Catching Up on July Holidays

OK. Here we go. Sigh.

July 25 was National Chili Dog Day and National Refreshment Day. We had chili dogs (with homemade chili) and refreshments. Done. Blogged.

July 26 was Talk in an Elevator Day. A few of us got a picture of us talking in an elevator the day before. So we celebrated it observed. Done. Blogged.

 

July 27 was National Sleepyhead Day (in Finland). I totally missed it this year even though I was thinking about it just the day before. Sigh. Told you we were busy. Check out how we've celebrated that one in the past, though (starting with last year's celebration while we were in Washington). Done. Blogged.

July 28 was Milk Chocolate Day. We had chocolate milk. Done. Blogged.

July 29 was National Lasagna Day. We had lasagna. And I learned how to do "baked" mashed potatoes in the Instant Pot from A Season of Family Meal Plans, volume 3. Done. Blogged.

July 30 there were a lot of holidays I didn't celebrate but I should have. Paperback Book Day. International Day of Friendship. Father-in-Law Day. National Cheesecake Day. Sigh. I must not have been feeling well that day because someone made me breakfast and Jr. helped make dinner that night. 

He decided to gather all the ingredients needed for the dish in a bowl before making it. Heh Heh. Done. Blogged.

July 31 was National Avocado Day. We had avocados in our salad (yet another recipe from A Season of Family Meal Plans, volume 3, by Jordan Page) as well as cucumbers. 

Jr. took the bowl of cucumbers I had just cut up and made this comment:

"Man, this cereal's the best."

He doesn't particularly care for cucumbers so we talked about other ways to use cucumbers besides eating them like cereal (though I love eating cucumbers). Done. Blogged.

And just like that, I'm caught up on the rest of July holidays. Go me.

Done. Blogged.

End of July

July 28 was Refreshment Day. We put out a cooler of drinks and snacks for delivery people and people working on a leak in a pipe in our yard.

July 29 was Talk in an Elevator Day. It just so happens I took all the kids with me to an appointment that day in a building with elevators. We talked.

 

July 31 was National Cotton Candy Day. Apparently there are two dates because we also celebrate it in December. Check out what's in our home. Right?

Library Bonding

Nichole and I spent some time one day at both Orem and Provo libraries. While we were at Orem Library we decided to celebrate a couple of holidays. July 30 was Talk in an Elevator Day so every time we got in an elevator, I snapped a picture of the two of us talking.

We stopped by to see Libby the Librantula since we haven't seen her in a while.

Then we sat down for a bit and did some reading as it was Paperback Book Day.

It was also International Day of Friendship Day so I texted one of my friends and it was Father-in-Law Day so I sent a message to Jeremy's dad, neither of those was while we were at the libraries, though.

One on One Time

Jeremy and I have been talking about how we haven't had Daddy-daughter or Mommy-daughter or Daddy-son or Mommy-son dates in a while.  It's hard to schedule that kind of one on one time when you have so much going on- work, school, extra-curricular activities, scouts, mutual, Relief Society activities, homework, chores, errands to run, etc. etc. etc.  The list goes on and on and on.  We decided to do something about it this week.  Monday there was no school.  Instead of dragging the kids around birding as we sometimes do when there's no school we decided to have some one on one time away from home. 
First thing in the morning, Jr. and Daddy went to get an oil change in the car together.  It may not sound that exciting but it's kind of their thing.  Jeremy never takes any of the other kids.  It's always Jr. (when he can do it on a day Jr.'s around).  They sit together playing games or watching shows while they wait.  Sometimes they have snacks.  It's their bonding time.

When they got back, Nichole and I headed to the Orem Library.  We had a nice talk on the drive there.  We talked books and things while at the library (she even suggested a book I haven't yet read so I checked it out), chatted with a librarian, checked out some books and movies to celebrate some upcoming holidays, and we sat for a while coloring on one of those mandalas they print out for people to color. 

When Nichole and I got back, Jeremy took Jr. Jr. to Farm Country at Thanksgiving Point.  He didn't ride on the camel at Vernal Holly Days so Jeremy took him to ride the ponies at Farm Country.  Jr. Jr. also got to feed the ducks.

When they got back, I took Lucky to University Place (I still call it University Mall) to ride on the escalators.  He thought it was so neat when we rode the escalators at the Conference Center on Saturday that he was very much in favor of riding others.  Unfortunately I could only find one set in one store, though it did go up three floors.  We did ride some elevators, though, including one where you could see out as it went up and down.  After walking around the mall for a while, I decided to take Lucky down to the other mall- Provo Towne Center.  It has many more escalators (not just inside stores).  We also rode in an elevator that had mirrors all around inside. 

So we all had fun with our one on one time/parent-child dates.  It was a good use of the kids' day off of school.  No birding, though I kept mentioning birds I saw as Nichole and I were driving and walking to the library.
It was good family time, though divided up between family members.