River, Sugar Hollow and Water Balloon Day

Its hot and humid out so we are trying to find places to keep cool.  We spent some time at the river down our street, hiked up to Sugar Hollow with friends and checked water balloon day off our Summer fun list.

We really love this hike and swimming hole. 

Water balloon Day:

Lydia was perfectly content to just sit in here for a good while. 

This was the favorite activity.  We drew virus's and bad guys on our chalkboard and threw lots of water balloons at them.   

 

4th of July weekend

Friday morning some friends invited us over to swim at their house which was a great way to start the holiday weekend. We headed over after dinner and had a fun time. Mark was asked to come into the airport to help with the last flight of the night so we left before they shot off some fireworks.  Friday was the first time he worked at the airport in at least a month.  Its been nice to not worry about airport germs coming into our home and since we haven't been flying anywhere he has been very happy to not be working.  Starting this week he is back to his 2 nights a week schedule.  The shift is shorter, 6 -10 instead of 11:30 or midnight which is helpful. 

Saturday morning we spent some time down at the river.  It was my first time going down there with Lydia and Jared and it was better than I thought it would be but still not a favorite of mine.  Often when we drive down this section of our road we can look over and see trash near the river or people playing but it was clean this day and there was no one else there so it was fine.  It just doesn't seem that nice and I wish the water had a higher/faster flow but it is definitely the most convenient.  Jared and Lydia love it so much so I am happy it is there as an option. 

We had a quiet afternoon at home and then Shaw's came over for dinner, water games, Root Beer floats and fireworks.  Since school got cancelled Jared and Lydia missed out on Sports Day which is a favorite of theirs so I tried to recreate some water games similar to those and looked up a few online that would work with smaller numbers.  It was really fun and they all had a great time.   

Julie and Chris were such a good sports to play along. 

I made some sponge bombs and they were a huge hit. We played a few games with them and just let the kids throw them at each other.

This was one of Mark's games.  It was really hard to get any water in the container  but they got soaking wet so it was a win. 

I am bummed I didn't get a picture of the four of us with our root beer floats. 

 It was so hot and humid out.  Gross.

We did fireworks at our house and then drove over to a street near our house to watch the fireworks put on by members of the community.  Normally the city/county put on a show at McIntire Park but that show was canceled due to Covid so a private group sent out a message asking for donations of money and a place to shoot the fireworks from.  They raised enough money and someone volunteered their property and they put on a show. Its fun that the community made this happen in a safe way. It was not the best firework show I've ever seen but it was nice. 

For our FHE treat Lydia picked patriotic ice cream sandwich bars.  I have wanted to make these for years and was so happy she picked them.  They are the cutest easiest patriotic treat.  Mark of course put his own spin on it and took it up a few notches which Lydia did not approve of.  He added crushed Oreos and peppermint bark pieces which were delicious just not on theme. 

It was a fun weekend.  I am sure the ice cream sandwich bars and water games will make multiple appearances over the Summer. 

Snake Hole at Sugar Hollow

Sugar Hollow is one of the most well known swimming holes around here.  There are 2 swimming holes on this hike but Mark is confident that Snake Hole, the one we hiked to this week is better than the other one.  We met up with friends there at 9:30 so we could enjoy the swimming hole before crowds and it worked out great.  There was only one other family (4 people) there while we were there playing and swimming.  As we started packing up a large group arrived and we were happy to head out. If you don't get there early parking can be kind of a nightmare so it really is best to go early.

The water is so clear and pretty.  Its also really cold but eventually you get used to it and on hot days its so refreshing, it is a great little swimming hole.  There are rocks to jump off of and water coming off rocks that act like a natural water slide and you can explore above the "water slide" area as well. The hike is about 3/4 of a mile and not hard at all. Jared spent most of his time playing near the water and Lydia spent most of her time in the water.  Our friends had never been to this spot and it was fun to go there with them. 

Its such a pretty setting

And when we got home Jared told me that the birds had hatched in our shed.  All 5 of them were alive and seemed to be doing well.  They are so weird looking.  I think they are very recently hatched and it was sweet to hear them chirping and see them reaching up for food.  They reminded us of the electronic fishing game where you try to catch them with a little pole.  I hope they stay safe! 

Garden, blend-tec ice cream, morning picnic, Sunday update

Mark's garden is growing really well. He seems pretty positive about it and Lydia and Jared enjoy checking on it with him.

Zucchini 

3 tomatoes! 

Making ice cream with our Blendtec was on our Summer fun list so this week we made Strawberry and then Peach ice cream.  Our kids were not as impressed with the strawberry (not sweet enough) but seemed to like the peach.  They both tasted really fresh and turned out pretty well. We combined the leftover strawberry and peach ice cream to make a milkshake which was the favorite treat of the three. Peaches were on sale at Kroger for .67 cents a pound which is such a good deal.  Mark is getting excited to stock up on preaches in the next few weeks. 

We met some friends at Baker Butler for another morning picnic.  We had a coupon for Duck Donuts so we picked up a dozen of those and made some breakfast burritos.  It was fun to meet up and play but it got hot quick. The picnic was my favorite part, I love breakfast foods. Mark played poison with Jared and his friend Parker.  He is so good at playing with kids and making it fun.  We love that he is home in the Summer and can join us on our outings. 

We gave Jared a haircut this week using clippers on the sides and scissors on top and when it is styled  with gel it looks pretty good but his hair really does not hold gel and water well especially in the Summer. Wearing a helmet didn't help either.  Point being I can't really decide if I like his hair or not but he definitely wants it longer on top.  It looks nice when styled but other times not so much. 

Sundays: our stake got instructions this week to begin phasing back into regular church services.  It is not required that you go, you can still have the Sacrament in your home but they are encouraging those who feel comfortable to attend. Meeting attendance is limited to 25 people at a time, masks are strongly encouraged (but the church has not said they will not allow people there without them), there will be no singing and the chapel and any other spaces used will need to be cleaned thoroughly after groups meet. Mark has had quite a few Zoom meetings this week to try to figure out a plan.  Three wards meet in our building under normal circumstances but one of them will now meet in the other building in town. Our ward and the other ward will rotate Sundays so we will be meeting the 2nd and 4th Sundays. Mark and his counselors sent out a survey for families to complete to gauge who was comfortable attending church and then they will make up groups of people who will attend church together on a rotating schedule.  It's a lot of logistics and trying to balance peoples needs and anxieties but still get people back to church has been challenging. We are attending this Sunday with members of the ward council for a trial run.  We have really enjoyed home church and could happily keep doing that but Mark will need to be at the church fairly regularly.  He is not sure yet how many "sessions" will be held on our Sundays but it does not look like they will be longer than 30 -40 minutes. It will be interesting.

Speaking of Sundays, we have a loose schedule we follow and on that schedule we have a lot of Sunday activities we can do together or individually.  One item that has been on the list forever is read family blog and the last two weeks Lydia has asked to read our blog and it makes me really happy.  There are definite times when I want to stop updating this blog but I just keep going and reading old posts with her has reminded me of lots of cute stories from when they were little.  So even if I do stop someday I will always be happy for what I have.