We ended our summer by taking a trip to Utah for business mixed with as much pleasure as possible. We were able to go to Veterans Memorial Park in Provo one afternoon while we were there (Ben wanted to go on the big water slides that he remembered from when he was 3). This time he was excited to be able to go down the slides by himself (and was quite pleased with the fact that he could pass the swimming test in order to do so!). Kylie loved splashing in the shallower water. I'm sure she'll love water slides soon enough. For some reason we didn't really take any pictures until the drive home. Too busy I guess. But anyway, here are some pictures from our drive back home.
We took plenty of breaks for stretching, etc. We already knew Ben was a great traveler (he's made this trek many times now!), and Kylie did amazingly well too! There were a couple of times when we put her back in her carseat that she yelled at us and let us know what she thought about being strapped in, but as long as we gave her a book or toy or something to do she was pleasant....until the last hour of the trip! She decided that she was DONE with riding and DID NOT want any more books or toys that she'd played with 100 times already. It was a little funny because we would hand her something and she wouldn't even look at it--just basically grabbed it and tossed it over the other side of her seat (by the door) as if to say, "No way, I'm not reading that book again, get it out of my sight!" She was even done with Jonathan's cell phone and just shook her head when we tried to give it to her! We found a couple of random items in the glove box and other places that we showed her (a headlamp/flashlight, a lock, a map, a duck-call whistle, and other non-toys), but she wasn't even mildly interested in them. Maybe for a few seconds, and definitely would have been under normal circumstances, but not this time! We made it though. I found an oatmeal cookie and gave Kylie pieces of it and it helped. We made it home and Kylie was so happy to be home that she made no protests when we put her in her playpen while we unloaded the truck. In fact, she played happily in the "large" area of space in her playpen for at least an hour!
Kylie drove the whole way across Nebraska. We figured since the roads are pretty flat and straight that it would be fine--good practice in fact. She's growing up way too fast! :)
Ben thought it would be fun to hide from Kylie in the floor of the truck during one of our rest-stops, but she found him and laughed with delight! (He did too!)
During the long drive, a few masterpieces were created....
games were played... 
and many miles were covered under the care of our safe driver...
What a fun road trip!
Ben turned 7 last month and we celebrated with a pirate-themed party at the park. It was a beautiful day, and not too hot (which also helped that we started the party at 10 AM!).
We had hot dogs, chips, cake, cookies -- a 7-year old's dream meal right?! He seemed happy with it though so it was all worth it. Thanks for being in our family for the past 7 years little man!
An assortment of pictures from recent activities... This girl LOVES to read. The part I love best is how she points to words or pictures and either reads out loud or makes a comment. So cute!
We had a family reunion in June and Ben had fun relaxing on the dock with a fishing pole...he didn't catch any food for dinner but it was okay because there was plenty of food (pot luck style) to choose from and we definitely didn't walk away hungry. This next one is a picture from Jonathan's birthday. He didn't want to have a party or anything but Ben and I couldn't just go through the whole day without at least singing to him. He was super tired from a long day at work so we had him sit down as soon as he got home and officially wished him a happy birthday. What a good sport to play along with our games! We love you Dad!
There's a funny story about the shape-sorting box in this picture. I spent about 10 minutes or so helping Kylie pick up the various shaped blocks and putting them into the correct slot to go in the box. She pretty much put all of them in by herself--and I thought she was enjoying it. Maybe she was. But when we were finished I flipped open the lid (hinged on one side) and dumped out the blocks, thinking maybe she would have fun doing it again. Well, I wish I had a picture of the look on her face when I suggested a repeat. It was as if she said, "Oh no way! You've got to be kidding me! I have a MUCH faster and better way to do this." And then she promptly opened up the lid and started scooping up the blocks by the handful and putting them into the box! I don't know if she just didn't want to go through all that again, or if she really was trying to think of a more efficient way to do it! Either way, pure genius!
Ok so we didn't exactly "hike" the mountain--we drove up to the parking lot near the top so we could hike the last couple hundred feet! We weren't really equipped to hike--Kylie would have never made it and we didn't have the baby backpack with us. But not all of us were wimpy, Ben and Grandmother hiked down the trail and Kylie and I drove back down and met them at the bottom. It was fun, I haven't been there in years and it was a pretty day. We also walked through the visitor's center museum (Ben's idea; I think he was slightly disappointed that the museum didn't have any dinosaur exhibits--how can they call it a museum without dinosaur bones??!). 
