Honestly we have been playing too much this week. Hiking with friends for Savannah's birthday day, double playdates, swimming. We've been go, go, go. Then Saturday we out did ourselves.

I got up first thing and went for a bike ride. I've been working on hills and so I rode 3/4th the way up the canyon right by our house. I kicked butt. (Okay, I was probably the slowest rider going up the canyon, but I did it.) I am not athletic or competitive but I was really, really, proud of myself.

Russ met me at the top so I didn't put my life in my hands for a ride down the canyon, and then we decided to take our family kayaking. Since we bought a kayak last year we have loved taking the kids but we haven't had a great location.

Thankfully, that changed Saturday.

We had a blast rowing, and playing in the alpine lake. It was exactly what kayaking should be. We will definitely be coming here again.



 




That is after I have about three days to recover. I was asleep by 10:00 awake at 7:30 and I am still exhausted.

For Savannah's sixth birthday, I'm going to share six things I love about her.


1. I love that Savannah knows how to work hard. Already at this age she wants to do the difficult things first to get them done so she can truly enjoy the fun things.   She works hard at reading, piano, and her jobs and she accomplishes so much when she does. She even gets frustrated with me if I ask her to put off getting something accomplished because she just wants to get it done. Especially with piano and reading she has also had the opportunity to experience the joy of accomplishment that comes after hard work. When she masters a piano piece or reads especially well, she is so happy at what she has been able to achieve. I feel like this is such an important life skill that Savannah just seems to understand innately.

2. I love how friendly Savannah is. Savannah has so many friends in the neighborhood. She loves playing anything with any of them. She looks out for people to make sure that they are included and helps her friends solve problems as they arise.

3. I love that Savannah loves animals and nature. Every time I turn around she has a new favorite animal or new fun fact about different animals. (Some of this is thanks to PBS Kids.) She is regularly looking at different kinds of bugs and catching those she can. She has a great appreciation for the world around her and its magnificence.

4. I love Savannah's desire to do the right thing. She always wants to be on task at school or in whatever class she takes. She sincerely wants to make good choices and always seeks to do so. She just has a desire for goodness in her.

5. I love Savannah's imagination. This year Savannah decided to make a paper house. She got a thick stack of paper and drew on some to make floor and walls. Each room was designed to match a room in our house. She had the most amazing details on each paper to designate it as the proper wall. The walls and floors were connected with tape. Tape also joined the rooms together. The creation was large and time consuming to build. This is just one of the many things that have come out of her head that were amazing and very impressive. She really knows how to think outside the box in so many ways.

6. I love Savannah's joy. Savannah is just a happy girl. She is content most of the time and is always seeking out a way to have fun or play. In fact her daily prayer is to have a fun time. She just brings joy wherever she goes.

This year Russ's sister thought it would be a great idea to give his mom a family picture for her birthday. So while (almost) everyone was in town for Abbie's baptism we set it up. The photographer was wonderful and for just a little bit extra, allowed us to get pictures of our individual families as well.  This week we got the pictures back.

I am thrilled!

This week we have done two big things. The first is that we have celebrated Savannah's 6th birthday. The lucky girl is getting almost a full week of birthday fun. The celebrations began last Sunday when her cousins were still in town and we got to do presents and birthday cake with them.

The party began again on Friday when she got to have her friend birthday party. Savannah really wanted to go glow-in-the-dark miniature golfing. I figured this would be a fantastic activity that had the potential to take hours for five young girls. From start to finish the girls finished nine holes in 20 minutes.

The rules were all a bit fuzzy, you could slide the ball into the hole with your club, you could start it pretty much wherever you saw fit. In fact, if you didn't like where the ball ended up, you could move it to wherever you felt was a good location.

 The objective seemed a little unclear as well. Sometimes, some girls hit the ball into the hole. Sometimes they hit the ball and picked it up and moved on. The whims were constantly changing. As far as I could tell the main focus of the activity was seeing which things glowed in the black lights overhead. Teeth, no. Shirts, yes. Paper, yes.

So we headed over to the arcade for some valuable economics lessons in cost, budgeting, and value.

Lesson One: When you spend money, it is gone. This is true even if your friend just found the game you didn't know you always wanted to play.

Lesson Two: Just because something costs more, doesn't mean you will get more from it. Meaning just because you spent four tokens, doesn't mean you will get tickets from the game.

Lesson Three: Cheap is cheap. Meaning things that cost 20 tickets are going to break in less than 20 minutes.

After the arcade pizza, ice cream and movies filled in any emotional gaps left by the harsh financial realities that rule arcade purchases.

Savannah had such a wonderful time playing with her friends. She has such great friends that really get her and that she really loves. She is one lucky girl.



The second activity of our week was playing in the mountains. It has been hot around here so in order to escape the heat we have spent several days (or evenings)  increasing our altitude.

Thursday night after dinner we ran up the canyon to a lake just to walk around. At our house the temperature was near 100 degrees, but at the lake it was closer to 70 thanks to an incoming storm. Thankful we made it around the lake without incident. But whether due to the change in temperature, or the beautiful surroundings or just the time as a family, we all ended the evening in better moods than we began it.

Saturday we decided to try the same trick. Only this time we went hiking in a different canyon. The results were the same. Even when some members of the family start with bad attitudes they never seem to stick in the mountains.  The fresh air helps, the exercise, the view. We had a great time playing together.
 

This week my nieces flew down from Oregon for a visit. When that happens, even though we don't go anywhere, we are on vacation. My youngest niece Ellie is Abbie's age and her two older sisters are 11 and 13. So my girls pretty much idolize everything the three of them do. After all, they are older, and when they come it is pretty much a non-stop party.

The vacation started with pranks on and from Grandma and Grandpa. This has been going on for years. Every time the girls came down pranking ensued. Abbie has joined a little bit, but this year they both really went to town. It all started with my dad (because of course it did.) and toothpaste filled Oreo cookies. Later the girls sprayed him with the hose.

Savannah is just getting the hang of pranking and so the following conversation took place.

Savannah: "Grandpa, eat this apple. It is poisoned."
Grandpa: (playing along) "Okay"
Grandpa takes a bite of the apple.
Savannah: "Ha! I got you. It really isn't poisoned!"

After a day of pulling pranks on one another we headed up the canyon where it wasn't 100 degrees. The kids all had a blast climbing on the rocks, having grandpa find a fake snake,  reading in the tent during a cloudburst, playing in the dirt and, as is tradition in my family, going on a hike to the lollipop tree.

That evening we roasted marshmallows and hot dogs and sang songs around the campfire. This was my favorite part. The girls sang for hours learning new songs and being as silly as only a group of girls knows how to be before we all crashed in our tents for the night.

The next day was the fourth and the canyon was crowded. This nixed the original hike we had planned and instead we made an impromptu trip around the ski resort and called it good.

That evening we got to have a special good-bye dinner for the kids and their Grandpa Gray and Grandma Petra. Grandma and Grandpa are headed off on a mission to the Czech Republic for two years and we really wanted to give them some more individual time with them before they did.


Fireworks....does anything more need to be said. Yes, it does because Nathan was so amazed and impressed with every. single. firework. He LOVED it. I'm afraid he'll turn into quite the pyromaniac when he gets older.

Saturday the fun just kept on coming. We went out to breakfast with my parents and then off to a local theater to watch the Broadway show Mary Poppins. My favorite part was watching the girls' reactions throughout the show. It was magic.

The fun didn't stop there! (I know it just keeps on coming doesn't it?) After the show my parents took all the grandkids and Russ and I got to go out on a real actual date. We spent a few hours shopping and then we met up with his siblings and dad and step-mom for an adults only good bye dinner. We had a wonderful time but will miss Lee and Petra while they are gone.

The fun continues to role on! I'll post more when I get the chance!