Grandkid Day

Every year my parents make a day of spending time with the grandkids. For the last couple of years they've been taking the kids to the zoo but this year they changed it up. They got rid of their grandparent pass at the zoo and instead got a grandparent membership at Thanksgiving Point. They broke it up into two different days. Since we had swim lessons in the morning we met them later in the day. They started at the butterfly biosphere, had lunch, then moved onto the farm country, dinosaur museum and ended at the children's curiosity museum. We missed the first two parts and met them at the farm country. The kids had a good swim lesson in the meantime and then we headed home to get Danny and the babies. The girls were still sleeping so we waited a little while for them to get a good nap before we woke them up and headed towards Thanksgiving Point. We told the kids we could get Wendy's so before entering the Farm Country we stopped and had a little picnic outside of it.

We were just at Thanksgiving Point a week ago but the kids were still so excited to go back. Grant wasn't thrilled about starting at the Farm Country because that's his least favorite part of Thanksgiving Point but he still did good. Hudson caught me by surprise when he said he wanted to ride a horse this time. I was internally shocked because this is the same kid that is scared of a puppy. He got on the horse though and did so well. His horse's name was Blondie and Addie got her dream of riding on Flint again. She didn't want any other horse and specifically asked for him. When the ride was over she jumped right off as if she was a pro doing this for the longest time.

We then went to the dinosaur museum. Up until now we have always avoided the digging pit. Because we tend avoid going on the weekends it's usually empty and we've always been able to tell the kids that the digging part was closed haha. Not this time. They even asked before we got there if they would be able to dig today. I told them yes because I knew with all their cousins there and it being a Saturday that it was sure to be full of kids and they would absolutely know it wasn't closed. I'm not sure why I'm not a fan of the kids playing in the sand but they loved it. I love that they easily accepted when we told them it was time to go. Maybe that's why I've always avoided that section before, besides the fact that I envision them getting so dirty but also because I want to avoid meltdowns when we say all done. That wasn't the case though. They did really well getting out with zero issues. Maybe it also helps that all their cousins were being told the same thing. It was a great day.

Rylee was getting tired.

We didn't join the rest of the group for the Curiosity Museum because we needed to head back home. I'm teaching Sunday School tomorrow and I'm not entirely prepared for it. The kids all also needed showers because we didn't have time for that after swimming lessons this morning. It's nice that we have a family membership ourselves because we're able to go to Thanksgiving Point whenever we want. Hopefully they have something similar to this in Texas. All I know is that we will for sure be coming back many times before we move far away.

Cinderella

Addie had her theater play tonight and she did so well! She was both excited and nervous for tonight. She had so much support as well. There was Grandma Great, Grandma Donna, Oma, Opa, Great Grandma Rueckert, Jill, Georgia, Marie, Jaina, Jackson, Rand, Ashley, Jacob, Brooklyn and Jayden. She also had some classmates from school there that came and watched. I was and am her biggest fan. Sadly as she jumped up and hugged her cast mate her mic fell off so you couldn't hear her lines. She still pulled through as if nothing happened and I'm so proud of her. She wasn't phased by it at all. She knew all her lines and even mouthed lines that weren't hers. All the people that came to watch and support her still showered her in love even though they didn't get to fully hear her say her lines. She has one more performance next Tuesday in front of her whole school. The theater club is presenting their show in an assembly, so she gets to be Cinderella one more time. I'm so excited for her. Part of me is seriously wondering how I can sneak in so that I can watch her again. After her play I asked her how she felt and she said amazing and that she loves performing. This might be the start of something she becomes passionate about and if it is I can't wait to watch her in any hobby she decides to have.

Great Brain Assembly

 Addie was recognized today at her school assembly for her Great Brain project on butterflies. She was so excited to show me her medal today when I picked her up from school. There are different levels that you get ranked based on how knowledgable you are with your research topic (specialist, expert, mastermind and genius). She was giddy to show me she got genius level. I had no idea she was having this assembly today and I'm so happy for her. It's a big day for her with her Cinderella play tonight. She's feeling superb today.

Ferguson Egg Hunt

We had a belated Easter egg hunt yesterday in Mapleton and almost everybody was there for it. We were only missing Jon and Halle. It turned into a late night but I'm still glad we went. It could very well be our last egg hunt for a long while. Also while there Marie and Ty announced that they are expecting again which was exciting. It's all so crazy to think that before summer is over we won't even be here anymore. We'll miss out on our normal upcoming fall traditions and new babies being born, but it also makes me appreciate the time we do have still and the traditions we are able to enjoy before everything changes.

Talent Show + Thanksgiving Point

Today was a good day. It was one of those days that gives you hope that maybe the kids are all old enough to enjoy fun filled full day outings. Hudson is on spring break from his BYU preschool but with it being Thursday him and Grant went to their neighborhood preschool. They both had so much fun that they asked to stay longer to play. They finally came home for a quick lunch before I dropped them off at another friend's house while I took the girls with me to Addie's school for her class talent show. She had sketched and colored a picture of a blue and yellow macaw. She did so well presenting to her classmates and all the parents there.

I told her we were picking the boys up and that I had a surprise planned for everyone. I wanted to take them all to the Tulip Festival at Thanksgiving Point. I picked up the boys who couldn't believe that they got to have two playdates in one day and got even more excited that the day was about to get even more fun. Danny met up with us and then we headed to Thanksgiving Point. It ended up being the perfect day to do this. It wasn't crowded and the weather felt so nice. It didn't look nice though. Instead of blue skies it was more like brown which is why everyone probably stayed home but it turned out good for us. It was a bit windy but not the cold kind of windy. The babies were troopers especially since they were missing their second nap.

 

The last time we were here we only had two kids. I kept thinking back to Addie in her cute yellow rain boots and red rain coat. I feel like I could easily go back to that day. I kept thinking about Hudson in his cute little dinosaur rain boots smelling all the flowers. Now he's five and still smelling the flowers. I love them. I love all five.

The kids begged us to next take them to the Farm Country of Thanksgiving Point. I guess Danny and I were in a good mood because we decided to drive there. The kids loved seeing the baby animals. Especially Addie and Quinn. Addie is a huge animal lover and it's looking like Quinn is following in her footsteps. She was pointing and "talking" at all the animals. She loved it. Rylee watched with not much expression. Grant liked the baby chicks and rabbits but not much else. He was scared for most of the time there. At one point he was walking by my side and didn't see the giant horse to our side until Grant was directly in front of him. He he wakes up from a nightmare tonight I can blame it on that horse moment we had. Addie loved touching it and was a natural doing it. She even asked if she ride a pony. The horse she chose to ride was named Flint. When hearing his name she told the worker "Flint like in Harry Potter". I thought it was funny because when I first heard it I immediately thought of Tangled but here my young seven year old daughter is already thinking Harry Potter haha. We were the only ones at Farm Country and had the whole place to ourselves. It was super nice.

By the time we were done it was way past dinner time. Our only option by that point was to get dinner and quickly eat inside. We settled on Apollo Burger and everybody did surprisingly well. The moment we got back home everyone had to change into their pajamas and get ready for bed. Our bedtime was later than we normally like but everyone is asleep now. I'm about to shower and then get into bed myself. Today was long but it was also perfect.