Horse Back Riding

After meeting our teachers, we headed with Reagan's bestie - Sophia - and Sophia's mom - Andrea - up to Park City to go horseback riding. We have planned this for some time and were really excited.

We each had our own horse. Cole's horse - Flash - HAD to be in the lead. If any other horse tried to move in front, he would move over or even bite at the horse to keep it from getting in front. Steve's horse - Eastwood - was half donkey. Reagan's horse and mine were just happy to be there.

Cole laughed that my horse was blonde like I am. Funny kiddo. We had a 90 minute ride and it was great! Our guide was so nice and each of us loved our own horse.

What a fun thing to do!!!! We had a great day!!!!

Meeting our Teachers

No. NO. NOOOOOOOO!!!!! It can't be the end of summer - it can't be time to go back to school. NOOOOOOOOOO! This summer has gone SO fast. Ugh! Alright, well if it must be ...... let's go meet our new teachers.

Cole will be in 3rd grade this year and his teacher is Ms. Gray. She has taught art here before and has taught in public school, but she hasn't had her own, full time, Challenger class. Well, we will all learn together.... won't we? She seems super nice and was really happy and positive.

Cole is super excited to have a desk that opens this year - not one that you just slide the books into that never closes.

Reagan will be in 5th grade and her teacher is Mr. Capone. He has taught 5th grade before and she is super excited to be in his class. There is only one 5th grade class and there are 18 in her class. We learned that there are 2 new students in her class, which almost never happens. People leave our school, but really - no one comes in. These two students are transferring from other Challenger schools. That will make for a great, new year.

Photo Effects App - Cool!!!!!

Steve found this cool app to edit photos with. It's called Prisma. You'll remember this photo from Draper Days this summer. Well, you take a pic and you can make it into like a collage of colors - it is super cool. 

So, it took our Draper Days pic and turned it into this - above - cool pic.

Steve took a selfie to use in playing around with the app. Look below at what it made:

I LOVE cool new things. Thanks Prisma!

Climbing at the Gym

Our gym has a climbing area. However, Reagan and Cole can only climb when there is a certified climber there to belay them. Well, all summer, they have been asking Linda (the head of the Kids' Club) if she can help them climb. Unfortunately, some losers would climb each week and would pull down the rope so that no one could belay another. Totally uncool. Linda said they had to wait for another person to free climb up there and re-loop the rope to allow her to belay the kiddos. So, they would wait until the next week. Then, she would report that it was fixed, but that someone did it again. UGH!!!

Finally, it was fixed and Reagan and Cole could climb. They had a ball!!!

There is a certain level that they can free climb up to and each of them was having a great time doing that while the other one was climbing on the big wall.

Linda let them go up and down, up and down again and again. I think she felt badly that they hadn't been able to climb much during the summer.

They had a fabulous time and were "climbed out" by the time we stopped. Thanks Linda and TAC - we had so much fun climbing!

Another Trip to Get Air!!!!

We headed back to Get Air with one of Reagan's classmates.  

Reagan, Cole and our friend had a great time jumping and doing flips and playing dodge ball.

Then, they headed over to the obstacle course to have races with each other through the course.

It wasn't that long ago that Cole couldn't do the monkey rings - he couldn't even reach them from the bar. He had to jump and hope to catch one, but even if he could, he couldn't swing to the next one. He's so big now.

Thanks Get Air - you've been a staple of our summer. We love to jump!

A Registry for Cole? I Think Not.

We happen to have a lot of showers in our neighborhood and ward. Baby showers and bridal showers - we have them for all of the new brides and first time moms and sometimes for second time moms  in our ward or neighborhood. Well, many of the ladies in our area don't want to go out to buy a gift for the shower or don't want to spend very much money. So, we have made the "group gift" routine for our showers. People combine their money to go in on a gift together and one designated person goes to get the registry, selects the items, buys them, collects the money, wraps the gifts and brings them to the shower. Well, I've become the "Group Gift Girl" for almost every shower. It isn't a big deal to me. If I'm going to be schlepping to the store, pulling the registry, using my coupons, buying the gifts and wrapping them anyway, why not help some other (often older) ladies by combining their money with mine and getting a bigger gift, right? Plus, not to brag, but I'm pretty good with the coupons and end up getting more of a gift(s) than someone else may. So, it's a win-win. I get to put my shopping skills to work and the other ladies just have to show up to the shower.

Well, Reagan and Cole are routinely with me when we are shopping for these showers. One day, as we were walking through Buy Buy Baby, registry in hand, looking for a particular item, Cole asked me about the registry papers. I explained that the new parents came to that store (or another location of that store) and they decided the things they wanted for their new baby and the store made a list of those things so that the people wanting to give them gifts would know what they wanted. That way, we make sure to get only the things they want and nothing that they have to return or not use.

We kept searching as Cole processed all of that information and then he asked "Mom - can I make a registry for my birthday?" I immediately rejected that idea, but he didn't understand why. He said "But, the people getting me gifts for my birthday want to get me something I want - not something I have to return and exchange for something else. If I have a registry, they will know what I want." I like the logic of his decision, but I had to explain how him having a registry would be rude, presumptuous and imposing. Then I had to explain how it was ok for new parents, but not for him (which was actually a bit difficult). I didn't mention that Toys R Us actually has registries for children to list what they want for their birthdays. I'm not sure he understood the difference between him and new parents or new brides, but he will NOT have a birthday registry as an 8 year old. Not on my watch :) Nice effort, though.

Back to Snowbird

You'll remember that we came up to Snowbird one evening last week and got a look at all of the cool activities they have up here. Well, since it was evening time, we decided to come back up for an all-day pass of fun. We came up and the first thing Reagan and Cole wanted to do was to climb on the ropes course.

Next, they wanted to go on the Eagle's Ride. It's basically a sitting zip line that goes really fast. It takes you up the mountain backwards and then sends you down forward. They had a great time! The line for this activity wasn't very long, so they went a few times. Steve joined them.

Next, they wanted to jump on the trampolines with the hydraulic lifts on them. Cole desperately wanted to do some flips - it took him quite some time to learn how to handle the bounce and the lift. Eventually, both Reagan and Cole were bouncing and flipping like crazy.

Then, they wanted to rock climb. We've done this a lot this summer (in many different venues) and they had a great time!

Steve and I took a pass on this activity. Reagan and Cole loved climbing. Since no one else was in line, the attendant let them climb again and again on whatever course they selected. Cool!!!

After the rock climbing, they decided to hit the mountain coaster. I was taking pics and video and saw Reagan coming. I flipped on the video and then heard her crying as she came around the last turn - oh no!!!! She had been stung by a bee on the neck during her coaster ride. Ugh! The attendant there referred us to the medical center. They gave her ibuprofen and a topical numbing solution to make it stop itching and burning. After a few minutes of tears, she was doing much better.

We decided to break for lunch and take the tram up the mountain. They have a new lodge/restaurant at the top of the mountain. We had lunch and walked all around.

Next, we decided to walk part way down the mountain to the tunnel that connects one part of the mountain to another. 

After that, we took the chair lift DOWN the mountain. I don't know that I've ever done it before. We always go up and ski down. It was REALLY steep - a totally different experience going down. It was beautiful.

Then, Reagan and Cole decided to hit the Alpine Slide. Steve and they took the chair lift up and there was another set of trampolines with hydraulic lifts on them. They HAD to stop and jump. 

Then, they each came flying down the mountain on their sleds. Luckily, I was able to catch some pics as they went by.

The Alpine Slide has always been a favorite of Reagan and Cole. They love sliding down the mountain, using the break on their sled as little as possible :)

Then, it was time for another ride on the mountain coaster. Luckily, this time there were no bee stings.

They had so much fun on the coaster. Not sure it as long as the Park City one, but Reagan and Cole (and Steve) loved it just the same. My day was a bit damped because I had a horrible migraine, but I loaded upon imitrex and was the camera girl all day long :)

What a great day!!!! Reagan and Cole had a blast! There are so many things to do here and without very many crowds, they were able to do their favorites again and again. We will definitely be back for more fun! Thanks Snowbird!!!!!

A Father/Son Fun - Back to Funtopia (3rd time this week)

Next up was Cole's Father/Son Fun. Guess where Cole wanted to go? Yep - Funtopia! His third time there in a week. Oh well - remember how I posted about having that 2 for 1 coupon? Well, that meant that Steve could climb for free. So, strap in Steve, you're climbing.

They had a great time. Every video had Cole encouraging Daddy saying "You can make it Dad!" or asking the people "Could you move that bar closer? It's his first time." Love it!

Of course, every pic and video that Cole took was from right below Steve, showing his tuchas. Well, that's what you get when an 8 year old is shooting :)

Steve took some pics and video of Cole as well.

Cole HAD to return to his platform and jump for the bag and the bar. Love it!

After climbing, they had lunch. Just like yesterday, they each had written cards for each other. Yep - Daddy/Daughter Dates and Father/Son Fun is a wonderful tradition that we love in our family!!!!

I had to include some videos:

A Daddy Daughter Date - Back to Fat Cats

It's that time again .... Daddy/Daughter Date time. Steve took the day off and Reagan was able to choose where they would go for their date.

She chose Fat Cats (where we were last week with her friend Sophia). They bowled, played arcade games and ate pizza. Each of them had written a card for the other one and they exchanged cards.

I love that Steve makes it a priority to spend individual time with each child. He makes them feel so special.... because they are!

Funtopia - Day 2 (this week)

Ok - so, in my last post, I said that Funtopia was our new, favorite place. Well, we enjoyed ourselves so much that we came back the next day. Yesterday, we invited the Norris-Curtis clan to join us. Today, it is the Estes family. Charlee and Brooklyn have been our friends since we were all in Water Babies class together. We see them at the gym, at school and at karate!!!!

Cole had to resume his jumping feats from the platform and he had to show everyone that he could make it to the pad and the bar even when they were placed as far away as possible from the platform.

We had fun playing with Charlee and Brooklyn and climbing and climbing for a second day.

Again, I had to include some video. This is seriously - such a fun place. Plus, with that 2 for 1 coupon, we are saving cash-ola!!!!

I don't think we are coming tomorrow for a third day in a row, but..... never say never :)

Funtopia - Our New Favorite Place!!!!!

We have a new favorite place!!!!! It is in Lehi and it is called Funtopia. It's a climbing place where each person has their own automatic belay. That way, they can climb on whatever they want and if they fall or give up, they can just be slowly lowered to the ground. We love it!!!!

We heard about it from the Anderson's - our friends whom Cole attended football camp with. Plus, they had a 2 for 1 coupon that they shared with us. Well, it just doesn't get better than that! We invited the Norris-Curtis clan to join us and we headed South.

It was a blast! The kiddos were strapped in, watched a safety video and bam! they were off. They had to wait for an employee to hook them up at whatever climbing wall they wanted to go on and then they could climb at their own speed to their heart's content until they were ready to move on to another wall or obstacle. They could climb on these building looking things, up the side of the wall, up footholds that were only out for a certain amount of time and footholds that would only come out once they answered a question on an iPad in the wall. So cool!!!

There was a huge slide that they could have been lifted up on and then dropped, but it was out of order, so they were able to go on this jumping platform. They could jump from a platform, several feet in the air, to a trapeze bar or a round bag type thing. Best part was, the bar or bag could be moved closer or farther away from the platform. Cole was the first to brave this jump. He stood on the platform for what seemed like forever until he jumped. Once he made it, his confidence was high and he jumped again and again until he had conquered each jump when the bar or bag was at the further point away from him. He LOVED it!

We had so much fun - we will be back FOR SURE!!!!! I did verify that the belays will handle up to 250 lbs so even adults could do this. Cool!!!

Thanks Rachel, Annie, Stockton and Kinsey for joining us - we had a great time!!!! After climbing for an hour, we had lunch and then returned home. What a day!!!!

Of course, I had to include some videos of Reagan and Cole jumping from the platform. It was awesome!!!!