Sum-Sum-Summertime! Part 2

 Summer is just rolling right along!  We all had our dental cleanings and a few of us had fillings and extractions but we're trying not to remember too much about those parts of our summer, so no pictures.  We did recently have a wedding weekend.  The first one was for Aaron's cousin, Stephen.  He married a lovely girl named Andrea who we look forward to seeing more of.  They are on the swim team at BYU so off they scurried back to the bubble.  But we enjoyed being there to see them on their special day.

 Their reception was full of nice music and delicious food, but the biggest hit for the little ones was the "candy bar".  It was at a community reception center so they had a standard drink bar set up also.  We felt kind of funny going to the 'bar' to pick out our sodas and carrying around our wine glasses, but that's what you get at an LDS wedding.  Very fun and tiring but the kids did surprisingly well.

 The next day we left the kids at home to attend the wedding of Jennifer Garcia, one of my young women from long ago, and their parents, dear friends of ours.  I got to help serve the food at this reception and Aaron stayed home with the kids.  It was outdoors so, pretty warm but so beautiful!

After that whirlwind we stayed home for a couple days and played in the mulch...

 ...and rode big boy bikes.

 We've also been playing with more friends...

 ...and making brookies.

 When we felt like going out again we visited one of our favorite parks--Alum Springs which has a coveted tire swing...

 ...giant rocks to climb and pose on...

 ...neat-o hiking spots...

 ...and shallow, refreshing water rapids to play in.

 And who can resist throwing rocks-not this guy!!  That's practically all he did.

 Then Leo got fussy and we reluctantly ventured home.

 Another adventure was to the new Stafford Civil War Park.  This ended up being way more interesting than I thought it would be for the kids.  We spent an hour and a half at 2 out of the 5 stops on the self guided tour.  We saw the remains of union soldiers' winter camp.  Sadly, 2/3 of them died of exposure and disease instead of in battle.  There were depressions in the ground where they slept as well as chimney and barracade remains.  The battery walls they built to protect themselves were interesting and these cannons have been placed to show how they may have situated things.

 We walked down an old road to a creek where 3 piles of quarried rocks were left from the foundation of an old bridge.  It was fun to talk with the kids about how they imagined the soldiers did things.  We can't wait to go back and explore some more.

 We were also introduced to this adorable race-track park  where you can bring your bikes and scooters.  They have a little water pump that Adam could not tear himself away from.  It was funny because it literally took his entire weight to turn it on, but he's a determined kid.

 Complete with stoplights.

 Leo even got in on the action, directing traffic.

We'll be back here for sure!