Waterslide, School, Playing, Swimming and Hiking!

Gavin has been enjoying his Kindergarten prep class online. He will also be starting an online preschool class in October. It's once a week for 6 weeks and it will be an interactive class using Google meet, so different from the Waterford program!

Unfortunately the evergreen tree we planted in the front yard has died. The summer heat was too much for it and we shouldn't have planted it in the summer anyway. Now it has cooled down and we have planted a Black Hills Spruce. Hopefully it will do better than the White Fir!

Here is a video of Gavin making our slide into his own waterslide. Avery was not as fond of it as Gavin, she went down a little too fast for her tastes, but Gavin loved it!!

 
In our daily adventures we discovered that a playground we had visited over the winter had been completely redone! So the kids got to enjoy a new playground (which we have now visited 3 times in one week).

Here are a couple videos, one of Gavin going down the big slide...

And a video of the kids on the cool seesaw swing.

We have been able to return to our library for weekly story time, which the kids really enjoy. Here's a video of the kids doing a more interactive part of story time.

Both kids continue to enjoy their swimming lessons. Here's Gavin practicing his floating skills:

And here is Avery getting the ring off the bottom of the pool (about 4 feet deep):

To finish off our weekend, we decided to check out a hike in the nearby mountains. We did a 3 mile hike to Donut Falls and Gavin hiked the whole way!

The kids helped me with the pictures! On this last picture, Avery was ready for a nap and very unwilling to pose for pictures!!

Graduation and Phoenix Visit

 Avery has graduated from the Parent & Tot class in swimming to the next level where she is in class with three other kids! She was very excited for her first class last weekend!! So excited that she jumped in a couple times when she wasn't supposed to. Maybe next class she will pay more attention.

We also made a quick, somewhat unplanned trip down to Phoenix. My Aunt Bev passed away after years of declining health due to Parkinson's. We were very sad to hear of her passing but glad that we could make it down to Phoenix for the Memorial Service.

The sunlit smile Beverly Anne Ferguson shone on this world 
rose on Saturday, October 20, 1934, and set on Monday, August 23, 2021.

It was nice to see my Uncle and spend some time with his side of the family.

We stayed with Grandma and Grandpa in Phoenix, so Gavin and Avery got lots of time with them! But we also checked out the Children's Museum, which the kids really enjoyed!

Mommy and Daddy both climbed through this play area. Not easy for adults but especially Daddy!! They had an Eric Carle exhibit that was interactive and had lots of neat areas. This is Avery as a butterfly. And Gavin as a caterpillar making his way through the grass:

Then Gavin got to use a die cutter to make a 3D spider.

And Avery got to paint a giant robot! They just had buckets of paint out for kids to add more paint to this sculpture. It was large enough to go inside although you risk getting paint on you!

The rest of the time was spent playing. Coloring with Grandma. Playing Mousetrap with Grandpa. Gavin was obsessed with this game!

Some downtime with Grandpa watching a movie. Of course we had to go to the sand playground too!

Then Grandpa helped build a house with Lincoln logs and joined the kids playing with playdough.

I managed to get a haircut while we were there too!! It was much needed!!!

And here is Gavin and Grandma posing with their castle on wheels!

We had a great time with Grandma and Grandpa. When we got home, Gavin was already asking when we were going back!