Pirates and Fairies Theater Camp

July 7-11, 2014

Our friend Will invited Trace and Jack to join him at theater camp. We were very surprised that Trace was picked to be the Cabin Boy, the littlest of the pirates who later becomes Peter Pan. I guess we didn't recognize his precociousness. Here Trace is nose to nose with Will, his swarthy pirate friend.

In this scene he is crying because he got left behind by the pirates. Maybe because the pirate roll call procedure was less than effective--"All present, raise your hand! Yep! Everyone's here!" This scene had my favorite moment of the play. The narrator said, "The cabin boy was afraid." On that cue Trace looked directly at the audience and his eyes got really big. Everyone laughed.

The invisible fairies found him and gave him some special glasses so that he could see them.

The cabin boy broke the glasses so the pirates couldn't use them to capture the fairies and sell them for their magic. As a reward, the fairies made it so he could see them, even without the magic glasses, and thus he became Peter Pan.

In Jack's play he chose to be Metal Beard after a character from the Lego Movie.

He was very proud of his tinfoil beard. He was in character every minute.

Here he got to make an mutinous pirate walk the plank.

Who says boys don't like to play dress up?

A pistol in one hand, a sword in the other. Jack begged and begged for another week at the theater, but the following week was Clint's Change of Command and we were slightly booked.

4th of Huntsville 2014

We spent the night at Grandma and Grandpa's house. No pictures, but our day started with the 2nd Annual Kinderfarm to Monestary Run/Ride. Thank you Mike M for a great tradition! Clint, Cole and I ran it.

Then we headed to Huntsville Town to catch the tail end of the parade. We got there just in time to cheer on Hannah. Can you see her?

I was walking behind this group and I had to take a picture because I can't believe how big they are! Littleboys no more! :( Talmage's shoe size went from size 4 to size 8 over the summer and he grew 5 inches this year! 

 The best part of the day is alway hanging at the McKays with all the family and swimming in the pool. It's nice to get away from the crowd and they have the best seats in town for the fireworks. We always avoid the traffic and drive off in the middle of the finale. But it didn't help us avoid traffic in Salt Lake!

Summer Swim Meet

June 28, 2014

 Jack won his heat, but there was only one other guy to swim against. Still, it feels good to win! He's next to the #2 stand. 

 Jack loves the backstroke.

 Talmage (also at the #2 stand) made a great showing he was focused the whole time and he swam as fast as he could. He came in last out of three and was really discouraged. But I thought he did an outstanding job.

 Tal is at the far left turning around.

I didn't get pictures of Cole this time. He came in 2nd to last in a challenging field. Great effort. With swimming whether you win or lose is often a matter of who shows up.

Fruit Stand

 There are some upside to living in the city with some busy streets. Enterprising kids are always setting Lemonade Stands, or a variation on that theme. Jack and his buddy Kolby decided to sell the cherries from our tree. There are always kind adults who patronize these stands. Aunt Jenny Pulsipher happened by and was one of their best customers. I love being in a old neighborhood with lots of kids. It's the best of two worlds.

Hale Reunion June 9-15, 2014

 The chatting -- with special guests-- the Kate and Caleb Wilson family!! Yay!! It'd been two years! Love them and their sweet girls.

Wendy worked 12 hours a day on her T shirt press putting letters on a dozen peices of clothing for ALL the cheerleaders on Snowcrest's squad. Yiy!

 We had a great outing to the Red Rock Disc Golf Course. We did a scramble of 14 holes and found some treasures along the way.

 Such a pretty picture of Hannah, even with her tongue out.

 Such a pretty picture of Emma.

 Cute Janie.

 Having lost the use of the Capitol Reef Waterfall we played at the Brian's waterhole for a bit.

 Ooh! I don't think fishing hooks and intertubes mix well...

The cousins played many rounds of Mafia. The older cousins are so good at including and entertaining the younger cousins.

I made a scavenger hunt for the kids to get them outside and hid the TV cord until after dark each day. Scavenger items included things like bones, fossils, marmits, sedimentary rocks, hike to Deer Cave and collect wildflowers. The kids took a lot of initiative and earned hundreds of pieces of candy from me.

We even got to have a Skype with Grandma and Grandpa Hale in which we showed them Emma's lamb who was stationed on the front porch. We have a great family.

Trace's Swim Test

While the older three boys are in swim practice three nights a week, we've had Trace in swim lessons so that he can soon join them on the team. Here he is passing his drown-proof test. He says, "You know I don't even hate swimming. It's kind of fun." Our boys never oversell. So that's pretty much Cresap boy for 'I love it!' Right now his lesson doesn't start for 50 minutes after we arrive. That entire time he makes a constant loop of waterslide, lazy river and back again. He's come a long way, baby.

Spring Piano Recital

May 21, 2014

 We love our piano teacher, Becky Owen. She's so positive and encouraging that the boys really want to please her!

 I'm so impressed with the progress they have made in one year. I didn't progress that much in the first 4 years I took piano!

Grandma and Grandpa Hale came and in wonderful Grandma Hale style she pronounced that they were the best of all! She can really make you feel great.

One Steamy Sauna

May 5, 2014

When it comes to school, Jack is all about the extra stuff. Not the boring math and spelling homework--those he feels no urgency about whatsoever. But when it comes to big projects he starts begging and pleading for help well ahead of time. It's got to be BIG!! 

I remember the first day of the European Green Initiative Fair. Jake came home from school sobbing, "They gave Finland to Finn just because of his name and I had a friend from Finland living in my home!" Remember this guy? Samuel Nutinen? Yes, he left a big impression on the boys.

 I managed to console Jack, telling him that Sweden was the pinnacle of cool at the moment because that's where Ylvis and "What Does the Fox Say?" come from. But the next day Jack came home with the news that his kind teacher said that he could do Finland too. 

So then began the nightly begging/avoiding of his other homework. "Mom we HAVE to research Finland now!" In our research we learned so much about the luxurious Finnish sauna that that ended up being the bulk of his report. So we decided to make a walk-in sauna experience for the kids using a donated couch box from RC Willey and brown butcher paper from the school. It was free, but it wasn't easy!

The front of Jack's sauna has his report, a map and an explanation of the Finnish flag.

Inside the sauna there is some seating :), a "heating unit" with heated rocks (which Dad Hale brought up from the Kinderfarm. He joked that it was a sacrifice as they have a shortage of rocks there--not! The entire 30 acres is an old riverbed. By contrast most of the rocks in the city are purchased), a bucket of imaginary water to throw on the rocks to make lots of steam. And finally, some birch branches (also from the Kinderfarm, Dad called me a "City Slicker") or vihta, with which the Finns beat themselves to open their pores for better cleansing in the sauna.

 It was a huge hit. Jack even had a rotation of friends standing guard at his exhibit during the fair, to keep it from being vandalized.

 A map Jack drew of Scandinavia

 These are illuminated glass and steel igloos which are actually individual hotel rooms, just big enough for a bed, at the Katlauttanen Arctic Resort in Lapland, Finland.