To help the girls learn a bit more about the founding of our country we took them over to the Colonial Days in Orem. It was held in a park by the Scera movie theater. They had several teachers from the Alpine School District there to teach families about the travel over from England and what the first couple of years were like for the settlers. After hearing the details of what they went through I gained a greater respect for those people. The festival also had a several craftsmen that showed how to make their wares and a school that ran an actual 20 minute class for the kids.
It was really interesting to watch the cooper, baker, potter and the lady doing tatting. It's amazing the time and talent it takes to make all of those things - things we take for granted now.
This lady tatted the most amazing purple lace.
The cooper making a pail. He was selling his pails for over $100 but after watching him for a bit I can see why. It is very time intensive.
The village potter. This was Dave's and the girls favorite one to watch.
After looking at the different craftsmen we went over to the games area where the girls played different games and Annika schooled a couple of little boys on a colonial game of fox and geese. :)
I think over all Dave and I enjoyed it more than the girls did, but I think as they get older they'll appreciate more the history of where we come from.
Cute little colonial girls feeling some what put upon - "why does Mom make us wear these hats!"
Our summer field trip trekked out past Eagle Mountain to a small state park - Camp Floyd. Dave and I saw it when we drove out to go to the geode mines. It was a park that detailed the history of the US army's encampment in Utah just before the Civil War. We learned so much about the history of Utah and the US Government. It was especially interesting to read about how the Saints initially fought back against the army. I always had thought that they passively let the army come in.
At the park they also had an inn that we toured through. They had lots of old furnishings and set it up to look like it would have back during that time. They also featured a bullet hole that one of the guest shot through his room and into the next room. The story goes that the guest in the other room had just laid down in the bed and that if he had still been up it would have gone right through him. They also had a list of people that stayed in the inn - I was surprised to see that Mark Twain stayed there. I read that he despised Mormons, so I was surprised to see that he stayed in their country.
All lined up on the front porch.
The kids lined up on the steepest stairs ever in the inn with their Junior Ranger booklet. It should have been called the College Graduate Junior Ranger booklet - some of the questions and activities were hard enough that the moms had to consult each others for the answers!
After the tour and picnic we made the obligatory trip to the gift shop where the girls each picked out a pioneer bonnet and a junkie little harmonica. Mieka played her's for a few seconds on the way home and declared that "this thing is not for me!"
Pioneer children eat their candy sticks as they walk and walk and walk ...
to the car.
Annika is now officially 6 1/2 years old! She makes sure that you know that 1/2 is in there. :) For her birthday we let her be the boss of the day. She picked out the food and activities. Unfortunately for her those activities had to move around me making jam all day. :) She got her main present early when she picked out her new bike. She did get to open a few new art crafts after breakfast. That seemed to make her pretty happy and kept her busy while I was making a fore mentioned jam.
We did go out to dinner to her favorite spot - IHOP and then we had the traditional Dippidee cake for her birthday treat. It's amazing how big she is getting. Before we know it she will be 8 and then 12, 16, 18 ... scarey to think about! I am so grateful for Annika. She is a sweet, gentle girl that is an amazing big sister. I can't imagine what our family would be like without her!
Dave gave me a gift certificate to Linden Nursery for mother's day and after I had picked out the flowers and veggies that I wanted I still had some extra left over. The girls wanted something they could plant so they picked out what items they would want to put in their own fairy gardens - a fairy garden being a little garden where a fairy would want to live. :)
After we purchased all the little plants we came home and they drew up plans of what they wanted their garden to look like. We gathered pots, dirt, rocks and then started planting. Both wanted a coconut shell for a pond for the fairies. They then surrounded the pond with nice soft moss, some little "trees", a few bushes and a nice little stone walking path.
Dave built a little fairy house for both of them to put in their garden. Mieka occasionally adds a few Little Pet shop items to her garden - a wheelbarrow, pet, or bike. You know - things a fairy would like. :) Marianne also gave both of the girls a fairy guard to watch over their garden. They have both been very diligent about watering their gardens every day and I can't believe how much the gardens have grown!
The Princess Festival this year was held at the Thanksgiving Point Children's Gardens and did they ever go all out. There were 20 plus princesses around the gardens with pen ready in hand to sign autographs. They also had mini shows for many of the princesses where they would put on a little play. Most of the plays followed the story line of the books, but they also stuck in a few little pieces here and there about why it's more important to be kind than it is to be beautiful. Great idea! I think most little girls get caught up on the dresses and crowns and forget about the good things the princesses do as well.
Ready for the onslaught of princesses and magic fairy dust.
There were quite a few little girls there and both Annika and Mieka were not wanting to stand in line to get autographs. We got a few where we could just walk right up to the princess but mainly we watched the shows, got a few treats, and had their fingernails painted.
Mieka climbed up the stack of mattresses to get the Princess and the Pea autograph.
Rapunzel - the must have autograph. These girls are huge Tangled fans.
Playing games with the 12 Dancing Princesses in their cave.
Getting their nails painted - favorite part.
The girl that painted Mieka's nails was very patient. Mieka kept changing her mind and the girl had to redo her nails a couple of times. She ended up with a rainbow of colors on her nails. :)
Aside from seeing all the princesses and the fun little plays, the thing that impressed me the most about the festival was that all the people working there were volunteers and all of the proceeds for the festival went to a charity in Africa. Amazing.
This year the girls ballet school did a production of Sleeping Beauty. They really went all out and had an almost full production of the ballet. I think Dave and I need to work on our appreciation for ballet, after 2 1/2 hours we were ready to go! Mieka was a bunny in the forest scene and Annika was a fairy in the birthday party scene. They both did a great job. I was so proud of them for getting up on the big stage and performing in front of so many people. The performance was at the Covey Art Center so there were a lot of people there!
Before the performance looking a little anxious. :)
Mieka's little group was helped out by a few of the older girls. Her dance consisted of hopping on to the stage, forming a circle, hopping into the circle, hopping out, doing a few ballet moves, hopping again, hopping around the circle, hopping in, hopping out ... you get the point. A lot of hopping. I think it was the cutest of all the dances. :)
Hop, hop, hop. Round they go!
And ... they are off! Hop, hop, hop!
Annika's group was also helped out by some older girls. I think some of the little girls got a bit of stage fright and forgot what they were doing - so the older girls would help prompt them. You could also see the teacher in the eves prompting them along as well. :) Annika did a super fantastic job! She remembered her part and danced beautifully.
Annika dancing as a petite lilac fairy - nice arabesque!
After the recital we got each of the girls a little gift (instead of flowers) to show them how proud we were of them being so brave. I think that made it all worth it.
Happy to have it done and to get the pony and Strawberry shortcake car.
Family Fun had a list of their top 10 fun activities for summer and when we saw the Car Wash we figured we should give it a try. It was actually very easy and we built the whole thing in less than an hour. The girls have had lot of fun playing in it with some of the neighbor kids.
Mieka was the planner - she liked reading the plans and telling Dave what to do.
Annika was the builder. She loved putting the pieces together and even did a bit of it all by herself.
Once it was finished we figured we should let them try it out - who needs a swimsuit to run through sprinklers!
A quick zoom through the wash! I wish washing them at night was as easy!
Their favorite part of the car wash was to use it as a water fountain. They fill up their mouths with water and then spit on each other. :) I think we need to get some little buckets for them to fill up with water instead.
Lately when Dave mows the grass he creates a little maze for the girls to run through. I think it's amazing that he can figure out a pattern while he's just walking around. Maybe some day we'll have a big enough yard that we can make a little maze out of bushes - like a real English manor garden. :)
Each year we try to do a field trip on Fridays during the summer and this time we started with the Springville Children's Art Festival. I think word about this event has spread like wild fire because we showed up early and it was still a mad house! I can't blame people though - free fun art activities for kids. Yes please!
We started working our way through the booths making sand art, bead book marks, and much more.
Mieka working on a South American Folk Art bookmark.
Annika making her Native American sand art picture.
After each craft Mieka begged to go get her face painted. When the line for it finally died down we headed over and let her pick out what she wanted. This was very much so Mieka's favorite part.
Mieka with her happy little rainbow and Annika with her pink unicorn.
After visiting a few more activities we headed over to eat our lunch while we listened to a story teller telling Hawaiian folk tales. It was a fun, crowded morning of doing great art activities and enjoying time with friends.
Annika is becoming the budding little soccer player, so we decided to put her in a soccer camp to help her learn new skills. BYU had one the first week after school got out and we thought - can you find any better place than BYU for a soccer camp? I think not! Go Cougars!
Annika at the new field house at BYU. This place is huge! The size of a full football field plus some.
Annika was assigned to a boy coach that is the goalie for the men's soccer team. The first day she was run ragged but had so much fun. The second day she had a run in with another player and got a super bloody nose. But being the ever eager player as soon as the blood stopped she zoomed right back out to play so that she didn't miss anything. Third and fourth day were more drills, games, and other fun activities. The highlight of course was the popsicle break each day.
Annika with her coach Cory. Later we learned that he's a BYU star goalie.
The last day Cosmo the Cougar came and all the kids went wild. I had to laugh because before this camp Annika had never seen Cosmo before and had no idea who he was. (Yes- we are lame BYU grads.) But after 4 days of the kids doing BYU Cougar chants and cheers she has become a true blue BYU fan. :)
Each evening after camp Annika then headed to another camp run by some of the women's BYU soccer players for the Celtic Storm Academy. Poor little thing - if I had known that she was going to have a soccer camp for the Celtic Storms I never would have signed her up for the BYU camp - but she was a super troop and played hard each time. Over all she had a super fun week of playing her favorite sport.
Summer marks outdoor play and we thought it was high time that we got the girls "new" bikes. Mieka being the younger sibling sadly gets a hand-me-down this year - but we added lots of extra pink girly stuff to her bike so she is happy that Barbie and her can bikes together.
A super happy Mieka with her new basket and Barbie mini Bike. Now Barbie can experience crashing on the sidewalk too! Hope she doesn't break a nail!
Annika decided that she MUST have a Barbie bike (sigh). We finally found one at Toys-R-Us and she couldn't wait to try it out. Even after a long day of soccer camp she still wanted to go out and ride around the block 3 or 4 times. That's dedication!
Pink wheels! Can you get any girlier? Yes! Add a mini Barbie Ride-along bike! The super girly bike is complete. Side note - The blonde rats nest on the bike is a Princess Barbie - not a run away hamster like it appears.
Now days they are begging us to follow them around the block while they ride. They are turning into real speed demons! Guess Dave and I need to get in better shape so that we can actually run after them and not just limp along. :)
Ack - I am so behind on posts for our family journal. If i ever want to make this into a book for the girls I need to get it together! Hopefully over the next couple of weeks now that school is out I will be able to get these updated. At least I have the end of December and all of January done. Good thing we didn't do much in January! :)
Each year in January the American Heritage School has a dance festival for the kids in grades kindergarten through sixth. They also have a few of the junior high and high school kids participate doing ballroom dance numbers. And to end it all the faculty do a big dance number - this year it began with the principal driving a motorcycle into the middle of the gym. Awesome! The kids loved it. :)
All of the kindergarten kids got to do the chicken dance. They made these super cute hats and the kids had little streamers on their arms. We were lucky to have Nancy sitting with the kindergartners so we got this great video.
The girls recently saw one of those new codes that you can decode using your iphone. Dave being the crafty dad that he is found a program where you can make your own codes. He quickly set about making a scavenger hunt for the girls. It was super cute watching them work together to figure out what the codes were and where to go next. The hunt ended with a treasure trove of cookies. The best kind of treasure for two little girls.
Say cheese scanned code.
Treasure trove of cookies - yo ho it's a cookie pirate's life for me!
So for January we had a few celebrations. National Peanut day. National Penguin Day. Rainbow fish day. You know - very important holidays that are very important to celebrate.First off was National Peanut Day. Emma and Matthew came over and we made playdough out of peanut butter. Annika thought it was better for eating than playing.
Num Num Num - Yes - it is ok to eat playdough.
Next was National Penguin Day - yes there really is a holiday to celebrate penguins. And so I attempted to make Oreo penguins. As you can tell Mieka wasn't super impressed. :)
I didn't think they turned out that bad ... well maybe I shouldn't have used red frosting - it looks like their eyes and noses are bleeding. Yuck.
And finally Rainbow fish day. Mieka had a friend over for a play date and we make rainbow fish cookies and read the book as part of the day.
I thought it was funny that the other little girl put a teeny tiny amount of sprinkles on her cookie and my girls globbed as much as they possibly could on theirs. Guess the Sucher Sugar curse has been passed to them as well. :)
This lady tatted the most amazing purple lace.
The cooper making a pail. He was selling his pails for over $100 but after watching him for a bit I can see why. It is very time intensive.
The village potter. This was Dave's and the girls favorite one to watch.
I think over all Dave and I enjoyed it more than the girls did, but I think as they get older they'll appreciate more the history of where we come from.
Cute little colonial girls feeling some what put upon - "why does Mom make us wear these hats!"
