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.

Meatier Meteors

June 29 was National Waffle Iron Day. The kids made waffles for us before we went out to celebrate National Camera Day, also on the 29th. We took the camera out to the lake in the same spot we went to see the Christmas Star. This time however we looked for shooting stars since the next day was Meteor Watch Day or Meteor Day and we wouldn't be able to go out on the night of the 30th. We didn't see any shooting stars but it was good bonding time and it was nice to look at the stars where there wasn't as much extra light as in the middle of the city.

The next night, June 30, we had individual pizzas for dinner. People could choose their own toppings. Some of the pieces ended up "meatier" than others. Get it? Get it? That was Jr.'s suggestion.

I sure do love creativity... and nice family time.

Creativity Strikes Again

June 28 was Paul Bunyan Day. "Let's have flapjacks," Jr. suggested. So I made pancakes and called them flapjacks (and quoted Groundhog Day again).

Jr. also suggested we have "ants on a log" because it was National Logistics Day. Log-istics? Huh? Huh? Great idea.

Earlier in the day I used the rest of the raisins to make raisin bread, then remembered we were supposed to have ants on a log. Sigh. Never fear, however, because I realized we may have been out of raisins but we had plenty of dried cranberries. Hooray! We just had red ants instead of black.

Jr. volunteered to assemble the ants on a log and figured out the logistics of positioning things (see what I did there?). He reminded me that he took a food class in junior high and knew about placement to make things look good. So this is what I found when he was finished.

Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha. Creativity.

Onions Have Layers, Too

Since we had parfaits on the 25th, it was only fair that we had onions on the 27th, keeping with the Shrek thing. Actually, June 27 was National Onion Day so Nichole made us jalapeno pasta (with onions, of course. Yumm).

As it was also National Sunglasses Day, Lucky decided to do a little sunglasses modeling for us. He's awesome. Which picture is your favorite?

Yogurt Pudding

June 25 was Strawberry Parfait Day and June 26 was Chocolate Pudding Day.

We had strawberry parfaits made with yogurt, granola, and strawberry layers. I kept thinking about the movie Shrek and Donkey talking about parfaits. Everybody likes parfaits. Well, maybe not. Apparently some of my kids can dislike parfaits. They had their own versions of the treat.

All of them ate chocolate pudding, though.

How Do You Do?

June 24 was National Handshake Day. It was also National Pralines Day so the kids gave me handshakes and I gave them "seahorse praline truffles."

My parents brought us a bread machine when they came to visit. So I decided that day to grind wheat and make some wheat bread. Since then I've made a few other kinds of bread as well.

When I started grinding wheat, Jr. Jr. and Lucky both asked to help. So they ground wheat and when we had enough, they decided to grind some more and some more and some more. So now we have a bunch of wheat flour in the freezer for when I want to use it without having to grind it the day I need it.

Because they were so helpful that day, the kids got to watch Night at the Museum for Museum Comes to Life Day, also on June 24.

Whoops, I Missed It

I realized I forgot to post about National Selfie Day which was June 21. Wow, that was a busy day. But I managed to get this while we were at Stories in the Park with the Provo Library.