And it begins..

So summer has started for us. Taylor graduated from preschool on May 19th. Lauren's last day of 1st grade was May 23rd. Swimming lessons start at Heise Hot Springs next week. The summer movie matinees have started. The Library's summer reading program starts next week. We are still waiting for the summer weather, but all other indications point to summer. Summer seems more daunting with 3 kids. What am I gonna do with them to keep them entertained, busy, learning, challenged, etc... I will probably run out of ideas in the middle of next week so if anyone has suggestions, please feel free to leave a comment or two. :)

I haven't posted for a while so I thought I'd leave some pictures of the last few weeks.

So, we broke down and bought the kids a trampoline. One of those that includes the safety enclosure. Huge! Everyone in the ward knew we had gotten a trampoline because you can see it from so far away. My younger brother Dustin decided he needed to come and play with my kids on it for old times sake. They had a blast!


A few weeks ago, we took the kids to Salt Lake for a quick getaway. We went to Hogle Zoo. So fun! We saw monkeys, buffalo, elephants, giraffes, zebras, tigers, etc... but my favorite part was this mother duck and her babies. They were walking down the sidewalk area where hundreds of people were walking. I don't know what part of the zoo she was coming from, but she was headed somewhere in a hurry. All the little ducklings were moving their webbed feet just as fast as they could go to keep up with her. Finally, she went underneath a fence and into a small grassy area underneath a monkey aerial enclosure. She had to jump off a concrete step (which was fairly high up). We watched as she jumped (no hesitation) and expected her babies to jump after her. For them it was a long drop (see picture below). It was the cutest thing to watch her turn around and quack at them to get them going. They all stood there pacing until one brave duckling took the leap. After that, one by one, they all leapt, following their mother's example. One hit a tree branch on the way down. One fell to the side a little bit, but they all made it. Then the mother duck gathered them together again, and they were on their way. It was so interesting and made me think about myself as a mother and letting my kids take chances and risks and simply setting a good example. What we can learn from nature.