and do... for Summer Reading!" Yeah. CoComelon is still a thing in our home (and I'm excited about Summer Reading). I did throw a little Finding Nemo in there and called out, "Last day of school! Last day of school!" when dropping Jr. off to perform in the end of the school year musical assembly.

 

I made last day of school breakfast burritos for everybody this year. Aren't I nice?

Jr. was so tired that morning.

 

I got pictures of the boys before school. It was a sunny morning.

And a quick picture of Lucky after school because we had to run back to the school because he was missing a couple things we never found. Sigh. 

We survived.