Memorial Day and More

Memorial Day. May 26.

Hot air balloon sighting, Memorial Day neighborhood breakfast, and American flag selfie.

May 28 was National Hamburger Day. We ate taco salad.

It was also Whooping Crane Day. When Jet and I were out driving (I was driving. He was in his own seat), we were stopped in traffic and we saw a crane. I told him it was not like the bird crane. It was a construction crane. It can lift things up high and move them around.  

3rd and 4th of July 2023

Let's start catching up on July by talking about the 3rd and 4th of July since not much celebrating happened the first two days.

Balloon Fest happens for a few days around the 4th of July, so Monday, July 3rd, Nichole and I went for a drive to see the hot air balloons and to drive under some of them.

That evening we celebrated Eat Beans Day and Drop a Rock Day by having with our dinner jelly beans and chocolate rocks that we dropped onto our plates.

Tuesday, July 4th, Jr. Jr. and Jr. went to help set up flags in the neighborhood. Jr. Jr. and I ended up with a selfie that day like on Memorial Day and Flag Day this year. I think it might turn into a running theme. Selfies with the American Flag instead of pictures of the kids with them.

We ate Caesar salad because it was also Caesar Salad Day.

That night, some of us watched fireworks with neighbors and Jeremy made balloon animals for kids (and adults) who were out watching fireworks. It was a pleasant night.

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.

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.