Philmont

So there I was, planning a trip out to Denver to stay with my sister while Justin went to a conference.  Suddenly she is moving that month (just 2 months earlier than they thought) and we can't stay with her.  What do I do in Denver with four small kids by myself, well all I can think is. . .
I WANNA GO BACK TO PHILMONT!

Yes indeed.  We left Justin in Denver and headed South to visit Grandma and Grandpa at their vacation home.  The kids had a blast.  Sam told me as we left we should come every year, maybe even twice a year.  That's a long drive out here I told him, to which he replied: "Yeah, but it's totally worth it!"  As a bonus for me, they never once played with electronics from when we dropped off Justin until we picked him up again.  And they did great.  They played soccer out in front of the duplex, made up their own game of steal the flag with rocks (we only had to add one rule for them: no throwing the rocks), ate cereal for every meal, and just played together.  I didn't hear hardly any whining and Sam didn't even do much reading while we were out there.  I loved it!!

So here are a few pictures of our trip there:

Tuesday night was Family night at PTC.  The kids learned how to lasso, got their faces painted (there was no line, that's why), and played bean bag toss games. Later there was a staff ice cream social.  "Best way to start a Philmont trip."  

 Wednesday we were able to join in activities at the PTC shooting range.  Sam and Hannah got to shoot with a bow and arrow, BB guns, and slingshots.  Sam hit the bullseye in archery and with a BB gun.  He was so excited!!

 Michelle came along and played photographer since she was a little too small to shoot anything.  She got plenty dirty, as they all did that day.

 Grandma had planned ahead and had a craft project they got to do.  I tried to distract Ben and she helped each one of them build a creature.  And yes, we were all wearing long sleeves that morning, it was cool, no rain but cool.

 We got to see some wildlife, besides my kids.  The hummingbirds were all around the duplex.  It helps that there are three or four feeders on that porch.  They are always fun to watch.  We saw deer right next to the chapel.

 Craft time at Handicraft.  Ben slept through the leather stamping but woke up in time to join painting.  There was no letting him skip this and even when we declared him done he was furious that we were washing the paint off his hands and taking him away.  He did a pretty good job and his shirt is still wearable (he refused to wear an apron).

Then because the staff is so nice and everyone loves the chaplain, the kids got to go on pony rides and feed the goats and hold the chickens.

When I asked the kids what their favorite part was, they loved it all.  I heard comments all week of this the greatest day, best day ever, etc.  Who can argue with that.  And as an added bonus, the kids went to chapel services twice (essentially a Sacrament service two nights in a row).  And sat really well, minus Ben who lasted through half a service, but it was his bedtime.  Sam even completed his "homework" that Grandpa assigned of memorizing the 4th verse to "I am a Child of God."

We loved the trip!  I'm glad my kids had such a great time.  I have such wonderful memories of Philmont from trips there as a family.  Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for letting us come and invade the annex, we love you and hope you get to keep going to Philmont for a long, long time!

And as I sit here and remember all those times, from this past week to past years, all I can think is . . .
I WANNA GO BACK TO PHILMONT!!!

Solar Eclipse

We made a super quick trip (under 24 hrs total in S. Utah) to go and be at the center line of the annular solar eclipse.  Okay, we didn't go to Kanaraville, but we weren't far away.  No crowds to lose children in, convenient bathrooms and yummy goodies all easily accessible.  It was a quick trip but it was really fun!

Here is Jared sporting his foil hat to protect him from . . . something.  I forget now.  Michelle just told me something about Jared and the aliens so it probably had something to do with that but I don't remember.  The kids liked his hat and played with it if he wasn't wearing it.

Justin made a pin hole viewer.  Pretty cool.  The image is different than if you were looking right at the sun through the solar viewers (and I don't remember exactly why, something about how you view images and focusing them, etc, etc).  Justin and his friend Bill contemplated making the garage into a giant pin hole projector but the garage didn't get dark enough and they opted to not put a hole through his parents garage door, smart boys.

Here are the kids sporting their viewers and showing how much fun they were having just playing with each other.  Especially since they got to play in the back of Grandpa's truck. 

The biggest bummer for Justin was forgetting his camera so these pictures all came from my cell phone.  This one was really cool, in the red spot you can see the eclipse.

We took this opportunity to learn about eclipses and the kids were very excited that we would get to see the "ring of fire."  Sam, who regularly looks through the newspaper saw an article about the eclipse and what you would see from SL area versus S. Utah.  He was very happy we were going to S. Utah.  And we were able to use our solar viewers later on to see the Venus transit.  Again, no photos, but this tme the photographer was working late.  Sam and Hannah ran down the street to get to a place without shadows since the clouds didn't part until about 8 pm.  It was cool to see.  I'm quite happy that my children like these science things.  It's fun!