The rest of June's Fun

We were in full-blown summer fun with Cherry Hill, Lazy summer nights, popsicles, backyard water fun, bike rides and swim lessons. We were here for it!

We started off June with a trip to Sand Hollow for cousin Ridge's birthday party. The Billings had moved back from Colorado and we were thrilled to be able to have them closer. The girls had the best time on the boat with cousins!

I took Sof and Ridge to the other garage to get a picture with Grandpa's Model T. Sof couldn't remember ever seeing it before. She has a lot to learn about Grandpa Todd and his many collections of things ....

Claire was the first one on the boat.

Someone found some red sand!

She claimed a chocolate donut and ate the entire thing.

We couldn't leave Cedar without going to see Grandma Jolley.

Claire woke up one morning and boldly declared she wanted to cut her hair. So like an idiot, I immediately called the local salon and got the girls an appointment. That was my first mistake. I am really good at jumping to conclusions without first thinking things through. Well, here is the before picture of the girls hair ...

And here is the after of Claire. I'm pretty sure the girl who cut the girls hair either 1). Had never been to hair school, 2). Was having a terrible day, or 3). Had a point to prove because by the time she was done with Claire, there was 1 inch of hair left on laying on Claire's neck, and that was after I had her put Claire back in the chair to even everything out. Poor Claire couldn't even have a proper ponytail. Needless to say, we are never going back to that salon and I'm a sucker for having paid for said Haircut.

But she did look really cute. Here is a selfie she sent Greg of her new do.

Our first day home from the San Diego trip and we were exhausted! It felt so good to be home.

Her outfits kill me.

Quincey walked down the street and back to the neighbors swing in these giant unicorn slippers. It was hilarious, but she made it down and back all on her own.

Twist cones for all!

This is the first year where I started to see a difference in the ages of my kids, and it made me sad. Quince was over have the time of her life at the Splash Pad while the older girls read. Life is changing, and I'm not sure how I feel about it.

Greg is a sight to behold as he cruises down the Hollow on his One Wheel. 

Swinging like a big kid.

Swimming like a fish in Swim Lessons.

Sof was cold one morning, and I was pretty impressed at the solution she came up with to hold her book open. It made me laugh.

We went to get Snow Cones one day and got there before it opened, so across the street to Maverick we went to get slushies instead.

Sof's cute haircut and a creamie stuck to her tongue.

Sof got really good at the one wheel in just a few tries. It was one of the moments as a parent where I realized my kid is officially more coordinated than me. It was a humbling moment.

No pants, no problem.

I let Sof stay up late one evening and took her with me to a Concert on the Hill at Cherry Hill. It was so much fun! We took the ebike in our pajamas and had the time of our life.

We have the girls do an hour of quiet time every Sunday afternoon, which of course allows Greg to crash for a nap. I'm so glad I caught this video of Claire sneaking out to put MY minky on him, while he is passed out with the foot massager on his feet. It was hilarious! Greg on Sunday afternoon is a sight to behold.

And with that, June 2024 comes to a close.

Getting Read Ended, Las Vegas, and Wet'n Wild!

Thursday we were up, fed, and packed in record time. The plan was to drive to Vegas. The trip was all well and good, until yours truly may have been going a bit too fast, and ended up in a fender bender. I stopped in time, but unfortunately the car behind us did not and hit us hard enough to push us into the car in front of us.

It was scary - the girls were crying - and I was very humbled.

Needless to say, Greg drove the rest of the way.

Poor Superstar! We were hit by a Jaguar and the lady had zero damage - lucky her.

Someone succumbed to a nap a whopping 20 minutes before getting to our hotel. Greg and the girls hopped out to check in while I stayed in the nice air conditioned car. Vegas was HOT compared to San Diego.

Quincey woke up in time for us to go have dinner at IHop. 

We were staying at a brand new hotel in Henderson - it was NICE! And, because it was so hot, Greg and the girls went swimming while I sat on the side to take pics and read. Vacationing is so hard.

We only swam in our hotel pool once in San Diego, so the girls had a lot of fun.

We got the girls showered and in their pajamas before deciding to take them out to the Strip via car. We showed them the iconic Welcome to Las Vegas sign and then went driving up and down the strip. They were very unimpressed with the people and the lights, which was hilarious, so we headed back to the hotel and went to bed.

Friday we woke up, packed, ate, and got ready for Wet'n Wild! By now, we had officially been on our trip for a whole week and were ready to come home. But, not ready enough to not have one fun last day at Wet'n Wild.

It was HOT! Luckily we had plenty of sunscreen and water fun - I truly do not know how people live there, and it was only early June.

The girls had so much fun going on the big rides. Greg and I would trade off following Quincey around the smaller kid area, which still had some pretty impressive slides. Vegas may not be our thing, but Wet'n Wild sure is!

Is it even a vacation if you don't get Dippin' Dots?

After we showered, we drove the 2.5 hours to Cedar City to crash at Grandma & Grandpa's house, then headed home Saturday. We were EXHAUSTED! And everyone but Claire was happy to be home - there's just something about sleeping in your own bed after being on a trip.

The Midway and a Beautiful Night

We spent the rest of the evening in downtown San Diego. Greg and I toured the Midway a few years ago and wanted to take the girls back to show them the ship, the statue and the harbor. It was our last night in San Diego, so we spent it in town.

I have learned to always travel with bubbles - bubbles make everything better - so we busted them out and had so much fun blowing bubbles and enjoying the beautiful evening.

We had the so much fun in San Diego! We ate the yummiest food, went to the Beach, SeaWorld, the Zoo, Old Town, The Midway and were exhausted but happy! Making memories together is one of our favorite things.

Claire is already asking when we can come back.

San Diego Zoo

The fun thing about where we were staying, was being able to hear the bugle's go off promptly every morning at 8:00 am. We must have been staying close enough to some military base to hear them. By day 3 the girls had learned to sleep through them. But, we were still up in plenty of time to get breakfast, pack, and head over to the San Diego Zoo!

We packed the cooler and wagon, so we planned to be there for the day. Definitely a good thing, because the zoo was absolutely ginormous!

We found a lion who sleeps just like Mr Mittens.

And we learned not to stand too close ...

This is the closest we will ever get to a Rattlesnake ... My mind was reeling.

The SD Zoo has this really cool section where it highlights fossils, tar pits, and dinosaurs who used to live in the area.

The girls were thrilled to hold a real Ivory tusk - it was heavy!

The Zoo had trails that went everywhere! We went down into a forested area and found the gorilla's, which was so cool! It's not until you are right up close to them when you realize how powerful they really are. We got to them around lunch time, and it was so cool to watch someone throw them a head of lettuce and how easily the gorilla would catch it. The girls loved sitting on the other side from this one - he was beautiful! He kept trying to hold his lettuce up to the glass, as if he were trying to share.

We walked so far, and the zoo was so big, that we had to take the Gondola to get us across the zoo. Quincey was having a moment, so Greg took one for the team and went with her in a gondola while I rode with Quincey and Claire. The ride was beautiful and a much-needed relief for all of our walking.

We heard good things about the playground at the SD Zoo and it did not disappoint! There was something for everyone and the girls had a blast!

The girls were starting to wilt. We had done A LOT of walking.

Greg was being artsy.

Turtles!

Even Greg got in on the action.

We ended the night at THE YUMMIEST Mexican food joint. Like for real, my mouth is still watering 1 year later just writing about it. As you can see by the food in Greg's mouth and on his face, he couldn't wait to eat it either. It was SO GOOD! And, they had fresh squeezed Mango Lemonade!!!

And there was a dedicated Luchador corner .... amazing!