Magic Mountain

I should have titled this “Not so Magic Mountain”.

We decided to begin our summer vacation with a trip to Magic Mountain on our way to Sacramento. We knew it was a Saturday during the summer and it would be busy. We knew we might not get on all the rides, and it could be really crowded. The kids were OK with that. We have driven by it so many times they just wanted to go. What we didn’t count on was a heat wave!!! (with high humidity.)

We knew we were in for it after walking up from the parking lot and we were all drenched in sweat. After doing one ride we headed to the kids area for Rachel. On the way the next ride Brandon felt like he was going to pass out. The humidity that day was at like 60%+. It was literally killing us. After rounding up the other kids in the kid area and a rest and push of fluids, Brandon felt better.

We were able to do about half of the big rides. We looked for shade and had to stop and rest often. We even took a break and saw a magic show just because it was indoors and air conditioned. We bought 2 of the souvenir mugs that you can refill all day for free (for $14 each) but only refilled them with water all day.

Because we were all so miserable I only took like 3 pictures the whole day!!

 

When we headed back to the hotel for the night we thought we would grab some dinner and take a swim to cool off. Oh no, not the case. Ethan ended up with heat exhaustion and threw up in the hotel parking lot. So after cooling him off in the shower, we decided to call it a night.

We have decided that we are Disney people I think!!!!

On a side note: The next day on our way to Sacramento we got a flat tire after hitting a piece of metal on the road. After changing the tire, we headed to the nearest Costco which luckily was only about 40 miles away. After an hour and a half wandering Costco and eating lots of samples we were back on the road.

Not the best start we have ever had for a vacation.

EFY

Brandon and Zachary had the chance to go this last week up to EFY in Flagstaff. Lisa and Todd drove in from California and Zachary was able to room with Ryan. Brandon took his chances on a roommate and ended up with a kid from Queen Creek.

They had a great week. The didn’t want to come home at the end. It is so great that they can go and have a fun time, hang out with other good kids and feel the spirit so much.

I don’t have any pictures of Brandon,except from instagram that people in his company took. Which I need to figure out how to download still. He took a camera but it broke :(

Luckily Zach was in a company with Mason and Easton, and Mason took pictures. So I stole some of his off Facebook!!!

Bob drove the whole group up on Monday and Jeff Webb brought them home Saturday. This is them at breakfast before the drive home.

We are so lucky to have such a great group of kids in our ward that all get along and like each other!!!

Annual Cub Scout Rocket Launch

Every year during the summer our cub scouts do a Saturday rocket launch for pack meeting.

It is always a lot of fun to try to keep the rockets from going in the lake, freeway or across the street. This year we didn’t lose any to those places, but our first launch got caught in a tree. Luckily we had another one to launch while I went home for a ladder. After getting the rocket out we were able to have a few more launches of that one.

Cousins

While the boys were at EFY Todd and Lisa came and spent an evening with us. Rachel was in 7th Heaven with the girls. She loved having them to play with. She now can’t wait until we head to CA in a few weeks.

swim lessons

Rachel has been doing swim lessons this summer with Miss Vicki. After we lost our swim teacher last year I was a little nervous, but it has been great. Rachel has gained so much confidence and is starting to put it all together. She has even swam the length of her teachers pool a few times.

I will try to add a video later.

Zion’s National Park Scout Trip

Zachary got home today from Zion’s National park with the teachers quorum for scout camp.

They left on Tuesday morning and drove home LATE Friday night. He got in about 2am this morning.

He was tired and dirty, but had a good time. They hiked the narrows twice and did a few other hikes also. He didn’t take a camera so we only have a few pictures that his leaders texted us, so hopefully I can add some more later.

Cub Scout Day Camp

Ethan had the chance to go with the Spence’s ward again this year to Cub Scout Day Camp. He had a great time again this year. I was able to go this year as a leader one day. It was a lot of fun, but man was I hot.

The boys get to do crafts, games, swimming, archery, BB guns and outdoor crafts. They keep them busy from the minute they get there until the get in the cars to go home. It goes from 3-10 so they are beat by the end of the night.

I even got to do archery. Unfortunately Ethan missed me hitting the bull's-eye :)

Ceramics

Brandon took ceramics this last year. He was running out of room to store his stuff. He picked a few things he wanted to keep and then we took a picture of the rest so we had a record of all his hard work then he smashed it all in the garbage!!

AZ Science Center

A few weeks ago there was a Living Social Deal for the Science Center. We went today. It was a lot of fun and we look forward to going many more times over the next year.