Celebrating the 4th II

So after we were all refreshed and rejuvenated we gathered up all the fishing gear and headed to Paiute Reservoir

for some fishing.

The two younger ones and sometimes Cheyenne had their buckets and shovels and enjoyed some time digging in the dirt and playing in the water.

Some of us took a little time to photograph the wonders of nature.

And others took the opportunity to take pictures of their adorable niece's and nephew playing in the water.

The fish were just not biting at Paiute so we loaded everybody and everything up and headed to Otter Creek

And it wasn't too long before the first fish was caught.

Even Eryk soon caught one and reeled it in with little or no help.

Kaitlyn tried her hand at fishing too, but she used a different method.

As I have mentioned previously Otter Creek was my dad's favorite place to go fishing. He would sit in this spot in this chair and fish. It was a little sad without him there and we shared a tear or too, along with some great memories. He will never be forgotten

All to soon the sun began to set and so it was time to end the 1st day of my vacation.

Tomorrow it would be the 4th of July. A day to celebrated Americas Birthday. Little did we know they excitement that woul awake us.

Celebrating the 4th

I have now decided that I am so far behind on blogging that I am just going to do my best to stay current and then as time permits go backwards and fill in what I have missed. So on ward and upward to our 4th of July spectacular!
For the last few years Brian and Kollette and my Mom and Dad have been celebrating the 4th of July by going to Otter creek. Where they fish, camp, ride four wheelers and watch the fireworks by the lake. With the passing of my dad they decided in his honor to continue this tradition as it was his favorite trip of the year. Unfortunately this year they could not get reservations at the RV park that they usually stay at. Right there across from the lake.

Well they found an RV park in Circlevile and on July 2nd they loaded up their trailers, four wheelers, kids, dogs, food and took off for the holiday. Jared and I had been talking about going down on the 4th for the day to fish, hang out and watch fire works. Well I had Thursday and Friday off and was just going to hang around the house on Thursday and do laundry and other such boning house work. Wednesday when I got off work Jared informed me that he had to go Page on Thursday and so we devised a plan that I would go with him when he left for Page and he would drop me off at the RV park on his way and I could stay down there Thursday night and then he would come down Friday with our dogs and then we would come home after the fireworks Friday as I had to work Saturday morning. So Brian, Kollette and my mom are down there and they have no cell service and not very good Internet. I sent an email Wednesday night but I arrived just after my mom read it Thursday morning. I was little worried about crashing their vacation, but I was very well received and we all had ball! This was my 1st vacation in over 2 years. So now that I have put you all to sleep with the boring details of the story I will share a bunch of pictures of the time we had together.
I got there pretty early in the morning so some of them were still asleep. When they finally woke up, got dressed and ate breakfast they decided to go on an ATV ride. Out came the maps and a decision was made on where to go. It was a rocky and dusty ride but we did reach the summit.

Our fearless leader consulting the map to make sure we were headed in the right direction.

Taking some time to enjoy the view

It really was breathtaking

Some desert plant life in bloom

After the ATV trek we will gathered in my mom's trailer to eat lunch, cool off and play a game of phase 10. Then it was nap time. Once everyone had taken their nap it was time to go fishing. So off to Paiute Reservoir we went. In the interest of not totally overwhelming you with with this take of my vacation I will continue my tale in a new post at a later time.

Lagoon Days

I mentioned in a previous post that my mom and I went to Lagoon for my works summer picnic.

We got there bright and early and waited with everyone for the entrance to open.

Once the entrance opened and we got in we had to wait for the park and all the rides to open. We just hung out under the trees and talked.

When the park finally opened we headed to the rides. The 1st one we went on was the Centennial Screamer

Prior to going on it I tried to worn my mom that it went upside done but she would not believe so we went on it and it did go upside. We rode in separate cages/cars and she said she had a heck of a time staying in the seated positing in her cage/car.
The next ride we went on was the Musik Express.

Because it was still early in the day we were actually the only two people on the entire ride. We sat together and had a blast. As is spins centrifugal forces are produced and those in the outside seat (me) get squished.
Next was a ride on the Wild Kingdom Train after the two previous wild rides we needed something mild.

See that it says please watch your head. They really mean do watch your head as my mom was to find out a little later.
The train takes you around the park and into the Wild animal Kingdom where you get to see animals. Like bears!
Tigers!

The Zebras

Camels and there were a lot more that I did not get pictures of.
Say Cheese!

Next up was the Tidal Wave. I thin this is quite possibly among one of my favorite risdes there. Especially if you happen to sit at either end of the boat

We really wanted to go on Rattle Snake Rapids but it was down for maintenance.

We later learned, from a very talkative employee, (who looked to be about 12) that it was the generator that was down and they were waiting on a part from Europe to fix it.

We went into Pioneer Village and that I will post in another blog as we spent quite sometime walking around there. Talking enjoying ice cream and just having a relaxing time. We also rode the Tilt a Whirl, Bumper cars and went through both Haunted houses

Here are just some other random pictures I took throughout the park.

This is the Jet Star II

Water Fountain

The turn of the Century

The sky ride

Movie night under the stars

I think by far my all time favorite summer activity is movie night under the stars. They bring a huge inflatable screen and it sit at the bottom of the big hill. Everyone bring blankets and just camps out on the grass. This year they played Horton Hears a Who. Spanish Fork city does this as well for Fiesta Days. They are playing Open Season. It will be on July 18th and the new ball park. So here some pictures from our night.

Hanging out, just enjoying a nice evening out of the house. Waiting for the movie to start. The weather was perfect.

Kollette and kids enjoying some together time!
The inflatable screen
Nap time

Presto the Magician

Kollette and I took the kids to the Library (read Kollette took us all to the library) the other day for the kick of for the summer reading program. They had a magic show. This guy was really good. He chose Kaitlyn as a participant for one of the trick and I got some of it on Video but not the whole trick. He made Lady bug appear in her hands. At one time I think she had six altogether in there. I asked her how but she didn't know. Guess it was magic.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Health and Wellness Fair

It seems summer is well under way here in Utah and so begins the different city celebrations. Recently Eagle Mountain held it's annual Pony Express Days. We started off the celebration by taking the kids to the Health and Wellness fair at the park. There was lot's things for the kids to do and to learn about and the weather was nice. The 1st thing we did was take a "tour" of the the Life Flight Helicopter.

Then Eryk Participated in a Seat Belt demonstration put on by the Utah Count Sheriff Association. Where he sat in one car all buckled and someone sat in the other car buckled in and at slow rate of speed the two cars collided to simulate an accident. We learned the importance of always wearing our seat belts.

Next was a teeth brushing activity where the kids teeth were painted pink and then they were shown the proper way to brush to get rid of the plaque bugs.


After having learned how to properly brush their teeth we took them to the rock climbing wall for some climbing



Then it was on to the National Guard to learn a little about what they do.




Of course there was a petting zoo so the kids to feed some goats and cows, chicken and roosters.


We had a really good time and the kids leaned lots of important stuff. Unfortunately Cheyenne was at camp so she missed out.