Swimming

One of the best things about spending time at Grandpa and Grandma Calder's house is swimming. We try to get in the pool every day during the summer. The pool is where we stand and chat, sometimes eat snacks (poor Grandma), get a some exercise and enjoy the sun.

I love watching the kids improve their swimming skills while we are here. They get more and more comfortable with the water and then, sadly, we leave and don't see a pool for months at a time. Buying goggles and masks for them this year has greatly improved their swimming and their willingness to put their faces in the water while swimming. I wish I had bought them long ago.

Carston is becoming a little fish.

Jackson didn't get to swim at all last summer because he broke his arm and wore a cast from the beginning of June through the middle of August. He is a little nervous in the water, but loves it when he is wearing his spiderman life jacket.

Peyton is a good little swimmer. She ventures around without her life jacket pretty well, but I feel safer when she is wearing it.

Grant doesn't love the water like our other kids. He enjoys playing on the steps and being carried around the pool, but won't try to swim on his own yet. It doesn't help that he hates his life jacket and it is a constant battle to keep it on him while he is around the pool.

Benjamin loved the Horsley's raft this year! He rode around and around the pool in the raft grinning. He had to fight off competitors who also wanted a turn in the raft while Mark pulled it around the pool. Benjamin loves being in the water for short amounts of time and then likes to walk around on the hard ground where he is complete control.

Mark is trying to get Grant more comfortable with the water. He doesn't go for it sometimes, as you might notice here.

We love swimming and summertime!

Fourth of July FUN!

Parades are not usually my favorite past time. The truth is that I will probably never be one of those people who saves their place along the parade route days before the event, even sleeping out in a tent to ensure they don't lose their place. I am the annoying person who slips in just as the parade begins and sits down on the road in front of those people. Living in Louisiana and celebrating Mardi Gras every year has helped make me more of a parade fan, but then I wonder why we were so excited to catch tons of Mardi Gras "goods" when we are carrying loads of beads, plastic cups, balls and little stuffed animals home with us afterward. So, when I agreed to pack up and head to the parade down Center Street in Provo on the 4th of July, I was pretty skeptical about the parade being any good. Amazingly enough, I had never gone to the fourth of July parade before. I grew up in a family that didn't attend parades. I was pleasantly surprised by this parade and enjoyed the time we spent sitting on the road in the morning sun. You've got to love Provo, Utah.

Here we are lined up on the roadside just before the parade reached us.

Yes, the people in the bleachers had been there for awhile by the time we came and sat in front of them. Here is most of the Calder clan with our friends the Warrens.

I know, it looks as if I spent hours on myself this particular morning! I went for a morning run around Oak Hills just before we left for the parade. Let me just say that I do better on a treadmill. I hate running up and down hills, probably because I get totally winded and look ridiculous moving at my snail's pace! By the time I got back to the house, it was time to leave for the parade. So, here I am in all of my sweaty loveliness.

Once the parade started, I really remembered we were in Utah! Here is the float for the Sunshine Generation, a music group both Mark and Kimberly were privileged enough to be members of as kids. So I couldn't help but snap a picture as they sang along with the kids on the float, Mark a little more vigorously than Kimberly.

Here is my Sunshine boy with Benjamin who was fascinated by the singing. Maybe our own little Benjamin will join them one day (we can only dream)!

I had to snap a picture of Carston as the missionaries in the Provo mission made their way past us. He will be our first missionary. Luckily, I have some time left before that happens. I can't get enough of this sweet little boy!

Carston loves Babar. He has always loved elephants, ever since he was very small. He loved any books I could find about elephants, so Babar made his appearance at our house fairly early on. Thus, Carston was excited to see him bouncing along in the parade. Besides, he was a gigantic balloon and who doesn't love balloons?

The problem with parades is that they are a moving target. So, when I accidentally focused the camera on the truck in the background rather on my cute Jackson, I didn't have time to refocus. Jackson was excited about the cars that were in the parade. He is a real fan of monster trucks, although he has only ever seen them in Herbie Goes Bananas.

Peyton with her beloved tiger!
I had her stand up by the pirate and his girlfriend. They were a spirited bunch.

This float was about books and dreams. I thought it was creative and well done, especially since it was made by one of the stakes in the area rather than by a professional group. Grant was running around looking at all of the floats and liked the tree on this one, but it was difficult to get him to slow down for the picture.

This is the only picture I took in which you can partially see Benjamin's face. He watched the parade intently until I would get in front of him to try to get his picture and then he would look the other way.

After the parade, we had our traditional barbecue (always delicious) and swam the afternoon away in the backyard (see my other post on swimming). Peyton couldn't get enough of the tree swing and spent all of her time outside of the pool swinging on it.

Rides on the lawn mower are a favorite around the Calder yard. The grandkids love it! Mark spent part of the evening showing off his skills on the lawn mower by backing around the yard. He spent many days of his teenage life on the riding lawn mower actually mowing the lawn. Benjamin was sincerely impressed by his dad's moves.

Yes, I think Mark really enjoys mowing the lawn and he is good at it. The bouncy house in the background was also a favorite of the day. Once everyone got out of the pool, we had the Calder Olympics (thank you, Kimberly). Our kids really showed their skills:-). It was a fun fourth of July. We love spending the week of the fourth in Provo with our family. Thanks for always being so much fun!

Happy Independence Day!

Lemonade, anyone?

Lemonade stands are a lot of work! You sit out in the heat waiting for passing cars filled with people who either look apologetic when they don't stop or those that pretend they don't see you at all. After our experience today, I've resolved that I will always stop for kids selling 25 cent cups of lemonade. This is a picture of our impressive lemonade stand staffed by Carston, Jackson and McKay with Calder holding up a handmade sign behind them. I think the kids drank more of the lemonade than they sold!

Carston, Calder, Topher and Anna all took turns advertising. Any time a car came into view, they jumped up and down shaking their signs and yelling: "Lemonade, twenty five cents!". As you can see from the picture, Calder got frustrated when several cars passed without stopping and Anna got tired of the heat.

Grandma, Catherine, Kimberly and I supervised. Peyton decided to help us with the supervising rather than taking an active role in the advertising.

Hooray, our first customer of the day! The kids all gathered in excitedly to hand out the lemonade and collect the money. The rest of us were just grateful that someone finally stopped!

I was so proud of my Carston! He persevered through the heat and frustration beautifully and never gave up. He jumped up yelling every time a car passed and he was the only to stay at the table the entire time. He used this lovely blue hard hat for some protection from the rays of the sun. I don't know that it helped, but he looks tough!

Love the smile!

Aunt Janet was our best customer! She paid for several cups of lemonade that she had no interest in receiving. I guess she ended up paying for all that the kids drank. Thank goodness she was on her lunch break while we were out there. We love Aunt Janet!
All in all, the Calder cousins earned seven dollars with which they plan on doing some serious damage at a dollar store.

Although I couldn't interest Peyton in participating with the lemonade stand, Grandma was wise enough to bring out a different option, a diversion from work: baseball! Some of the younger kids took turns hitting balls to Grandma in the shade on the front lawn.

Jackson is getting set up for a big hit with his usual pleasantness.

He soon got the hang of it!

This was a hit!

Peyton is an athlete. She surprises me with her quick ability to pick up on sports. She quickly figured out how to get this plastic bat to work for her.

Spending the day before the birth of our nation playing baseball and selling lemonade somehow seems very appropriate. We love summertime!

Gone Fishin'!

When we asked Carston what he would like to do while we were in Utah, he said that he wanted to go fishing. Since Mark and I are such expert fishermen, we thought it best to find a stocked lake, where both bait and equipment would be available and where all of the kids were sure to find success. So, we spent our first morning in Utah at a small stocked lake in Payson looking slightly inexperienced. Grandma Ann, Aunt Kimberly, Aunt Catherine and her three boys: Calder, McKay and Henry all agreed to come along for the adventure. Catherine proved the expert in casting and Mark and Ann caught the biggest fish. Kimberly and I didn't get any glory for our fishing skills since we were both taking pictures while trying to help all of the kids. I put many unhappy worms on hooks and cast them into the shallow water where they were quickly gulped up. Then I helped the kids reel the small fish in and had to explain why the fish was hurt and bleeding. That did not go over well. Since I took the pictures, we won't be enjoying me in all of my fishing glory!

My favorite part of this picture is that Grant is just enjoying stirring his fishing pole around in the water. He wasn't too concerned about catching fish yet. When he decided it was time to catch some fish, he grabbed a net he saw hanging on the side of a shed and he threw it out into the water. It was a great idea....with a few major flaws. Luckily, the net didn't make it too far into the water and I was able to pull it from the tangled weeds in the shallow of the little lake.

I tried to get a picture right after Mark caught this fish, but the fish wiggled free and hopped about in the grass trying to make it back to the pond. So, he picked it up and tried to hold on to it for a picture. You might notice that the fish found in this pond were HUGE!

The proud fisherman!

Jackson was happy to see the fish, but didn't want to get too close.

This fish just wouldn't hold still and made Peyton very nervous!

Grant was the confident fisherman with such a cute smile!

Benjamin cheered us on from the stroller.

Calder, Mckay, Jackson and Carston checking on the bucket of fish we caught. Carston wanted to set them free. My sunglasses somehow fell in this bucket and I refused to get them out. The guy who gutted the fish pulled them out for me, thankfully.

The boys were very interested in watching while the fish were gutted. I wasn't so much.

Mesa Verde National Park

When we found out that Mark would have one week off this summer, we decided to take a road trip to Utah and then back through Oklahoma to visit our families. For Mark, the month of July was filled with driving us across the United States, then flying back home for his ambulatory medicine rotation, only to fly back where he left us to drive us somewhere else. We split our time exactly in half, spending two weeks in Provo with Mark's family and two weeks in Oklahoma and Missouri with my family.

I have a lot of catching up to do, so here goes:
We packed up and left our house on Saturday, June 28th to drive to Utah. We arrived in Utah on Monday evening, June 30th. It was a LONG drive, but we enjoyed our uninterrupted time together. We stayed in Amarillo, Texas on our first night, then Cortez, Colorado on our second night so that we could spend Monday morning visiting Mesa Verde National Park. The kids were excited to see the houses the Native Americans built into the cliffs.

After driving into the park, we stopped at the visitor's center to get an idea of what we wanted to do. The park rangers were very helpful and suggested we take our kids to the Spruce Tree House cliff dwellings, since it is a very simple hike and didn't involve climbing ladders. The kids made their own rock art magnets there as well (that is what they are holding up in this picture). They drew pictographs on the rocks and were very proud of them.

This is the Spruce Tree House. The kids enjoyed the walk down to the cliff dwellings, but weren't thrilled about the incline on the way back out. They were also wary about the dust that settled all over their feet and legs while we explored there.

They were so cute for this picture! It was a perfect resting spot on our way down, although the hike wasn't long, short legs need a quick rest every now and again. Once they stood up, we realized they were absolutely covered in dirt from the rock. Oh, well.

We were being attacked by a swarm of mosquitoes at this point.

There was a ladder leading down into a kiva, or ceremonial chamber, that we all wanted to explore. The best part for the kids was climbing up and down the ladder. They all did great on the ladder, which made us think we could have handled the Cliff Palace after all.

There are 130 rooms and 8 kivas at Spruce Tree House. We explored as many as they would allow us to view. We loved climbing around trying to imagine living there.

Carston even went to work learning how they would grind corn for meals. The park ranger was kind enough to explain the entire process to him. Carston absent-mindedly stood up in the middle of the presentation and stepped on top of the grinding stone to wander off. Mark and I were a little embarrassed.

We tried to redeem ourselves by involving Grant and Jackson who gave it a try as well.

We found a short staircase leading up to a look-out point next to the dwellings, so we climbed up to take a final look before leaving the cliff dwellings to walk back up to the museum and our car.

Peyton has an adventurous spirit. She was the only one to brave these crooked and uneven steps down from the Spruce Tree House without any assistance at all. She refused our help while climbing or walking the trail as well. She made us nervous getting dangerously close to the edge to glance down off of the cliff as we made our way back up the trail.

We really had to urge some of the kids to keep moving as we walked back out of the canyon. You can see that Grant is fighting Mark every step of the way. The poor kid kept begging to be carried. It is sure hard to understand why your little brother, Benjamin, gets a ride and you don't. Carston was the funniest. As the trail climbed, he would huff and puff theatrically. If we were near anyone else coming down the trail, he would warn them of the impending doom awaiting them when they had to climb back up the trail they were so easily descending.
Before loading back into the car, we enjoyed going through their museum. I loved seeing all of the kids interested and asking questions about the museum artifacts and about the lifestyle of the people who once lived in the cliff dwellings at Mesa Verde.