We mostly use our Pass of All Passes for the swimming feature, but we try to take advantage of the other perks as well. Several months ago we were able to go to a trampoline park. We dropped Madison off with my Mom so the rest of us could have a day of free fun. Most of the pictures at the trampoline place turned out like this:
So blurry I probably shouldn’t even bother posting it. But I will.
And hey, here are some more:
The trampoline place was close to the movie theater that is also included on the pass. That’s how we saw Big Hero 6 for free.
We needed to stop by IKEA and it turned out to be a Tuesday so we ended our day with a free dinner for the kids:
Another time we let Madison join us at the Snakes and Tails exhibit:
They had a carnival that we went to at Liberty Land:
There was a bouncy thing with a huge jump. Dallas wanted to try it and Brooke did, too:
…until she got to the top and looked down. She decided to crawl back to solid ground the way she came:
Dallas, on the other hand, jumped like a pro:
Thanks, Pass of All Passes! You’re worth your weight in gold!
This is a little of what we’ve been up to this summer.
Spencer helped Dallas mow the lawn:
I enrolled the girls in a summer class through the city. They did science experiments and loved it. Brooke won some candy for her cup/boat which held the most marbles and was so proud of herself:
I figured Spencer would want to go to a class of his own so he wouldn’t feel left out. I signed him up for a tot sports class. He was…not interested in the class. Instead he preferred to pass his time doing this:
Should I be worried? Because I am.
We have eaten a million Otter Pops:
Somehow this happened and both girls were completely satisfied with the arrangement:
The big girls took swim lessons. Brooke, and indeed most of the kids, LOVED the lessons:
Caroline on the other hand…
It took her some time to warm up to the idea of swim lessons.
Brooke after the first lesson:
And Caroline:
However, by the end she had become so much more comfortable in the water and was actually enjoying herself. Hooray for progress!
After the fiasco of the summer community classes, I didn’t dare sign Spencer up for swim lessons. He was more than happy to play on the iPad the whole time:
Madison was a little busybody and ran around all over the place. Luckily the pool had a little park right by it that we could play on:
Madison is not a fan of grass touching her skin:
We saw “The Little Mermaid” at the Hale Theatre. We loved it! Caroline wouldn’t take a picture with me so I had to borrow my niece, Emma:
Perhaps Caroline was just hungry. We went to Chili’s after and Caroline ate a bazillion pieces of pizza:
My aunt and uncle came to visit. Here’s my cute cousin Hailey who just graduated from high school:
The girls loved the black frosting from the cake:
Sweet Caroline turned 6! She was certain she’d lose her first tooth on her birthday. It didn’t happen.
Caroline wanted a repeat cake, so I made the Dora-head cake again:
We visited my parents who were selling hot dogs during Bountiful’s handcart days:
Nice photobomb, Brooke.
We’ve loved the splash pad:
We had our ward variety show. Brooke showed off her stop motions again and drew a crowd:
After much hesitation and debate, I began giving Brooke piano lessons:
So far she’s doing well and is happy to practice a little each day. Is is too much to ask for this to continue forever?
As the post title suggests, we went to the Hill Aerospace Museum.
Then we had the Fourth of July. I have never felt as accomplished as a mother as I did when I successfully got all four of my kids to nap before leaving for fireworks.
Once we all woke up we met up with my family, had dinner, and watched fireworks. (Please ignore my bruised and battered baby. She is constantly bumping into something.)
We met up with my sister and her kids and went to the Ogden Treehouse Museum.
They had an interactive play that I took Caroline, Madison, and Spencer to. Caroline volunteered to be a wolf:
Then I volunteered Madison to be a pig since no one else was willing. Little did I know that would mean I got to be a pig, too, and wear a child-sized costume:
These pictures are courtesy of a stranger who saw me go onstage so she went over to my purse, dug my camera out, and took pictures. I’m still sorting out my feelings about that.
We have the Pass of All Passes and occasionally they let us use our pass to get in free to the Rocky Mountain Raceways. We’ve never been, but we were pretty sure we had one little boy who would LOVE to experience life at the racetrack.
We donned our ear plugs and sat down in the empty stadium to watch some drag racing.
Madison was a little startled by all the commotion:
Spencer was in heaven. Heaven. HEAVEN. He sat still for hours watching car after car race.
His eyes never left the track:
Not even when everyone else was causing commotion around him:
Seeing Spencer’s intense focus led me to believe our lives would be a lot less frustrating on Sundays if there were more drag races during sacrament meeting. Just a thought for the First Presidency.
Caroline giggled and giggled when she saw Madison with her ear plugs. “She looks like Frankenstein!” she shrieked.
Our tickets gave us access to the pit area where we were able to see the race cars up close. Madison wasn’t sure what to think about that skeleton:
We kept asking Spencer if he was ready to go and he never was so Caroline was the official baby tender watching Madison crawl up and down the bleachers 100 times:
Finally the moment we were waiting for – they brought out the jet engine racers. Those things were loud and fast!
We just had the best time at the race track which I hate admitting because I never thought of myself as belonging to the crowd that enjoys patronizing such places, but there you have it. I guess I’m more redneck than I thought.
The next day Spencer’s toy cars raced all day long:
A few weeks later another Rocky Mountain Raceways event was added to our pass. This time it was Motocross.
These bleachers were crowded so baby couldn’t wander and the track smelled like manure so this experience was much less enjoyable for those of the female persuasion.
These guys however:
LOVED it.
Again, Spencer can’t be bothered to look away from the track for a photo, nor could he help himself from making motorcycle noises all. night. long:
We left the racetrack only to realize we had somehow gotten a flat tire! Boo.
Our evening at the raceways prompted Spencer to draw this:
We had a family dinner at my aunt and uncle’s house which was the most exciting thing in Caroline’s life to date. She couldn’t WAIT to get there and start playing.
First stop — check in on the chickens:
Next stop — play in the play house:
After that we ate. We learned Brooke doesn’t eat the part of the grape with the hole:
Then we went on a little trip to Paris:
Brooke got Dallas to put all of her stop motion films on one disk. She proudly showed them off to anyone who would spare a few minutes to watch:
The little boys were only too willing to veg out as they ate their dessert:
My aunt and uncle were slightly less enthusiastic about being forced to watch:
