Memorial Day weekend marked the first weekend of summer vacation and we had fun celebrating. First, Russell had been promising the kids that when he and Emily got out of school they would sleep outside in the tent. Well on the night of the last day of school, they did just that. Well except for the tent but they did sleep outside.
This is a picture of them in the morning before they woke up. Logan and I had a good night's sleep inside on our comfy beds while these three slept outside on an ingenious bed that Russell jimmy-rigged up. He started to get out the tent but then decided he didn't want to have to fold it back up in the morning so he put some boards on top of our tractor tire and the air mattress on top of that and made this floating bed. It was so funny looking but they said it was a good bed.
That next night (Friday, May 23) was the annual Midnight 5K put on by the city. Russell and I decided to run it since he gets into the races for free and I am half price. Here we are before the race:
And here we are after the race. We didn't do as well as we had hoped but we ran the whole 3 miles and kept a good pace. Our goal was 30 minutes but we ended up finishing in 32 minutes. That is my worst time ever in a 5K but I guess I should give myself some credit because it is probably pretty good considering I only trained for a week after not running at all for 4 years! I know Russell could have done a lot better but he said he would stay with me. We crossed the finish line at the same time and placed 168 and 169 out of 445. So I guess that is pretty good. And the best part of races is the free shirts and the end of race food. After this race we had yummy watermelon, Pizza Factory bread sticks, and Orange Julius. It was totally worth the race. Since we didn't place in out age division, we decided to skip the award ceremony and head home. Traci willingly watched all three kids overnight so we were able to sleep through the night for the first time in forever! The kids had a blast with Aunt Traci. They watched movies and played at night, and ate pancakes and went to the park in the morning. While they were still at Traci's, I went on another run. I decided if I wanted to improve my time I had better get running more often. So I have started going 5 days a week having Sunday's off and every other Wednesday or Saturday off depending on Russell's work schedule. Russell and I have the goal to run a half marathon in November and the full St. George marathon in 2015. Wish us luck. This is definitely a commitment.
After picking up the kids from Traci, she invited us to go to the splash pad. We decided that would be a great idea.
Like always the kids had a blast. They are like fish and love the water. This is the first time Logan has been to the splash pad except for when he was a few months old. Logan absolutely loved being there. He especially loved the waterfalls. Colby and Logan played on these waterfalls the whole time. They would take the watering can toys fill them up with water and then dump out the water and start over. This kept them busy for quite a while. Emily just loved being there and did everything with Traci. This will definitely be one of our frequently visited placed this summer.
My parents and brothers went camping up at Tropic Reservoir over the weekend. After church on Sunday we headed up there too. We were just going to spend the night so we didn't bother to take the trailer and thought it would be very adventurous to sleep in the back of the van.
Well it was certainly adventurous and the kids loved it but it was also quite cramped and not the best sleeping conditions for me. Russell knew there would not be enough room for all five of us so he brought his cot and slept outside under the stars. I think he got the better deal! Anyway it was fun.
The next morning we went for a walk in the meadow next to our camp. It was very beautiful. (I love this first picture, I think I want to frame it.)
We had a great walk. We caught grasshoppers and picked wild flowers and just had fun in the cool mountain air. I love camping.
While we were eating lunch, Colby pointed to the trees and said "Look a deer!" When we all looked over, we saw that what he was pointing at was not a deer but an antelope! It was so cool to see this antelope so close to us. It walked right through our camp as we were sitting there eating our lunch like it didn't care at all that we were there. We watched it walk through our camp and then through the meadow and down the road. I couldn't believe it. I was wishing I had my camera but I didn't want to scare it away by running and getting it. When the antelope was out of sight Colby said, "The cantaloupe is gone." We all laughed at his words.
After lunch we decided to pack up and head home. On our way, we stopped at Tropic Reservoir to try fishing. We weren't catching anything and the kids were getting tired and fighting so we decided to just hit the road. On the way home, we decided to go the scenic way through Panguitch, Duck Creek, and Cedar Mountain. On our drive through Mammoth Creek, we saw more "cantaloupes" along the side of the road:
These three were not afraid of people either and just let us park on the road by them and take their pictures. It was so great.
We finally made it home and went we got out of the van, we were blasted with the St. George summer heat! We wanted to get back in the car and go back to the mountain. I am not ready for the hot summer yet. I have been loving this cool spring weather we have been having. But now ready or not, here comes the heat!
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