American Fork Camping Trip

We decided to head out and take the kids camping.  We went two years ago, it's taken us that long to decide we were willing to do it again.  The kids LOVE it but it is SOO much work!

 Tara and Ben came with us.

It wasn't supposed to rain. This is right when we were starting to get set up.  I was not amused! :O)

Our campsite. It was a site we could drive to but still really rustic....like we got to teach the kids how to dig holes to go to the bathroom in the woods.

 Getting ready for marshmallows

Campfire fun!

Getting ready for bed in the tent

So cute!  Remember...he's 2...she's 4

Paul made everyone a yummy breakfast

Enjoying pancakes

The dogs barely fit in the back of the car on the way home

We went hiking at Cascade Springs

Mimi's Visit from Mimi's Camera

Mimi was here for 6 weeks and she sure kept the kids busy.  Every time I got a chance I was stealing her camera to see what pictures she had from the fun stuff they did.  I want to post some here; partly because there's some really cute ones of the kids, secondly because this is kind of our memory book so I want to document it all even though I wasn't a part of a lot of it.

Planting seeds

She loves her stuffed animals!

At the park

Mimi got a pool pass for the month and they spent a lot of time there

Playground at the pool

Putt Putt

Pedicures

Wheeler Farm

Kids and dogs

City Creek Mall

Snowbird Cool Air Concert

Park Silly

Kids and dogs again!

Making fireworks out of paint

July 4th upcycle crafts

Baking...they did a lot of baking

There's Mimi!

On the train at the mall

Kids taking the dogs for a walk

Hunting for bugs to put in their bug cages they made at the Home Depot project

I think Mimi took a lot of pictures of the kids with the dogs!

Aquarium

Playing with Audrey's animals

Another Cool Air Concert

Chuck E Cheese

Scheels

Train Concert in SLC

One of my favorite bands is train.  I saw them in concert for the first time 15 years ago.  They opened for Matchbox 20 and a friend of mine really wanted to see them.  I agreed to go with him because train was opening.  He also wanted to be right up front and I got suckered into expensive tickets.  Train opened the concert with Meet Virginia....one of my favorite songs, and I felt like I got my money worth and could have left happy right then.  I've seen them twice since and found out they were playing a free concert in downtown SLC this weekend.  I HAD to go.  However, it was downtown, late, and we had already had a babysitter today for a bike ride.  Paul wasn't sure we could take the kids to it but I wanted to try.  I figured it would be easier(because of the crowds) and more fun for the kids if we took the train downtown. 

 I'm really excited about this experience for a few reasons.  First,  I love train and am so glad we were able to get the concert in. And, I was really excited to share that with the kids and Paul(he'd never seen them). Second, this was the first "real" concert the kids have been to. Third, it was quite an excursion, really late, and I'm excited we were able to pull it off and the kids did great and enjoyed it too.  

On the train to go see train in concert

We found a great spot to set up our blanket.  We were pretty far from the stage but up on a ramp so we could actually see over the crowds.  And, we were far enough away from the crowds that we could hang out and not feel like we were being trampled.  

Cotton Candy!!! We definitely found ways to make it fun for the kids

The kids rested a lot of the show. I thought they might fall asleep there but they didn't

There were a lot of people!

I was really excited when train finally came on

My favorite song of theirs, and one of my favorite songs ever is "Meet Virginia".  They have played it first at most of the concerts I've been to. They played it 4th last night, I almost got worried they weren't going to play it or wouldn't until after we had to leave.  

 The light sticks were another way we found to make it fun for the kids

We left before the show was over. We didn't want to stay too late and wanted to make sure to get on a train before the crowds were all trying to do the same thing.  This is us waiting for the train after the concert. It's almost 10 pm at this point....she's a little tired

On the train 

A few minutes later.......

........Both of them were asleep 

We took the train to our car. We transferred them to the car, and then to their beds at home and they stayed asleep the whole time.