Summer Plans

We have some exciting summer plans I wanted to share with you.  First off, last year as we were going to the last days of our season pass at This is the Place, Hannah asked if we could volunteer there.  I had never heard of such a thing, but checked into it.  Turns out you can. This is the Place is a state run park that has pioneer homes and demonstrations of pioneer activities.  It's a living history type site. The Smalleys and my parents have joined us in this adventure.  I took some pictures of the kids in their pioneer clothes.  They are all so cute.  My kids have had them on as much as possible since we got them.  In order to view the grown-ups, you will have to actually come to Utah and see us.  We're there Wednesday mornings all summer long.  The Smalleys are in a house where they will be demonstrating pioneer cooking.  My parents and I are in a house that has pioneer parlor games--pick up sticks and checkers.  My Dad's going to work at the fireman's hall, too.

All the kids in their pioneer clothes. 

You will also have to come to Utah to see the super cute pictures I took of the girls posing as fashionable pioneers and the guys pretending to smell cow poop.  Allison has threatened me not to post her picture on my blog.  Sorry, she knows where I will be every Wednesday.

I told the kids to give me their best pioneer faces.  I had no idea pioneers liked to stick their tongues out like that.

Our other big summer plans come from Family Fun magazine.  Those of you who get it know that this last year they have had a feature every month called Badges of Fun.  Each month there was a theme, a badge you could earn to put on your chart, and suggestions of three activities to do.  I thought it sounded like fun, but never had enough energy to do it.  When I was planning out this summer, I was trying to think of easy, fun, inexpensive things to do with the kids.  The badges of fun fit the bill perfectly.  I thought it would be fun to post them here and give you the opportunity to play along.  If you do decide to do something, let us know what you did.  Part of the fun of doing this will be hearing what everyone else decided to do.

The first badge of fun is scheduled for this coming week June 3-9.  It is Backyard Fun.   The suggested activities are a backyard camp out, yard art, and twilight games.  I'm sure there are specifics on Family Fun's website or you can just be creative.  Also, if you're interested, you may be able to download the chart and the badges from the Family Fun website, too.  I'm not sure which activity we're going to do, we'll decide tomorrow, but knowing my kids, we'll probably do all of them.  

So sweet!