Summer Successes

It's been a busy summer. We accomplished some great things this season!

The kids took several weeks of swimming lessons. They've never done that before and did great starting from zero. Nora especially took to it (she loves water anyway). They both will be rockstars next year.  

Nora also learned to ride her bike without training wheels! 

We took several evening trips to the park for Aaron to fly, the kids to play, and me to sit watch. 

We had our backyard tree taken out. We waited all summer but it finally got done!

Aaron flew and successfully landed this new plane. Whew!

We ran a stop of the Amazing Race for the Loertscher reunion. Aaron was subbing for his dad, but the race ran late and Aaron had to work so I was subbing for him. Thankfully Hayley was around to help me out. Nora and Zeke were great helpers too. 

This daylily bloomed for the first time, and if you look at the tomato plant you'll see a red tomato. Not only did our tomato produce fruit (unlike last year.....) but it actually ripened on the vine. I think that's a first ever for this house! 

It's been a fun and productive summer! They always go by so fast. I love all of the family events, barbecues, holidays, fireworks, warm evenings, pretty flowers, and that we don't have school demands for a while. 

Seattle Trip

We went on a glorious trip to Seattle this summer. It was quite possibly the most relaxing vacation I've ever taken. A million thanks again to Skye and Jon for letting us crash at their house, feeding us, giving us insider driving tips, and for generally allowing us to interrupt their lives for a week! I came home feeling more refreshed than I have in a long time. 

When debating road trip vs flying, it didn't take long to decide that the flying was the way to go. The kids were just as excited about the flight as they were the destination. 

In the airport... waiting.... and more waiting..... this was Nora's first airplane trip ever!

Just landed! It was a great flight! 

The kids got their wings. So exciting! And a source of lots of creative play all week long with their cousins.

Our first evening was spent at the Museum of Flight. There was so much to see and we could have spent many more hours there. The outdoor exhibits were my favorite. 

The kids wanted to spend all night in the kid's zone. 

Friday we helped clean house (it's incredible how fast you can clean when you have 4-5 adults all working together!) and put together a puppy birthday party. So fun to share that with Alyssa. I don't think we have ever been to one of her parties before. 

Saturday was Kylie's baptism ---- the catalyst for the entire trip! Again, something we weren't sure if we would be able to share with our out-of-state family. It was so lovely. And we discovered that family selfies are hard when we are all standing up!

We also got to picnic on the beach of the Puget Sound. I wasn't expecting sandy beaches in Washington state! So beautiful and calming. Throughout the whole trip I just couldn't get over how perfect the weather was (60-70 degrees, partly cloudy the whole time!) and how beautiful the scenery was. So many very very green trees and bushes, and lots of water. So different from Utah and just as picturesque. 

We also made a trip to the Seattle temple grounds and the family discovery center there. A very educational and fun trip for everyone. 

We spent one day in downtown Seattle and did the Space Needle tour. This was at the top of the kids' must-see lists. 

Holy cow look at those bolts! They are huge! Zeke was so impressed. He said it was a good thing no one had a wrench that big to take them out or the whole Space Needle would fall over. Side note: love how the other kids are climbing on it in the background. 

We also stopped at the Science Center after the Space Needle. We were all pretty tired so we didn't stay long. We did explore the space room and the butterfly house. Again, so much to see and not much time to do it in. We will definitely plan to come again when we make it back to the area. 

The best part of the trip for everyone was simply the downtime with our family. We had a great time helping with parties and doing touristy stuff. But the time for the kids to play and the adults to talk or just chill was what everyone really wanted out of a vacation. The last day of the trip the kids had a game of Star Wars going all day long, and we were happy to just let them run all over the house exploring the galaxy without having anywhere else to go. 

It's always bittersweet to come to the end of a fabulous vacation, but having another plane ride to look forward to helped! This time the kiddos got to see the cockpit and briefly meet the co-captain. This ride was just as fun as the first and they can't wait to fly again. 

Night Fly

We love night flying! Flying in the evening, picnic dinner, playing in the dirt, and watching the sun go down - all out in the middle of nowhere. 

We flew in June this year instead of later in the summer, so the evening was extra long. Lots of daylight and lots of twilight too. 

 

After dinner we got glowsticks out. Nora has a pink trident and Zeke has a green ax. They had a ball having battles with their super-powered weapons. 

Family photo at the flying field (say that 3 times fast!). 

As the night got darker the lights on the planes showed more. So fun to watch. 

 

We also watched the stars come out and did a little stargazing. Zeke asked what the zodiac sign was (Gemini) and we looked up how to locate it. We think we found it, although we weren't there long enough to see all the stars in it. 

Marathon

The kids did a 'mile-by-mile marathon' this month. They did 25 miles at home (my kids did most of them by walking home from school) and then did the last 1.2 miles with a huge group of kids. Aaron and I were near the back of the group and the view up ahead was impressive. They pretty much filled the trail! And Zeke ran nearly the whole way. 

At marathon's end, they got a medal and a tshirt that they immediately wore (Zeke wore his backwards, silly kiddo). Then they got to hang out at the safe kids fair. There was so much to see and freebies to get. We toured an air ambulance helicopter and then watched it take off. It sounded like they were a little worried about the weather getting worse and wanted to get back to the hospital in case lightning started. 

Very tall fire truck ladder. 

The Sherrif's office did a car crash simulator. The kids loved 'crashing' at about 5 mph. It made my neck hurt just to watch them. 

It was lots of fun and the weather held out. Everyone enjoyed all the extra walks this spring.

Track Meet

We were super excited to find out the high school track team was planning a track meet day for the younger kids again this year. This year Zeke was feelin' fine and got to run his sprint. 

At the starting line

Partway through the race. He got 4th in his heat. 

Zeke rocked the standing long jump. I wondered if he could jump his height, which is 4 feet 5 inches. He blew that away on his first jump! His best jump was 5 feet 7 inches. This kid has little frog legs!

He did javelin too. 

Then it was off to the stands to enjoy snacks and shade while watching the distance runners. 

I am super proud of Zeke for doing his best and not stressing about coming in first in everything. Nora was bummed she couldn't participate but we've promised her we'll go try out the long jump sometime this summer.

Ice Castles

We went to see the Ice Castles at Soldier Hollow and they were fantastic! So amazing. 

Family selfie turned out pretty good. . . 

And the family picture taken by another family passing by turned out even better. 

Nora especially was excited because Elsa is her favorite princess, and she got to go see a real ice castle! She is just so cute in her winter wear. 

We went at dusk and it was perfect. Great pictures in the daylight, and we got to see the lights in the ice come on too.

We waited in a long line to go on the ice slide. The slide was fun and the wait wasn't bad. And the view from the top of the castle wall was really stunning. 

The most breathtaking part for me was looking up the gigantic walls of ice, and seeing all of the individual icicles. Tunnels, canyons, and walls -- it was just incredible. 

We all loved the fountain and I have multiple pictures just like this, but different colors. Purple, green, blue, red, and white, all in time to the music. 

Tubing

We started off 2016 doing something new and fun together as a family - the perfect way to ring in the new year. Aaron and I have been tubing a few times before but it's been a long time. The kids have never been and were thrilled to try it out. 

All bundled up.... when we got there the temperature was exactly 0. Cold winter morning!

 We met Heather and Grandpa on the hill and went down as a group. I think this was our second run. And the last time I saw Zeke for another hour. After that he was up and down the hill as fast as he possibly could go.

Grandpa somehow managed to keep up with him. Perhaps thanks to his neon yellow snow pants!

Nora is the cutest little tuber ever. 

By the time we were finishing up the sun was warm and it was actually pretty comfortable in all of our layers. The views were beautiful. 

Aaron and Zeke heading for the fastest tubing lane for our last run. We clocked 25 mph on our way down - the record of the day. The kids can't wait to go again!