Silverwood

We took the 3 older boys to Silverwood this year- Kyla came along too, to even things out on the rides- plus, she has a gold pass so it got Nathan and me in for free!

Eli was SUPER excited waiting in line for the first roller coaster, Tremors....

I video-ed the whole thing- suffice it to say he did NOT have the same smile on his face at the end of the ride!  While he didn't want to go on Tremors again, he was game for the other roller coasters... but when we got to the front of the line for Timber Terror, they wouldn't let him on because he was too short *sigh* 

 So we waited while the other 4 went....

as he watched them going around, I think he had an epiphany that ALL rollercoasters are rather similar and he was pretty glad he wasn't on that one either... it really surprises me about him- for as tough as he pretends to be...

This was a little more his speed *smirk* 

Bryson and Kyla were kinda trying to impress each other by going on Panic Plunge- both of their first times!

 We stayed til pretty late and had a great time...  I was so impressed by how much my boys expressed 'thanks' throughout the day.  I loved that!  Because Kyla's pass had gotten us in for free, we felt totally justified in buying lots of yummy food and treats- the kids were in H.E.A.V.E.N!

Wakeboarder

Bryson was only able to get out behind the boat a few times this summer, but he did great every time he tried!

Jace watched intently- I think he was concerned for his brother...

Water Fun

We went to a great family water park a few weeks ago- it was a decently warm day, but the water made it feel pretty cool!

Love this girl in goggles *grin*

Can't get enough...

Just love the hair...

Cabbage Patch Kid

Bryson's 4th grade teacher gave all the kids a cabbage start in the spring for them to plant and grow to enter into a contest to win a scholarship- Bryson saw that there was money involved and he was hooked!  We planted the cabbage in the garden... aaaaand that was about it!  Thank goodness for automatic sprinklers or it would have died for sure!  When I harvested it, there were more creepy crawlies inside and out than I cared to count... bleh!  Overall, it weighed in at 16 1/2 pounds!

He was one proud farmer!

Wildest Dreams

A red letter day, indeed *grin*

She's a big girl now!

Hailee all of a sudden decided that she wanted to wear big girl panties and go potty on the toilet!  I know that the prospect of getting to go to school had a lot to do with it.  The end of summer was rapidly approaching, so I really pushed the 'choice' when we were camping this past weekend, and she happily went cold turkey, straight into panties, without pull-ups and has done so well *phew*  I had scored on a "yie-boo" {light blue} (her fav color) potty chair a few days before, and while camping, she sat on it lots and lots to earn an m&m for each time she went... it was very relaxed and low key since she could bring the seat where ever we were.  She still prefers her potty seat over a regular toilet, but, I'll take it!

I was really worried there for a while that she was going to be beyond difficult... actually, to clarify, she does well going potty, anything more substantial, and it's a definite negative at this point.

She's been going to bed every night in panties and only once, just slightly wet the bed- I'm so proud of her, and best of all, SHE feels the sense of accomplishment- if only the logic would transfer to going #2...

Torture

I purposely put off potty training Hailee until after our trip to Kentucky.  The LAST thing I needed when driving 5 kids across the country was one who had to go potty every 15 minutes- especially a girl who couldn't just pee off the side of the car!  I was determined I was going to start as SOON as we got back because she has to be potty trained for pre-school (which she is REALLY excited about)- but life got busy... I worked quite a bit and we were really trying to make the most out of the summer we had left!  But I realized today that we had to get going on the whole potty training thing- school is starting in a month!

I've known for quite a while that Hailee has a certain degree of fear when it comes to sitting on the toilet, but today...

Oh great.  This isn't going to be as easy as with the boys.

It's not really feasible to potty train while trying to keep my house ready for showings... I'm thinking it may be easier if we attempt this while up camping- if she has accidents, it'll be outside, so no biggie?!?

Surprise!

I could hear the kids busying themselves downstairs as I was getting Jace dressed.... I came down to find 3 smiling boys a 'clean' kitchen and this note... 

Sprise
we clEnd the
Kichion
P.S. we Did not
Do it for teck time

translation:

surprise

we cleaned the

kitchen

P.S. we did not 

do it for tech time

Rexburg

Will this trip ever end?  It was pretty long, but really, we enjoyed every leg of the journey!  We stopped for the night in Idaho Falls and ate at Papa Kelseys *sigh*

We went and saw Emily in Rexbug and went to the Ice Caves/Civil Defense Caves- I can't believe that in the 2 years I went to Ricks College, that I never once went to the Ice Caves!  It was so cool!  Literally, it was cool... errr, cold... roasting hot outside and freezing cold inside- and d.a.r.k!  Thank goodness Aaron and Kim had headlamps!

We went out to eat with Emily and ended up going to Arctic Circle so the kids could play and we could talk... love this girls hair!

After staying in a {nasty} hotel in Idaho Falls, we packed up (as fast as we could) and left the next morning- as much fun as we'd had, it was very nice to be back home!  And *cough*cough* see how well my garden had done-

that folks, is a radish plant he's holding on to, and yes, it IS much much taller than him!

Ross Family Reunion

We timed our trip so that we'd have our bi-annual Ross family reunion in Eden, Utah on the way home... to help break up the trip a little?  My parents had condo's for the whole family for the week... we had a blast!

My boys taught their cousins a game called 'castles and camouflage'- we played many rounds and had a lot of fun- I'm sure the other guests at the condos were very interested in what in the world we were doing!  Most rounds concluded with popsicles (it was HOT!!)

We went on a candy factory tour- yum!  Sampled lots of stuff and were required to wear these awesome hair nets- even Jace:

not surprisingly, he didn't love it.

Our condo's had an awesome pool with a water slide- but you could only go on it if you were under 13... whuteva.  It was lame.  But the kids had fun- especially with the underwater camera...

We took some family pics that turned out not so great...

mostly because the kids were too distracted by their cousins...

Mimi and Papa with most of their grandkids...

Jace continued his explorative phase-

he gets sooo excited whenever he can climb onto or into anything!

Apparently he has a thing with drawers *grin*

Of course we went to Temple Square one day

the kids really enjoyed a lot of the church history, especially Bryson.  They were pretty impressed by seeing the conference center and Salt Lake Temple and other things they've seen on tv.

We spent an afternoon at a farm- it was just too hot.  We fed some geese, saw a guy catching a mink (it was darling) went on a tractor ride and were just plain hot...

We split from the rest one day to check out an airforce museum- Shock and awe, I tell you- my boys were in pure h.e.a.v.e.n.

We packed a lot into that week- and had so much fun- lots of good food, fun memories, and relaxing... well, maybe not all that much relaxing- is it ever relaxing when you have 5 kids on vacay?  But we wouldn't have had it any other way.  We love that Mimi and Papa take us on these awesome trips every other year!