July 2014 (part 3)

Wyatt's birthday is on July 24th so we got to celebrate with him while Bekah was here. My mom, Bekah and I took the kids to the Thanksgiving Point children's museum the day before his birthday. I only took pictures in the water area:

 This baby water table cracks me up:

We spent hours exploring inside and outside and the kids loved it. We got ice cream and then headed our separate ways. The girls and I went home and I got a few pictures of Olive sitting up (she was just getting good at it) a few days before her 6-month mark.

That night Dan came home a little early so we could all go swimming. This was how all of July felt: packing in as much fun every day that we could! We went to the Lehi rec center, and I have to say that swimming is much more fun as Alta and Ellie get older. And Olive is a little water baby, she was happy the entire time and especially loved this swing:

The next day was Wyatt's real birthday so we drove down to Provo to hang out for the day. Bekah had gotten them little bows and arrows so they could have a shooting contest:

Skip ahead a few days, on Sunday we went for another afternoon drive. The mountains have been gorgeous (as always) and we've been trying to take advantage. We went to Silver Lake again and walked around, and the girls wanted to throw rocks into the lake:

The last week of July the girls and I went swimming at Riverside again with my mom and Bekah:

The very last day of July we went to Snowbird to celebrate Wyatt's birthday again! Jim was in town so they wanted to do something as a family. We weren't going to go at first but I'm so glad Bekah convinced us because it was so fun.

We spent the day doing the alpine slide, mountain coaster, zip line (the kids were too little for that one), and the kids all loved the rock climbing wall and bungee tramps.

Dan and Ellie. Alta was a little nervous when we went too fast, but Ellie always wanted to go full-speed.

 Happy 5th birthday Wyatt!

 Ellie was first on the climbing wall:

 Followed by Alta, who went really high!

Alta decided she wanted to do the ropes course. I thought for sure she would get up there and get scared, but she insisted (even after watching Wyatt get scared and come down). I tracked down Dan and made him go up with her.

I don't think the heights even bothered her, she loved it and kept waving and talking to Ellie and me below her. Dan helped her move her rope around the corners, but other than that she wanted to do it by herself:

The Blankinships left in the late afternoon but we stayed until the last possible minute. Dan took Ellie and Olive on the Peruvian lift while Alta and I did as many rides as possible.

Olive's first lift ride! She's getting used to being dragged all over the place and missing naps so she was a champ.

By the end of the night the lines were almost all gone, so Dan ran and did the alpine slide a few times by himself while the girls jumped and jumped and jumped. They loved those trampolines! I bribed Alta to try a front flip and once she got it figured out, she wouldn't stop. She eventually tried back flips too. Here are both girls jumping at the same time:

When we told the girls it was closing and we had to leave, after being there for 6 hours and not stopping once, Ellie immediately said, "Can we come again tomorrow?".

I think our experience at Snowbird kind of sums up the whole summer. It was so rewarding to see how good the girls are getting at having fun, if that makes sense. Dan and I feel that it's so important for us to have fun as a family. We've been dragging babies with us to do things for 6 years now and I'll admit it's not always fun and it's definitely backfired a few times.  But this summer I felt like they (especially Alta) are getting old enough to really appreciate these things we do, and it's been so fulfilling to watch their joy!

And the best part is that I've realized that we're just getting started with this family fun thing. We've got years ahead of us!

Now a quick update on Olive this month:
-started scooting. Progress was only backwards at first but she started inching her way forward!
-starting sitting up at about 5 1/2 months
-the excitement of these new things messed up her sleep for a while but only during her naps, not at night.