Summer of fun part 3: Backyard pool/ Camp out

As part of our Summer of fun we have these Badges of Fun that we are doing along with the family reunions, swimming and other activities we already had planned for the summer. The First badge , the one with the tree (picture below) is "Have a backyard camp out." Which is exactly what we did and what this post is dedicated to. The second badge of fun, the one with the car is us "taking a road trip" which we'll report on at the beginning of October and the third badge, "Learn something new" we'll complete in September. The badges have been a lot of fun and we look forward each month to the new badge we get to earn as a family.

Alright, so, we're going to report on our Backyard Camp out. We picked July 22nd for our camp out and decided to make it a pool party too. We invited our good friends and neighbors to join us along with grandparents. We had such a wonderful time!

Awesome, Cal-man, and T-girl had a great time chasing each other, jumping into the pool and throwing water on everyone. Look at those muscles my 2 yr old is sportin.

Now the picture below we call the "Andrew stance". Andrew is Awesome's uncle. If you know Andrew, especially in our family you'd understand this picture. Luv ya Andrew!

Havin our weenie roast. Hot dogs, salads, corn on the cob. A perfect outdoor meal to go with the perfect backyard camp out.

Chat'n around the campfire!

Little H-bug

It was a hot evening. Why do you think we incorporated the water part? Scott was jealous and wanted in on the water action. With just a little help from Cam that desire became a reality....

... and now he's not hot anymore.

Chillin in the water with dad!

Later we said good bye to the grandparents. Broke out the marshmallows, graham crackers, and chocolate and watched Rango on the side of the house. And then we all said goodnight and listened to the neighbors dog bark into the wee hours of the morning. Did I mention it was the Adults that laid awake all night plotting ways to kill the dog? The children slept like babies.

It was a fun end though to a fun backyard pool/camp out party!

Herriman Lake/ Splash park - I wanted to quickly get this fun activity in on this post too. Each month my dear girl friends ( these girls I've literally have known all my life, love them) get together and do something with our kids. This particular afternoon we decided we wanted some beach time. Where do you go for some beach time that's not far at all. Herriman, UT. That's right. It's true. We had lunch, let the kids play while we caught up on the latest gossip. Awesome had a wonderful time. We've been back several times since.

Mindy, Me, Tyra and Emily

H-bug had fun too!

Stay tuned for Summer of fun part 4: The Harmon family reunion

Summer of fun part 2: July 4th

This year for the 4th of July we decided to go camping with "Bampa and Bampa". We thought it would be fun to go down to Fish lake just east of Richfield, UT. Scott and I had never been there and for my parents it had been about 30 years since they were there so, we decided to go. Plus, Scott and my dad wanted to get some fishing in.

We left the morning of July 1st around 6 am and headed down south. We arrived at Fish Lake around noon. We skipped over I-15 and decided to take the scenic route. My Dad has always loved taking the scenic route and by so doing we met a neat little friend along the way. As we were passing through Gunnison, Ut. we came across good ole Matter from the movie Cars! In meeting Matter Awesome was excited at first, scared, terrified and then he was just ok...

So, we arrived at Fish Lake around noon. We decided to camp about 20 min. past the lake and camp by the river. Since Scott and my dad were going to do some fly fishing we decided camping next to the river would be ideal. As we hunted out our spot we found a vacant place tucked up underneath some pine trees. It had a gorgeous view of the meandering stream and a lot of shade. As we pulled up my mom jumped out of the truck and ran over to guide us in. Scott rolled down the window to our van to talk with her when we were inundated with a swarm of mosquitoes. They were everywhere. Right as my mom was about to speak Scott rolled the window back up while yelling, "Nope, nope, not in my car!" As my mom chuckled at Scott's hilarious reaction she turned to walk away and as if watching a scene from a horror movie, there on my mom's back were about 20-30 mosquitoes in a row trying to suck through her shirt. Scott turned to me in horror and said, "There's no way in HELL we are staying here." I quickly agreed and with that said we looked in the rear view mirror and watched my mom as she swatted here, swatted there, and then in a fury did a dance, twirled around and dove into the truck. To make a long story short, within 45 min we were back at the lake in a camp ground with a great view of Fish lake and surprisingly, no neighbors. The rest of the camp trip was very pleasant, especially with the lack of mosquitoes. They were still there in the evening but not a distraction.

Later that evening after camp had been set up and dinner had been eaten, we decided to make a trip down to the lodge. We walked in to the lodge and immediately Awesome was drawn to the pop guns in the corner. He had to have one. He had too. So, we got it for him and he loved, now I say loved because I haven't seen hide nor hair of it since we've been home and that's been over a month. (wink) Anyway, he loved it and ran outside to shoot all the little pot guts (squirrel type animals) that were running around. While we were there we got some great pics of him, the gun, us and Bampa and Bampa.

In the picture below Awesome reminds me of the children you see in the old 1800's black and white pics. Cracks me up.

Awesome had had ENOUGH of all the picture taking.

Awesome loves his "Bampa Mike"

Awesome was always sneakin off with Bampa's soda. Found him here just takin it easy while suckin on a soft one..... that wasn't his.

Awesome would eat a million apples if I let him. It's his snack of choice.

Down playing at the lake.

H-Bug. Smilin for Grandpa.

Grandma with her "Julie Sticks" (only Kristy and Kelly will get that...ahh haha!) Mom and her Julie sticks!

On our evening walk Awesome picked some flowers and brought 'em back to put on our dinner table.

Love H-bug's mosquito net. It did the trick!

The night of July 3rd we headed home. Scott wanted to be home for the Holiday. Since it was his day off from work during the week he wanted to sleep in on his own bed. On the morning of the 4th around 9am we got up, went out to breakfast and headed down to the WJ parade. It was pretty crowded but we had a lot of fun and Awesome loved it. His favorite part, the fire trucks!

The boys taking an afternoon nap.

We had a great holiday weekend. It was so fun to be out in nature and to be home to see all the fireworks. It's the time you spend with family that means the most. Next post: Our summer of fun part 3: Backyard pool/camp out party.