Summer fun: part 2

Summer edition part 2. This second half of June was also full of enjoyable times. 

First we did our family tradition of growing live caterpillars and watching them transform into butterflies.  This is something we usually do in the spring but this year we waited a little while and did it closer to summer. This was better I thought because we could let the butterflies go whenever they were ready. When we grow them in the spring, it is usually too cold or the weather is crappy when it is time to let them go so we have to wait. Summer is a better time for everything I think.

Brooklyn thought these butterflies were the best thing ever. She watched them from the cage in our house everyday. When it was time to let them go, she wanted to hold them on her hand. Well she got to watch us hold them and have them near her but when I tried to put one in her hand she shook it and the butterfly flew away.

Letting them go is my favorite part of growing them. This year we got 10 caterpillars but I think only 7 survived. Two caterpillars didn't grow and then one formed a chrysalis but the butterfly never came out. I don't know what happened to it.  Seven more butterflies were sent out into the world this month!

Next the kids had their Pops piano recital.  These songs are always fun ones for the kids to learn because they are popular songs they know.

Emily played "How Far I'll Go" from Moana. She worked really hard on this one and it was a fun one for me to learn as well. The only struggle she had was the last page of the song because it changes key signatures and sounds different. 

Colby played "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" from Mary Poppins. This was a good upbeat song for him and pretty easy to learn. Now if we can just learn how to spell that word!

Logan didn't participate in this recital but he is still taking piano lessons and likes learning new songs.

The most exciting part of this portion of the summer was Activity Days Day Camp for the boys. This year they attended Day Camp at Camp Fife.  I was not able to go with Russell and our group because I needed to stay home with Charlotte and Brooklyn but they all told me they had a blast!

Both Colby and Logan were able to attend Day Camp this year and they loved it. Archery is always a favorite among the boys. They all did their best and hit a few bull's-eyes.

All of the other activities were fun as well. They were able to go rock climbing on the rock wall, have slingshot shooting contests, and ride a Zipline.

Finally they were able to go BMX mountain bike riding. This was entertaining for the boys because all of them love riding their bikes at home. Some of them raced others just rode for fun. The Camp leaders even let Russell jump on a bike and try out the course. He said it was a really nice course.  Everyone came home so tired which means it was a great day!

This summer I have started working at the American West Heritage Center a little more. I help out with the Historical Adventures giving tours of the pioneer or farm houses and telling people about the history of the area. 

Part of that job includes dressing up as a pioneer during that time and cooking lunch for the staff using the methods the pioneers used during that time. This means I have learned to cook over an open fire!!  I have never cooked on a fire except for roasting hot dogs or marshmallows so this was definitely a good learning experience. Russell is our outdoor chef so he gave me a few pointers.  Robert, another employee, was a great resource as well. Robert taught me the difference between cooking on the fire (which is similar to cooking on a stove) and cooking with coals (which is more like cooking in an oven). So I gave it a shot. First I made taco soup in a Dutch oven on the fire. It turned out great! Then the next day my friend Katie and I tried to make brownies using the coals. Well let's just say the second batch worked out much better than the first.  We didn't really know what we were doing so we set the dutch oven on some coals and put coals on top of it and just let it cook. Well when we checked on it about 20 minutes later (like the recipe said), it was basically charcoal. We were so sad... Katie is always the optimist so she said, "Let's try again!"  So we did but this time we didn't use as many coals and we rotated it and checked on it about every few minutes to make sure it wasn't burning. This time it was perfect. 

Using my new found knowledge from the brownies, the next time I cooked, I decided to give cobbler a try. After checking and rotating it every few minutes, as you can see from the picture above, it turned out perfectly!! I was so proud of myself. 

I don't think I will make fire cooking my new normal but now I know that if I had to, I could do it and my family would not starve. Go me!

Finally, our garden is starting to grow. We planted late this year so I don't know how much produce we will get but our strawberries are flourishing!  Everyday it seems like we pick another bowl of strawberries. I don't know what to do with all of these delicious things.  This year I was able to make strawberry jam using all of our own strawberries rather than combining with the neighbor. It is so delicious! 

Well there is part 2 of summer and the month of June.