As summer came to a close and the first day of school came closer, we tried to cram in as much fun as we could. We did this by taking the kayaks out any chance we got.
Our first time was to First Dam in Logan. The kids had an absolute blast paddling around this river. The water was full of seaweed so we didn't like swimming in it. The kayaks were perfect though because they floated right over the seaweed. As we got passed the seaweed, the river opened up and was quite deep. We could see a lot of little fish swimming around under us.
We liked paddling out to the deep part and then over to the bridge. The bridge was too low for us to go under unless we laid down on our kayaks so we just stayed in our area. Charlotte had a blast as well. She really thinks she can do anything the big kids can do so she decided she could kayak by herself. She grabbed the yellow kayak and oar and paddled herself out and around the river. Russell and I stayed near her the whole time but we were really impressed with how well the little 2 1/2 year old was doing on her own.
She also loved just jumping in the water and getting wet.
At Russell's summer party for his work, Emily won a tube. She had been wanting to try out her tube for a while so we brought it along with the kayaks. She had a good time floating alongside the kayaks in her tube. The hard thing was that the kids arms and legs were a bit too short to go over the side of the tube and paddle very well. The seaweed was also a problem for the tube. These things did not stop the kids though. They figured out a way to hook the tube onto the back of the kayak and then took turns pulling each other around on the tube.
They also were able to fit all four of them on the tube and swim around. They really had to work together to get anywhere without going in circles. We sure had a great time.
We had so much fun that we went out and bought two more youth kayaks for the kids. So now we have five. The next weekend we took the kayaks to Hyrum Dam.
This was the maiden voyage of the pink and blue kayak and they did amazingly. The water was a little choppy so it was harder to paddle but the kids did great.
We paddled over to the floating dock and dared the kids to jump off into the lake. They were so scared but we kept pushing. Russell even demonstrated how to do it. Finally Emily got brave enough and jumped. She loved it and wanted to go again. Then Colby said he would do it if we were right next to the dock with the kayak. When he jumped he tried to jump into the kayak and almost tipped me over. He did decide it was pretty fun and tried a few more times. It was another fun day in the sun!
At the August Pack Meeting, Colby was able to help with the flag ceremony. This was the last requirement he needed to get his Wolf badge.
He had worked so hard during the summer earning a bunch of belt loops in order to get his Wolf badge. He was excited to finally get it.
At the county Fair Logan and Charlotte wanted a picture in this cop car.
It looks so real in the picture but it is really a photo prop.
Finally it was time for back to school haircuts.
This was probably Charlotte's second real haircut. She was so excited and held so still.
We had all of the kids get professional haircuts this time. Russell usually does the boys but he has been really busy with wildland fire lately. I love how the cuts turned out. Now they are ready for school!
Our garden finally decided to produce this year. It was definitely a late bloomer. It ended up being a good year for some things and a not so great year for others.
We planted potatoes, cucumbers, watermelon, pumpkin, butternut squash, corn, and beans in our big garden area. In the little garden boxes we planted tomatoes, peppers, peas, onions, carrots and lettuce. This was the first year we have ever been able to grow corn and green beans. The corn we might have picked a little too late because we weren't sure when to pick it. The corn still tasted good though. We were getting worried that the beans were not going to do well but then they just took off. We had so many beans we could pick a pan full everyday for dinner. The cucumbers also did very well. I made 3-4 batches of pickles and still did not make a dent in the supply. I did discover how to make really good baby pickles though. Instead of letting the cucumbers grow so big, I am going to pick them when they are tiny babies and make pickles out of those. They were so good!
Our potatoes and onions did really well too. We would go dig up a few potatoes every week and they just kept producing throughout the summer. Our onion supplies will definitely last through the winter. Our lettuce just kept growing and growing until we finally pulled them out because we couldn't eat it fast enough.
Logan planted the watermelon plant at school and we watched it grow from a seedling in our house. Then we transplanted it outside and hoped it wasn't too shocked to grow. It grew like a champ and we were able to get two watermelons off of it. Boy, were they good.
I think the only things that did not grow were the pumpkin plants and the squash plant. We got one butternut squash and two mini pumpkins that really couldn't even be called pumpkins. The reason they did not do well was because of the cursed squash bugs. We had a major infestation of those stupid things. We would go out every day and kill a million of them and it still did not help. We got tape and used it to take the eggs off the leaves and still they found a way to reproduce. It was so bad that I was having nightmares about those bugs infesting the house. Oh I hate them!!
Other than the squash bugs, we had a pretty good harvest though. We did learn that we need to plant onions or radishes or other strong smelling plants near the pumpkin and squash plants because the squash bugs don't like the smell and will stay away. We are going to try that next year. Hopefully it will be better.
We sure have had a great summer. I wish it was summer all the time but I know it can't be... We are ready for school to start again and we are looking forward to another great year.
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