Butterfly Biosphere

We're trying to do things again. I took Jet to the Orem and Provo Libraries a couple times since he's participating in "1000 Books Before Kindergarten" program and he's had some prizes to pick up.

He enjoyed looking at the display cases and got really excited when walking between the shelves with all those books. You know we love books in our family... and libraries.

He got a nursery rhyme book and got excited when I read/sang a few to him because he recognized them. Then he enjoyed looking through the book himself.

He also got a kazoo and as soon as I showed him how to use it, he was so happy and enjoyed playing it in the van as well as on a walk around the botany pond and terraced gardens at BYU.

 

As a family we went to the Butterfly Biosphere at Thanksgiving Point. It's been a few years since we've been there. Jet had never been there before. There were so many neat things to see. 

Jet thought it was great when we went in with the butterflies and he could see them flying around (Have you ever seen a see-through butterfly before? It's crazy. And real. They have glasswing butterflies at the Butterfly Biosphere). 

He was not happy, though, when we wouldn't let him touch the one on my finger. Lucky really wanted to hold one so I got it for him but got a few pictures with me first.

Good family activity. Starting to do things... preparing us for a fun Summer of library reading programs. Woohoo.

Catch of the Day

 The real reason no one ever sees fairies.

Fair Convention

Even though Jeremy missed some of our celebrating while he was at the fair convention, he did his own celebrating there. The convention had different theme nights for dinner. One night was Star Trek themed. One was the Roaring Twenties.

He went to the convention with two other artists:

Marcus, Funny Man Who Does Tricks

Dan Paulus, Comedy Magician

Check out their websites. http://www.funnymanwhodoestricks.com/

https://danscomedymagic.com/

When I asked Jeremy to give me their websites for this post, he included his own. http://balloonguyentertainment.com/

 

Marcus is our good friend who hosts the annual jugglers' BBQ that we like to go to. He won an award at the convention- Service Member of the Year- because he's so awesome. Jeremy was so glad he got to be there when Marcus won that award. 

Jeremy had a good time and built a very nice butterfly out of balloons.

Big Springs Hiking

National Sleepyhead Day in Finland is on July 27. I got the kids up early this year (early for Summer anyway) to go hiking up Big Springs since that is one of the items on our Summer Wishlist and we kept putting it off for various reasons. Jr. Jr. really wanted to go so we made it happen. Morning worked better than evening. Anyway, Lucky was the last one still asleep but we didn't get him wet.

We did however have fun hiking. There was so much to see- plants, animals. We saw wild turkeys on the drive up and a few times on the hike. 

 

There were butterflies everywhere. It was quite pleasant.

We didn't make it all the way to the springs which was Jr. Jr.'s goal but he had a good attitude about us needing to turn back. 

I was impressed with Jet and how far he hiked. He was just happy to go anywhere if he got to hold and look through binoculars. 

Jr. got the brother of the day award, though, when Jet didn't want to walk anymore and Jr. carried him all the way down the trail and got him to sleep holding those binoculars. While he was asleep, I took them away but he stirred and I had to give them back so he would go back to sleep. Finally I was able to put them away but that boy loves binoculars. 

It was a wonderful hike. We had Jet saying, "Hiking." We couldn't get him to say, "We are hiking." When we tried to get him to say that, he would say, "1, 2, 3, hiking." So cute.

Later in the day, we did have a water fight like we did last year for Sleepyhead Day.

Pi Day 2021

March 14 was Pi Day. We had impossible cheeseburger pie for lunch with potato chips since March 14 was also National Potato Chip Day. I made another apple pie in our Pi plate, of course. We've been having a lot of apple pie lately.

March 14 was Learn About Butterflies Day. I had Jeremy check out several books about butterflies so I could get a picture with the kids reading those books. It didn't happen. However, March 14 was also Write Down Your Story Day. A few family members worked on their books. I didn't write things down but I did tell my family some family history stories that day. 

March 14 was also Children's Craft Day. Nichole worked on some stuff. You know how she is.

That evening, since Jeremy has had a hankering for curry, we made Indian food. We haven't had any in so long, it was so nice. Yumm. Yumm. Yumm. I don't think it fit in with any of the holidays but I really wanted to make it for him. I didn't get a picture but the smile on his face when he tasted it made me happy.

At the end of the day, I asked Jr. to help clean up.

Me: Will you put the rest of the rice in a gallon sized Ziplock bag, please?

Jr.: OK.

How I love that kid.

I Am a Beautiful Butterfly

January 14 is National Hot Pastrami Sandwich Day.  We had hot pastrami sandwiches for dinner but we didn't take pictures.  What we did take pictures of was our work in progress.
This weekend is the grand opening of the Butterfly Biosphere at Thanksgiving Point.  We're making giant balloon bugs to hang inside the building.
Today we worked on a blue morpho butterfly.

Lucky was such a big helper.  It was a long day yet he helped with some of the twisting, he worked on some activity pages, watched a little "Dino Dan: Trek's Adventures," played a little on an electronic game, and stayed with us instead of wandering off.  Later Jeremy was able to take us around to see some of the exhibits.  So cool.  I'm looking forward to coming as a family later to see more.  Jr. and Jr. Jr. have already visited with their school for a field trip.

Family Day

Last Summer one of our Family Home Middays was spent up Provo Canyon.  We stopped at Bridal Veil Falls where Jeremy gave us a lesson about following the right path.  You want to be constantly moving in the right direction just as a river continues to flow to the ocean.  You don't want to get stuck in a lake or pond that doesn't continue on.

We fed the fish at the base of the falls then headed on up to Big Springs.

We had a picnic then got to run around with outdoor toys that we don't always get out.

Poor Jr. Jr.  There were too many yellow jackets around scaring him while we were trying to eat.  Finally he and I got away from the table and sat on the ground to eat.

We had some silly string that needed to be used up and we finally let the kids break out the bubbles I wouldn't let them spill blow indoors.

Jr. showed us that he was really good at catching butterflies.  There was one that he kept catching over and over.  It even landed on his leg at one point so he just had to set the net over it.  He was also really gentle when letting the butterflies out of the net.

It was a good family day.

And it tuckered out all of the kids.