Hot Spot....surviving Southern Utah

Outdoor Fun

2010-09-05T20:21:00.000-07:00

When living in a place as beautiful as Southern Utah, you can't let a season of summer pass you by without visiting many of the National or State parks that are close by. As usual, when outdoors, it is impossible for me to keep my kids close by. I have a son who loves to climb and roam on anything within his reach, and a daughter who loves to explore nature by feeling, stirring, and just plain getting really dirty.

We were able to do some camping near the beginning of the summer as part of a family reunion. We camped in Zion and went hiking and exploring near the river. Jimmy enjoyed wading through the river and having a water fight with his uncles.Tori enjoyed peering into puddles and examining the many different insects that were in abundance.
We were also able to make a trip to Snow Canyon State Park. Jimmy enjoyed scaling the red rock mountains and climbing as high as he could. Tori continued to be intrigued by puddles & bugs.
It was a cold windy day. Later on we went to the sand dunes, but as soon as we sat down to play, a pouring rain storm rolled in & we ended up running for shelter as fast as we could. So, no picture of the infamous sand dunes to post.

Summer Classes

2010-09-05T20:10:00.000-07:00

Each Summer Jimmy & I pick a few classes to sign up for to help keep him active through the summer time. Swimming classes is something we always do, and then we added on a Karate class this summer.

The swim instructor this year was a really fun instructor. He was willing to get wet & jump in the pool doing cannonballs. I am not even sure that Jimmy realized he was even at a class---more like he was just playing at the pool. The swimming class was held out our local recreation center. This is where we also spent most of our evenings when we wanted to go swimming.Jimmy has been asking to be in a Karate class for about 1 year now. I have looked into classes before, but they have always seemed to be too expensive, and very time consuming, requiring you to come 2-3X a week for classes. I finally happened upon a class this summer that was affordable and also schedule friendly. Jimmy absolutely enjoyed the class---and we will be continuing on in the fall with another course.

Birthdays!!

2010-09-05T19:50:00.000-07:00

Both Jimmy & Tori have summer time birthdays, which means that I can relate to the term "Christmas in July". This summer we seemed to be exceptionally busy, and therefor we ended up doing just a casual 'family' party for each child.

Jimmy continues to like anything Star Wars related. He had asked for a Star Wars cake...and I did attempt to make one, and decorate it with m&m's. (sorry to all my friends who have the talent to decorate cakes)Tori is a very girly-girl and likes anything pink or princess themed. I completely ran out of time to even make her a cake (I had even bought the ingredients) and ended up buying a cake at the store on my way home from work that day.

Finishing Out 2nd Grade

2010-09-05T19:25:00.000-07:00

Jimmy had a great 2nd Grade year. The school that he attends really tries to incorporate many extracurricular activities and learning opportunities for the students. This past Spring, Jimmy announced that he wanted to participate in the school Science Fair. I was in full support of him doing this.......however, I wanted to keep the project pretty simple. He went ahead and picked a project where he would test if different sized beach balls bounced back at different heights when dropped from the same height. He worked really hard and it certainly paid off when he came home with the 1st place medal!!
Jimmy also enjoys participating in the drama class at his school. He was part of a Reader's Theatre group. At one of the readings I attended I was able to hear him using an 'accent' while doing his reading ......and he was really good at it! This may be in his future. :)

With an active 7 year old boy, you of course aren't free from the 'bumps & bruises'. One Friday afternoon near the end of the school year I got the phone call letting me know that Jimmy most likely needed stitches & that I needed to come and pick him up from school. He had fallen and slipped on the playground equipment & had hit his chin on a bar. He ended up getting 11 exterior stitches & 5 interior stitches. He also ended up missing out on the school swimming field trip, since you aren't allowed to get stitches wet. But now he was a really cool scar to show off to his friends.

Arts Festival

2010-09-05T19:04:00.000-07:00

It has been a very busy year for us......we have been having so much fun that there just hasn't been the time (or energy) to post the pictures & stories. BUT, since we have had such great experiences, I do want to share them. I will start by re-capping our Spring.
We always love attending the St.George Annual Arts Festival. The kids enjoy getting their faces painted & doing the Arts & Crafts. This year, all the volunteers for the face painting were busy doing the crazy hair styles......so it was up to the parents to do the face painting on their own. We had a cousin along with us. After the color was added to his hair is when the hairstylist informed us that it would take alot of time for the coloring to wash out of the blonde hair.

Disneyland

2010-03-21T18:46:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I found myself contemplating about running over to Disneyland for 'one last trip'. We have annual passes that expire in April, and Tori is still free to get in until this summer....so I tell myself of course, that the trip is practically already paid for---and how can we not go?!
So, over Jimmy's Spring Break from school we went down to Disneyland for 3 days. The crowds were so lite that we never needed to use the FastPass system, we found ourselves not having to wait in long lines, and the kids had the chance to visit with any character that they wanted to. We were able to do everything that we wanted to 2-3 times each.

And, if that is not good enough, the kids were on their best manners! No temper tantrums, no crying, no being sick, no sunburns----Nothing! It was blissful. :)

Whenever we were on a ride that wasn't their favorite ride, they learned how to cope in their own way. Tori does not particularly like the beginning parts of the ride for Pirates or Haunted Mansion, so she would just close her eyes really tight, cover her ears with her hands, and bury her face into me. On the 'kiddie' rides, such as Small World, Jimmy would just lean his head back & say he was taking nap.

It was very fun to see how their personalities played out at Disneyland and I was very glad that we were able to go back for 'one last trip'. I told the kids that we would probably not go back to at least 2012 when all of the current and new construction is completed-----we'll see if we can last that long.

Jumpin' Jacks

2010-02-17T21:32:00.000-08:00

Jumpin' Jacks is the most favorite indoor playground that my children like to visit. It is a large warehouse that is full of about 8-9 full-size bounce houses.....the kind that you see at carnivals, state fairs, etc. The price of admission for children is actually more expensive than the price for an adult. The last time that we went, Tori was able to figure out how to climb all of the way up a 'ladder' by herself and then peek over the edge to see the slide. The slope of the slide was a little too intimidating for her, so instead of going down the slide, she would choose to just 'drop' herself down the 'ladder'. She did this over & over again until I became concerned that she was going to injure herself, and I had to pull her away kicking & screaming to different area to play in. I was unable to get any pictures of Jimmy this time because he was moving entirely too fast between each of the bounce houses for the camera to be able to catch him.

Bike Riding & Rock Climbing

2010-02-17T21:11:00.000-08:00

Jimmy has had a bicycle for a while now, but has only showed minimal interest in learning to ride it, as there can be anxiety with acquiring a new skill---especially a skill where you can crash and get hurt. I have since set aside one day each week where we devote an afternoon to a personalized bicycle lesson in a vacant parking lot(of course the price for this lesson is an ice cream cone for the obedient student). One day while Jimmy was focusing on riding his bike, Tori took up a new recreational activity of rock climbing. She would find a rock that was low to the ground, sit on it, or lay her body on it, and say, "Look at me, look at me. I am rock climbing!" You could just tell that she was so proud of herself for accomplishing this daunting feat.

City Parks & Trails

2010-02-17T20:51:00.000-08:00

The area & city that we live in invests a lot of money into the Parks & Trails Systems. Jimmy & Tori love to visit the parks, and take a lot of fun walks on the neighboring trails. Last summer we did a "Park Tour" where we took one day a week to visit a different park with a different splash pad feature. It took us all summer to visit each of the different splash pads. We had so much fun that we are looking forward to doing it again this coming summer.

Last fall we had some fun friends come to visit us, and we were looking for something new to do. We were able to visit a park that we had not been to before. It is a non-traditional park; referred to as Kompan playground equipment and Goric swings. If you are interested in learning more about this style of parks, you can look it up at: www.goric.com

Jimmy had such a blast running around and trying out all of the playground equipment. We will definitely be visiting this park again. Let us know if you are ever in the area and want to try this park out.

~Curly Hair~

2010-02-17T20:08:00.000-08:00

In January Tori received her 1st official hair cut. She received a cute, traditional, bob cut. A few weeks later I received the instructions from her Dance Studio of how I was supposed to style her hair for the upcoming dance pictures. The instructions stated; " Curly, curly, curly." I scrambled over the next week of trying different curly hairstyles, none of which lasted more than an hour or two, before the hair went back to being flat & drab. While on the computer one night researching little girl hairstyles, I stumbled upon instructions of how to do 'rag curlers'. The following are pictures of our adventure with trying out rag curlers. The 1st attempt was way too curly...more like frizzy. The only thing I could do was pull it into pigtails until I found the time to wash it out. By the 3rd attempt it seemed that I was starting to get the hang of it, I was able to use a small curling iron, to work with, and fine tune the curls. We were able to keep the hairstyle for both Saturday & Sunday. Tori's hair turned out really cute.. but I don't see myself doing this frequently. Just for things like pictures and special ocassions.

Ready or Not?!

2009-11-25T20:40:00.000-08:00

Tis' the Season for dance recitals. Jimmy & Tori have been attending a dance studio since August and have been preparing for their Christmas recital from the first day of class. Just a few days ago it was decided that the "All Boys Hip-Hop" class that Jimmy is a part of is ready to start performing at local venues. He was able to perform at the Jubilee of Trees last Saturday, and has a few more opportunities soon as his class will be performing at Christmas functions around town. Here is some brief information. I will post more definite information as I receive it.
1. Dickens Christmas Festival, Saturday, December 5th, 2:00pm: $3 kids/seniors & $5 adults
2. Tuacahn Christmas Festival, Saturday December 5th, 6:00pm and 7:00pm -Free-

The 'official' Dance Recital will be on Saturday, December 12th at Snow Canyon High School. Both Jimmy & Tori will be performing on this day. The recital will be from 5:00pm-6:00pm, there is no cost to attend.

It should be great fun to attend. See you there!

Halloween!

2009-11-05T19:34:00.000-08:00

Last year after an evening of successful trick-or-treating Jimmy exclaimed that he had just had the '....bestest day of his life!'. Ever since then, he has been consistent in stating that Halloween is his most favorite holiday.

This year Halloween was very busy. There were school class parties, dance class parties, friends & family parties, the annual school Spooktacular Halloween Carnival, and then of course, trick-or-treating.

Jimmy chose to be Darth Vadar for Halloween, which was easy, since he was Darth Vadar last year. BUT, Jimmy put an interesting twist on the idea, this year Jimmy did not want to wear the Darth Vadar mask, he wanted the mask off so everyone could see him showing the scary face of Darth Vadar. After patiently sitting through 2 hours of make-up construction Jimmy was able to see the results of his wish.

Tori wore 2 different costumes this year. Sometimes she chose to be a bumblebee and sometimes she chose to be a leopard. She had a lot of fun at the school carnival, especially with the hula hoops. On Halloween night she was asked if she would like to get her make-up done for her leopard costume.................she took one look at her brothers make-up and politely declined. :)

Fall Time Fun

2009-10-24T14:21:00.000-07:00

As the air has turned crisp, and the leaves are changing colors, I thought that it would be a great time to catch a few good pictures of Jimmy & Tori playing in the fallen leaves. Jimmy & Tori however had different plans in mind. Instead of posing for pictures, they wanted to climb trees, play with sticks & watch bugs. Here are a few of the pictures that I was able to capture.

Kids say the darndest things.......

2009-10-24T13:52:00.000-07:00

Jimmy's school has decided to post different fun things that the students say onto their marquee throughout the year. This past week a quote that Jimmy said was featured. Jimmy's class recently took a field trip out to Snow Canyon State Park after finishing a unit on rocks. When the class was loading the bus to return to the school, Jimmy was very excited and exclaimed loudly, "I had the bestest day!".

I asked Jimmy to tell me a few things about this fun field trip. The main thing that he talks about is going on a hike where they had to walk down "......a trench where there was a ditch". He also mentioned that there was a lot sand, which was evidenced by the piles that I poured out of his shoes.

But, the most exciting thing that Jimmy likes to talk about, was seeing ".....a Mountain Lion that was about 1 mile away form us." I am sure that Jimmy will remember this field trip for a long time.

Wii vs. Reality

2009-09-20T19:24:00.000-07:00

This summer Jimmy learned about the game of bowling. He sometimes was playing bowling on the Wii, and other times he was playing with a plastic indoor bowling set. He enjoyed the game so much, that he was constantly making it known that he wanted to go bowling in 'real life'. It was explained to him by many, that 'real' bowling was going to be a lot different than bowling on the Wii. Nonetheless, Jimmy was persistent in his wishes to go bowling. This last weekend the opportunity arose for him to go bowling at a local bowling alley. He did an excellent job. He was the top bowler in the group, with a winning score of 89! Tori was there as an enthusiastic cheerleader, clapping & cheering each time the ball was thrown. The votes are in.......real bowling is preferred over the Wii!

Sunscreen anyone?

2009-09-20T18:55:00.000-07:00

During the heat of the summer, the only proven way to stay cool in Southern Utah is to be at the pool, the spray parks, or the local lakes and rivers everyday.
So, the question arose this summer: How does one who has been 'blessed' with fair skin limit sun exposure as much as possible & avoid getting sunburned, while staying cool in the outdoor water features?
The answer: staying fully clothed.
Yes, you read correctly. The best way to limit sun exposure is to remain fully clothed while swimming and playing in the water. First we start with hats & sunglasses(or goggles), then on to swim shirts(for both girls & boys), swim shorts(again, for both girls & boys), water shoes and finishing off with a dose of sunscreen. Getting 'dressed' to go swimming has proven to be quite a time consuming task. And, just to let you know, the kids do eventually forget about all the swim-gear they are wearing once they are having fun in the water. :)

Sand, Sand & Dirt...

2009-08-30T20:01:00.000-07:00

This summer Jimmy & Tori had a lot of fun playing in what I refer to as their 'local outdoor playground'. Whether it was just going up the street to a local park, or visiting a National Park, it seemed as if we were somewhere fun 2-3 times a week. During the first week of June, while visiting a golf course, Tori found out that she enjoyed the texture of sand. It seemed wherever we went after that, no matter whether is was sand or not, Tori always wanted to sit down & play in the sand (or dirt). Because of this new found interest of hers, I ended up doing a lot of laundry and giving baths almost every night.

One in the same.....

2009-08-28T21:26:00.000-07:00

My son Jimmy is currently 7yrs old, and my daughter Tori is currently 2yrs old. Ever since Tori was born people have often commented how much alike my 2 children look. I have heard this comment in a variety of forms; whether it was from a relative saying "Wow, you sure have a 'mold' for your children" or a 5yr old neighbor boy looking at Tori and saying to Jimmy, "Is that your sister? She looks just like you. " Or, my favorite came from a receptionist at a doctor's office; "Tori, don't you just look like a miniature Jimmy?!" she explained, and then she tried to recover her comment with "Well, except you have cute girl hair". Gee thanks...I guess she doesn't have a ton of feminine features, or maybe may son has too many feminine features? Who knows? So, my question is; if everyone around me sees it this way, why don't I? Sure I see certain similarities, and throughout developmental milestones I have noticed common ways that tasks were completed. But, they are siblings, so wouldn't you expect a certain bond? So, thought that I would launch my attempt at a blog spot by posting recent pictures of them.....and letting you judge for yourself. Have fun!