4th of July

Around here the 4th of July usually becomes a big weekend event, with fairs and activities lasting for several days, fireworks displays on multiple nights. Sunday is skipped and lots happens Saturday and Monday, this year Independence Day falling on a Monday.

This year on Saturday the 2nd, Jeremy and I got up in the wee hours of the morning to look for common poorwills which we heard again but didn't see. 

We were so tired after that, especially Jeremy who drove the kids past Balloon Glow the night before (unfortunately it was just flames because there was too much wind to inflate the balloons) because I couldn't stay awake then he spent most of the rest of the night building a balloon sculpture for a balloon delivery in the morning. I drove him to that because I got more sleep than he did. I was tired later, though. I went back and forth that whole Saturday sleeping and reading Jeremy's novel with just a little bit of fireworks watching that night. So tired.

Monday the 4th we certainly celebrated. Everyone in the family participated in celebrations one way or another that day. Some of us went to all the activities we did, some went to just some. So here's what we did:

We drove by Balloon Fest (again because of the weather/wind, the hot air balloons couldn't lift off the ground and they just had a few inflated).

We explored the Pioneer Village in Provo by North Park. I have driven by that place so many times but have never actually gone so after driving by the hot air balloons, I checked their 4th of July hours and we fit it in our schedule. 

There was a scavenger hunt the kids were able to do there and learn a bit about pioneer history. I learned things, too. I never realized that the Mormon crickets that destroyed so many of the pioneers' crops weren't actually crickets but a type of hard shelled katydid. And those things were huge. Fortunately a miracle happened and gulls came down and ate the "crickets" and saved the crops. And that's why the California gull is the state bird of Utah. I did know that part.

We were also able to play- games, music (on a hammer dulcimer), and "chores." Jet was so happy to play in the water, he kept running back there after we had moved on.

I shared a little family history with my children (besides coming from pioneer heritage and sharing one of the pioneer stories they'd already heard. This was my personal history). My grandpa did woodworking and he built stilts for us like these when we were younger. I remember walking around on them a lot. Good memories.

 

Later that day some of us walked to Scera Park where they had the Colonial Heritage Festival. We weren't able to stay long but we were able to learn a few things and the kids got to do some weaving.

We walked home again and some of us immediately hopped in the van again to go to the Scera Theatre to watch "Cries of Freedom," a musical put on for the Freedom Festival about different people throughout history who fought for freedom in different ways. It was nice to support some friends who worked with and were in the show and it was really neat.

We got some pics with the flags by the Scera and headed home again.

We ended the night with sparklers and watching fireworks.

It was a long day but worth it.

Birthday, Birthday, You've Had a Birthday

We recently celebrated Jeremy's birthday.  Besides cake and ice cream, Jeremy had a special request.  He wanted us to go to the annual Snow Goose Festival in Delta.  We weren't able to make it last year, but we were this year, and it was right around his birthday.
It was cold.  I forgot to bring or remind kids to bring gloves.  Whoops.  Luckily, they had a tent set up with a little heater.  Jr. enjoyed getting snow all over his boots then watching the steam come off them near the heater.  Sigh.
We got to the reservoir early enough that there was only one lone snow goose floating around.

The rest hadn't come in from where they were having their breakfast in nearby fields.  We didn't know where those nearby fields were so we didn't get to see them in the fields.  I took some of the kids to the van to warm up while Jeremy and Jr. waited for the geese to come flying in.  It wasn't long.  Jeremy was able to wave to me when a big group of geese were on their way so I was able to get out of the van and watch them circle and light on the water.  It was so fun.  There were sooooo many geese.

There were spotting scopes set up so we were able to get better looks than with our binoculars.

Lucky had trouble figuring out how to look with just one eye in the scope (he's used to binoculars), so one of the people brought out his phone with an attachment for the scope and Lucky could look at the screen and see the geese.  So nice.
It was cool.  We went for a drive around lunchtime to a different place.  That was fun.  We saw some birds we hadn't yet seen this year.  After we were done with that area we went back to the Snow Goose Festival.  The geese floated closer to where we were so we could get a better look at them.  Again, it was awesome.

I wanted to get a picture of the kids with the reservoir and geese in the background.  They were so good to oblige.

Jeremy got a panorama of the reservoir in the morning without the geese and in the afternoon with the geese all stretched out in a big line.  That was fun.

There were other activities going on during the festival, but we missed some.  Oh, well.  We enjoyed what we did do.  Jeremy was very happy with this for a birthday present.

4th of July

We had a good 4th of July celebrating our freedom with festivals, food, family, and fun.  Especially when Lucky didn't want to wear his shirt in the morning so Jeremy put it on himself to complete his red, white, and blue ensemble.