School Week 10

Monday was the last day of Fall Break for the kids. It was a teacher work day, so Paul went to work. Gramps stopped by to see us, and that was really fun to see him for a few minutes. We met Al, Wyatt, and Hallee and hiked Battle Creek Falls with them.

Rockwell and Wyatt wanted to climb up every little trail or open area they saw.

Tessa and Hallee wanted to be by themselves so people wouldn't bug them. :)

All the kids loved the water at the bridge and climbing on rocks and in the little cave.

I love the views from this hike. The fall colors overlooking the valley is just beautiful.

We spent a little time enjoying the beauty and the mist of the waterfall.

We were way too dirty when we got down to play at one of our houses, so we took the kids to a park for the rest of the afternoon. 

Paul went to brunch with his friends from his Master's Cohort Saturday morning. 

Mrs Anderson sent out this picture of Damon's class with some giant pumpkins. I'm grateful school is going much better for Damon lately. I can tell his teacher is getting some good training, and Damon is really progressing with his reading. It's always such a relief when our kids learn how to read!!

Lagoon

 We decided to go to Lagoon over Fall Break.

We had to wear masks, but could take them off when we were seated on the rides. The weather was pretty chilly once it was dark, but it was perfect during the day. We got there when it opened and stayed for 10 hours. We just took ourselves and a fanny pack. :) We lived it up and bought our food at the park, and just had a carefree, super fun day!!

We started out on the bumper cars, and then rode the Tilt-a-Whirl. We all loved that one. We rode it a few more times throughout the day because it was one of our favorites.

We rode the Scambler and the airplanes and then made our way over to the kiddie area.

We weren't sure what kinds of rides the kids would like. If we would spend the whole day at the kiddie rides, or if they would like the bigger ones. There were a couple kiddie rides that Tessa and Damon did while Rockwell and Paul rode the swings. But besides that, they really liked the bigger rides.

Tessa saw some swings in the kiddie area that she wanted to ride, but they weren't open yet. We rode a few of the bigger rides and then noticed the swings were open when we passed by them a little later. It was hilarious to watch Tessa and Rockwell on the small swings. As soon as it was over Tessa came out and said, "That was boring!!" We could definitely tell she felt that way by watching her face. :)

Tessa got soaked on this ride, and so Rockwell wanted to do it too. He was bummed he didn't get sprayed nearly as much as Tessa did.

 We all really liked the rollercoasters. I only got a picture of Puff, but we all loved Bombora and the wooden rollercoaster and rode those over and over.

It was seriously the cutest thing to see Damon's tiny hands up in the air on the wooden rollercoaster. All the kids would put their hands up and scream, and it was just adorable! Damon wasn't tall enough for the Spider, so Paul took him on a ride of his choice while Tessa, Rockwell and I rode the Spider. He chose the wooden rollercoaster. Luckily he was just barely tall enough for that, because he loved that one! The big kids and I really enjoyed Spider. Paul took all the kids on Wild Mouse and they seemed to like that one too.

We rode the pirate ship and the umbrellas. We also rode the train twice, and that was cooler than we expected. They have tigers, lions, kangaroos, llamas, panthers, warthogs, and all sorts of cool animals. I always liked it when we could all ride together. Rockwell was a champ about riding alone since Damon and Tessa needed an adult on most the rides.

We rode the carousel a couple times. The kids wanted to sit in the spinning cup the second time. Paul and I are old and didn't love spinning after a while, and so we were happy to watch them from the horses. :)

The kids chose Dippin' Dots for their treat.

The Frightmares haunted houses and shows started around dusk, and after that we were pretty much able to walk on rides. We rode the big swings a few times, the wooden rollercoaster a few times, Bombora a few times, and tried a couple new ones. The kids spun in the teacups and Paul and I got our own teacup and didn't spin at all. :) There's a music express-type ride for younger kids that was fun too. The kids were so excited and grateful all day. They kept telling us how it was the best day ever and thanking us for taking them to Lagoon. It was a blast!!

School Week 9 and Fall Break

After school on Wednesday, we met up with Al and Katie and drove through Butterfield Canyon to see the fall colors. We pulled over at one point and let the kids hike around and play in the canyon. After that we went to a park and played for a while. It was a great way to start Fall Break. 

We went to Lagoon on Thursday. We took so many pictures, I'm going to do a separate post about that. On Friday we slept in, and then rode bikes and played baseball outside. It was a great morning!

We met Al, Hallee, and Wyatt at the Water Gardens that afternoon and saw The War With Grandpa. It was funny!

Tessa thought she was pretty funny when she chose to wear her "I'd rather be reading" shirt to the movies. She thought that was a good statement to make. Haha! :)

On Saturday, the kids and I went for a bike ride, we decorated for Halloween, sat in the hot tub, Paul made homemade ice cream, and we bought the new Mulan and watched that. We love love loved all the family time we got over Fall Break!

A fire started right above the Orem Cemetery Saturday afternoon. It was pretty concerning seeing the hill burning so close to our house, but the fire crews did an amazing job of protecting the houses. 

After a few hours the hill was charred black and the fire was spreading north and south along the mountain. 

Sadly, it has spread pretty far into Provo Canyon, and homes have been evacuated at the mouth of the canyon and into the canyon. I'm so grateful for all the homes being safe along the bench, but I'm so sad to think of Provo Canyon and Sundance burning. Provo Canyon is one of my absolute favorite places to be and we spend so much time there. It's still spreading today, and I'm just heartbroken. It's pretty smoky here, and there's a constant sound of airplanes and helicopters. As you drive around Orem, there are people outside all along the streets watching the airplanes fight the fire. It's sad to see our beautiful mountains all charred.