Tech-Free Tuesday Update

 Here's a few pictures from the last couple of weeks.  Most of them are "Tech-Free Tuesday" pictures.

These pictures make me laugh!  This tech-free Tuesday happened to fall on the day after Lagoon.  We tried to go to a park and have fun, but we were all suffering from a post-Lagoon hang over.

I think we only stayed for about a half hour.

Josh actually made friends with a group of boys and perked up.  The rest of us were exhausted, though.

Alison found a shady place to dig a pit in the wood chips.  

Quinton and I supervised.  The rest of the day was pretty rough too:  I got all the way to my produce co-op group before I realized I'd forgotten my purse and had to drive all the way home.  Then, Bronson ran away from me at the pool, went in the big pool without his life jacket, and had to be fished out by a life guard.  Good times...good times...

This was a fun activity.  We finger painted on black paper with sunscreen.  Then, we left them out in the sun and watched what happened...COOL!

Another fun thing - using fly swatters as bubble wands.

They make a million tiny bubbles.

We've done this one three times in the past week!  Home made ice cream in a bag.  You put the ingredients in a quart sized Ziploc bag, then put it in a gallon sized one with ice and rock salt.

                           

Shake it up for about five to ten minutes (Josh hated this part.  He can't stand how cold it gets!)

And Viola!  Home made ice cream!

I let the kids experiment with food coloring and extract flavors.  

I've been cooking a lot more again.  For the last tech-free Tuesday, I made this BEAUTIFUL and DELICIOUS from scratch chicken pot pie.  YUM!!!

Watercolors!  We're going to devise a way to display one picture from every child and rotate them often.

Okay, this one was a HUGE hit with the older kids.  Cut the bottom off a water bottle.  Cover it with an old sock that you can't find the match to.  Duct tape it on, then dip it in dish washing liquid mixed with water and blow.

Bubble snakes!  So much fun, but the little kids inhaled the bubbles - they need help figuring out how to blow out through your mouth, but breathe in through your nose.  They were coughing a LOT.  Bronson even vomited.  Not the best activity for him.

Also, we tried adding food coloring to the socks.  They made colored bubbles for a little while, but the mess associated with food coloring on everything and everyone was NOT worth it.

So that's our latest batch of pictures.  More to come, I'm sure.  

Lagoon!

Our annual extended family trip to Lagoon was held on Monday, June 9th this year.  Unlike most years, David took half a day off and went with the kids this time.  I had to stay home with the baby.  Bummer.   I love Lagoon almost as much as the kids.  And Dave doesn't.

Alison in front in green and Nicole right behind her in pink. 

Nicki and Bronson

Well, off they went around 1:00 in the afternoon.  David called me a couple of times while he waited for the kids to go an rides.  He said he was having fun, but that he didn't want to stay the whole day.  He asked if I'd be interested in trading off for the evening.  I wasn't sure how to make it work with the baby, but he insisted that he'd rather wrestle with an angry baby and a bottle of formula than stay another 5 hours at Lagoon.   That's just plain crazy talk to me, but I was sure excited!

Josh in bright yellow behind David, McKenna, Bronson, Nicole, and Kristin about to get soaked

Oh!  That's a lot of water!

Alison, teeny bit of Ashley's face, Payton, Gpa Smith, and Megan getting drenched.

So, I agreed.  At dinner time, I met David in the parking lot.  He took Bronson and the baby home.  I brought hamburgers and french fries in to my oldest three kids.  After we ate, we met up with my parents and siblings at the performing stage.  My cousin, Jeffrey is in the show this year.  He's really good!  I loved watching him. We waited back stage after the show to say hello, then we took off for the big kid rides.

Jeffrey's show.

With so many kids of different ages and stages, it was pretty tricky to stick together as a group.  After a while, we didn't even try.  We split up into smaller groups and kept in touch through cell phones, etc.  I had the girls with me.  Josh went with Grandpa Smith.  We rode just about everything that we could (some rides were closed) clear up until the last minute they were open.  We got home after 11:00 pm.  It was a fun, but tiring day.

Meanwhile, Quinton absolutely refused to have anything to do with a bottle.  But, on the bright side, he fell asleep for the night at 7:30, so David and Bronson were able to hang out together for a while.

Tech-Free Tuesdays

I've been thinking a lot lately about our growing dependence on technology -- as a society, as a family, and even myself individually.  David and  I have discussed certain children in our family who are particularly prone to be "plugged in" all the time (although none of them are tech-free, some are more into it than others) and have tried to set some basic limits.  I've been pondering some of the counsel given in the last general conference and thinking about the good and bad sides of media for a while now.  When I saw the video circulating around the internet called "Look Up," something kind of clicked (or snapped) in me.  I realized that David and I didn't grow up in a world with the internet and cell phones, or even video games.  We played in our back yards and in our rooms.  When we spoke to our parents, they made eye contact with us - they didn't talk at us while looking at a screen.  We know the difference between the real world and the virtual world that has been created over the past decade or so.  Our kids have never known anything different and for some reason, that thought scares me.  I'm not anti-media by any stretch.  My kids are watching TV right now as I type this. But I also don't want them to spend their lives in front of a screen.  I just want them to know how to interact with people on a personal level. I want to find some way to strike a balance between smart devices and smart people.

Here is the link to "Look Up".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7dLU6fk9QY

So, in an effort to keep some balance in our lives, we're trying something new this summer.  I'm calling it "Tech-Free Tuesdays," and it's exactly what it sounds like.  On Tuesdays, we don't turn on the computer, the TV, the tablet, etc.  at all.  When the kids first heard about this idea,  they freaked out.  But as we talked more about it, and the fun things we would do, they became genuinely excited.  In fact, they were a little bit too excited.  I had to explain that in many ways it would just be a normal day with chores and meals, etc.  There weren't going to be any magic rainbows or unicorns or anything.

Anyway, I spent some time researching and brainstorming, and I've come up with a pretty good list of fun activities for us to do on Tuesdays (and other days - I can already feel myself wanting to save stuff for Tuesdays only, which kind of defeats the purpose).  On Monday, we went to the dollar store and picked up a lot of supplies.  Then all we had to do was wait for Tuesday to get here!

I don't know if I'll give a weekly report, or just fill you in on the highlights throughout the summer, but I definitely want to report about our very first "Tech-Free Tuesday."  Overall, it was a HUGE success!  I am certain that I was inspired to implement this into our family's summer plans.  It made a huge difference in the way we interacted with each other.  we had a great day!  I was amazed at how much I got done around the home and was still able to play with the kids a lot.

The morning started out more or less normal:  breakfast (minus the cartoons), scripture study, chores.  By about 9:30 am, we were ready to play.  We went to the kids' school and played on the play ground - Nicole wanted to show me how good she is on the monkey bars.  One of our goals this summer is to visit as many different parks as we can, so now we can check this one off our list.

Alison on the zip line.

This picture makes me laugh.  I called Bronson's name and when he turned around,  he instantly kicked up his leg in this pose. 

Nicole, the little monkey.

Josh and Bron playing hide and seek.

Quin and I supervised.

After the playground, we ran over to my produce co-op group to pick up a flat of strawberries.  I still have a lot of freezer jam from last year, so this flat was mostly for eating fresh (I froze a few for smoothies as well).  We came home and promptly ate a pound or two.   It was fun to just sit together at the counter and revel in the fresh, perfect, big berries.  Everyone was so pleasant and happy.

Next, I gave the kids some squirt guns that we picked up at the dollar store (as in all 4 for $1) and set up a tower of plastic cups for them to shoot down.  They played that for a while, but it quickly morphed into a squirt gun fight.  I went inside and cooked lunch while they squealed and laughed and got wet.

Ali and Bronson knocking over the cups.

Hold it right there!

After lunch, I took the kids to the pool for a couple of hours.  Quinton slept in his stroller the whole time.  In fact, we left because Bronson needed his nap - not because Quinton was fussy.  Amazing!  It was a perfect little outing.  We go to the pool two are three times per week all summer long, so I'm glad Quinton did so well.

Bronson

Love, love, love this picture of Josh.

Alison

Nicki helping Bronson be brave.

Nicki - she yells, "Cannonball!" even when she doesn't do a cannonball.  It's cute.

Josh jumping off the diving board backwards.

Quinton and I supervised (you'll notice this is a recurring sentence).  This is how Quinton spent the afternoon.

Ali drinking some ice water as she dries off.

Josh and his new beach towel.

While Bronson napped, the rest of us made cinnamon rolls.  My kids LOVE to cook with me.   In my Mothers' Day gifts, two children wrote about how much they love to cook with their mom.  That matters a lot to me.  It's what I loved to do with my mom when I was a kid too.  Cinnamon rolls are fun to roll out and sprinkle and roll up, etc.  We had a great time.  But I realized that my dinner plans were getting messed up because the rolls were baking when I should have been baking dinner.  So, what else COULD I do but opt for an impromptu pizza night?  Dave picked up a couple of pizzas in his way home and we had a pizza and cinnamon roll picnic in our back yard.

Umm, Nicki... You have some frosting on your lip...

Pretty fun day, huh?  Then, after the boys went to bed, Alison and Dave read books, Nicole painted, and I straightened up the house.  There was a quiet, peaceful feeling in the house due to the lack of noise from TV, computer, etc.  It was so wonderful - I'd almost say it was therapeutic!  I really think we're on to something here!  I think it's going to be a good thing for all of us, David and I included.  I am looking forward to our next "Tech-Free Tuesday."

Last Day Of School

School got out for summer break on Friday, May 30th this year.  Of course, the weeks leading up to it were filled with parties, field trips, presentations, assemblies, and other fun stuff (mingled with a test or two).  A few days before school got out, everyone who reached their reading goal got to go to a movie theater to see "The Lego Movie."  Our girls had been really wanting to see it, so they were thrilled to qualify.  The day before school got out was field day, complete with a fire truck squirting its hose on everyone.  Par-tay!!   On the very last day, the entire fifth grade had a water balloon civil war.  Ali and her friend, Aspen, spent Thursday afternoon filling two ice chests with ammo - one for each girl.  Since David had to work on Friday morning, I was the lucky duck who had to lug the heavy ice chest into the school.  I had to stop and rest.  Twice.  But it was worth it,  Alison had a blast!

My girls!

Nicole with two of her friends, Charlie and Jordyn.

Alison's beat after her water balloon war, but at least the cooler is empty now!

I wanted to make the last day of school special in some way, so I took the kids for an outing.

Our first stop was a nearby snow cone stand.   To me, snow cones = summer!

Next, we went to Station Park at Farmington Crossing to play at the park.  Its a huge, beautiful retail plaza with stores, restaurants, and a big movie theater, but we were only there for the park and the fountains.  To our surprise, there was a security guard standing at the bottom of the slide with a hose, making it a water slide.  Yippee!

Bron, Nicole on the slide, and the security guard with the hose.

Josh was pretty thrilled.  Alison is standing on the log in the background.

Ali-gator.

Quin and I supervised.

Bron in the background, Josh and Ali watching the fountain show.

Nicki and Bron.

After the park, we wanted to have a summery dinner.  So, I stopped at McDonald's and picked up a bunch of kid's hamburgers and a few nuggets.  Then we went home and had a picnic with them and lemonade, carrots, cantaloupe, and chips.  David was working late, so he didn't get to join us. (Don't feel bad for him, though.  He stopped at a Shawarma place in Salt Lake).

Megan's 13th birthday was on Saturday, but we had a family celebration the day before.  We went to Katie's house for her birthday party after our hamburger picnic.  Meg doesn't love cake, so we had an ice cream sundae bar instead.  It was fabulous!

The kids love Katie's house because of all the fun stuff to do there.  Bronson's jumping on Adam's tramp, McKenna and Nicole are playing Foosball.

And Payton, Josh and Alison are playing video games.

There's the birthday girl (and her dad).  We even had waffle bowls for our sundaes.  Yum.

Scot's legs, Megan, my mom holding Quin (I don't know how she does it, but he always sleeps in her arms) Katie W. Katie S, my dad, Kristin, and Scott.

It was a fun day and a great start to what I'm hoping will be a memorable summer.