Swiss Days

Swiss Tacos? Hmm... somewhat less than culturally accurate.

Knockwurst - rye bread, sauerkraut, pickles, mustard, and a brat.

Yes, they did sing Edelweiss and other songs from The Sound of Music - however, The Sound of Music is Austrian

For First Breakfasts we had a really large scone with cinnamon and sugar

For Second Breakfasts we had another scone drenched in berry jam, pancakes, ham, and eggs. This is what happens when Grampy is paying :) What, no German, er I mean, Swiss waffles?

These two violinists were rocking out to Aerosmith. Is he Swiss? ;)

This is the scrapbooking paper booth. Notice the ONE man is keeping a safe distance.

Yes, I fed my children (Swiss) French Vanilla Ice Cream for lunch. I do feel guilty. I didn't want to load them with too much sugar - you know, after TWO scones for breakfast, so I didn't share any of my blueberry pie, nor did Derek share his Swiss Chocolate pie.

I wish I had more photos. I don't feel like what I've got accurately records our experience...(which was mostly just eating a lot of sugar and walking around a bunch of booths) but we can just go again next. year.

Wake up to the smell of a picnic

We have done this a couple of times this year. It is fun and refreshing. I don't do well in the heat. I know my Arizona friends are calling me a weanie right now, but I can't be out at a park if it is over 90 degrees. I just can't. However, it is not anywhere near 90 degrees outside at 7:30 in the morning. Today with the wind it was even a little cold!

We get dressed. Pack a breakfast. Hop on our bikes. And head to the park. Enjoy my photos... all 22 of them. sorry.

Ready to go!

We walked our bikes down the hill - Joshua's still getting the hang of his two-wheeler

breakfast in the shade...

...followed by breakfast in the sun where it was maybe 2 degrees warmer

Lukas waiting for us to finish breakfast

still eating

Abigail sat a few minutes at the top of this slide...

...and a few minutes at the top of this slide...

...before she found a one that was a little less intimidating.

still wearing his helmet - just in case, I guess

I was grateful for these little cement paths throughout the play area. I could push Abigail on the swing while holding Lukas, and Joshua could ride around to his heart's content without going into the parking lot or street. It was great practice for him. He is really gaining confidence on his bike.

speaking of the swings...

Ready for the extended version of the ride home

taking the path around the park that runs by the creek

almost home!! That is our driveway up there on the right.

zonked

The Letter M

We briefly mentioned M and N before summer break. It was too brief to call good so we are doing them again. Here is the letter M.

Mini Monsters

This is Roxcy - named after my college roommate Debbie's baby who we visited last week. Or as Abby refers to her "that baby with the onesie."

This is Frank M. Mini Monster. Joshua is doing the finishing touches on the gore. I thought these guys were supposed to be friendly monsters?

Haifisch - Shark. Joshua named mine because, he said, it looks like a fish. I've had to glue the eyes back on twice already because each child has found it necessary to rip them off my monster and stick the eyes on their own foreheads. Abby ripped the eyes of her monster once but then started complaining because Roxcy "kann nicht sehen!" - can't see.

Mini Monsters a.k.a. rocks that Papa will let you bring inside the house :)

Marmalade 

(not marmalade as in orange marmalade, but Marmalade as in Mah-ma-lah-da but imagine an upside down a where that first h is, isn't that called a schwa? Anyway it's Jam in German)

That says Spiced Tomato Jam. I got the recipe from my cousin Afton - One Mom's Musings - 2 years ago. Lest you think this jam actually tastes like tomatoes, I offer the list of ingredients.

Tomatoes

Sugar

Allspice

Cinnamon

Cloves

Lemon Juice

Lemon rind

Pectin

The jam tastes like apple pie without the apples, or pumpkin pie without the pumpkins. It is a totally familiar taste but in an unfamiliar setting - or at least the setting in unfamiliar to the taste, not the tasters. Anyway, it's fabulous. My new favorite way to enjoy is with mini pretzels.

Almost ready for a schedule

It has been nice to not do preschool during the summer, but I think we are all ready to jump back in.  Here are my ideas for the rest of the year, of course only very loosely planned out. I need a little help for September. I don't want to do a "back to school" theme but that is the only September theme I can think of. I thought about doing something with apples. Maybe we still will. But for now all I've got is a bunch of alphabet catch up since we slacked for the last few months.  Anyway, feel free to make comments or suggestions or if you have any fun ideas/crafts/treats/books that would fit with my plans. We'll see if I can finish out the year strong!!

September - Apples - homemade apple cider, applesauce, other yummy apple things. Visit an apple orchard maybe, talk about fruit trees, etc.  A few cute apple crafts.
Letters - week 1 M and N, week 2 O, week 3 P, week 4 Q and R.

October - Scarecrows and Pumpkins. visiting the Big Red Barn (for their pumpkin patch, but they also have an apple orchard so I might go there in September for the apples and then pick another patch to visit for October. Not decided yet) learning harvest hymns, making scarecrows, reading a children's version of sleepy hollow - or watching it. Halloween, of course. My kids have chosen to dress up as a Utahraptor and a pig. Letters S and T

November - Pilgrims and geography. I haven't yet ever really introduced maps, etc. so I thought this would be a good time. Maybe make some pilgrim costumes. we will learn some gratitude hymns and learn in the scriptures about Christopher Columbus (I know he was not a pilgrim, but it still fits) and scriptures related to America. we can make some boats (Mayflower). Letters U and V

December - Astronomy (mostly Stars) and Christmas. I think stars would fit with Christmas pretty easily. Christmas hymns, of course.  Also "I am like a star, shining brightly"  constellation dot-to-dots, glow in the dark stars above their beds and rewards, and a lot of star gazing (we live in the perfect spot to see a gazillion stars every night! Letters - week 1 W, after Christmas we'll zip through X, Y, and Z. With X we can do treasure hunts.

And that's what I've got. Last year we didn't do anything for September because we were busy packing, moving, and unpacking. October we were settling in and had a vacation, November we exhausted the Turkey theme, and December was so busy we just "worked" on Christmas the entire time. I'm excited to get back. I feel almost ready to start working again. I think now it's just a matter of laziness. If I can get planned and get going, everything is going to go great.

2 fun days

Yes, all we do is have fun. We never work. We never have tantrums. We never fight. Ever. And we never have down time. Wouldn't life be great (exhausting) if it really was exactly as it looked on our blogs.

But the last two days we actually have only been having fun. Here are the highlights of what we did.

Bridal Veil Falls 

It seems like this is a tradition, to take the kids to the waterfall once a year. It's not that far away but does require a special trip to get there. When Joshua was 1 we went with Grammy. When Abigail was 1 we went with Michelle. And this year (Lukas is still just 6 months) we went with Charlotte and her two boys (YEA! I'm so glad your back, Charlotte!). I was having too much fun talking to my friend that I didn't really "play" in the water that much. Plus it was freezing.

After playing in the water with our friends we had a picnic in the grassy park area. The kids gravitated towards the dirt and somehow while I was totally absorbed in the fascinating adult conversation, I missed seeing the dirt actually hit Abigail's face. I know, I'm awful, but I made her stand there until I could get a photo of it. She survived.

Spanish Fork Swimming Pool

I love this pool. And I always forget how much I love it until I finally take my kids there at the end of the summer and we all have a fabulous time and I start kicking myself for not bringing them here sooner. *sigh*. Next year I suppose. The pool is already on it's "Fall" schedule - which means we won't be back until next summer.

Ideas for "pre-school" during next summer: Spend the ENTIRE summer learning about water with different books, experiments. Freezing water, hot water, evaporating water, etc. Just everything you can find. And every time you go somewhere that involves water, spend 2 or so random minutes reviewing the things you've been learning and maybe learn a few more things (like why there is chlorine the pool, why the waterfall water is so cold, why the ocean water is salty but the lake water is not, what a reservoir is used for, etc.)  I had this idea at the beginning of the summer, but in a way, it was a really hard summer and I had to take a break so we'll just do it next summer. It would have, however, been awesome, because here is a list of all our water activities we did anyway.

The hose in the yard

The splash pad fountain is SF

Sun Lakes in WA

The San Juans in WA (It's not the Puget Sound, it's not the strait of Juan de Fuca, although we saw the strait, and it's not the ocean, so what is it called?)

Pineview Reservior

SF Swimming Pool

Bridal Veil Falls

Mapleton Creek hike
The Grand Coulee Dam and the Columbia River

perhaps more I can't remember.

I feel like I missed a good opportunity, but we can always do it again next year.