Wait a Second, School Started, and so Fourth

You don't even want to know how long it took me to come up with a somewhat comprehendible sentence that made a pun out of my kids' entrance into second and fourth grade. And I understand the weakness of my pun which is why I'm here pointing it out to you so you can appreciate the last hours' worth of my time stewing over it. 

Carson's our second grader! Woot, woot!

Let's spend this moment appreciating that I accidentally went with a full-blown mugshot vibe for our back to school pictures which really makes you feel like my kids are going places...like jail? 

Just kidding. The mug shotting was intentional. Not because I was prepping them for an orange jumpsuit but because I wanted to capture every angle of their first day of school cuteness!

Fourth grade ain't got nothin' on Eli!

And someone's schooling welcomed an excitable start. 

Lincoln is doing a joy school, a community preschool, and online preschool. I kept fearing none of these options would work out, so I kept making back-up plans, but everything worked out and Lincoln LOVES all of his schools, so we're making them all work right now. Turns out he's a lot less mischievous when his little brain is working on learning instead of on how to tear the house apart or pester his brothers. 

And Jonah is going to school. Just long enough to drop everybody off and then he's stuck home with me. But he still thinks he's one of the big boys!

School is off to a great start!

For the past few years I have wanted a first day of school dinner tradition. The only thing I could think of was this one time when I was growing up and my Grandma was watching me on the first day of school while my parents were gone on a trip. I came home from a long day to piles and piles of Pringles paired with a heaping pan of sloppy joes. My mom never bought Pringles and my Grandma had at least four different flavors lined up on the table for our enjoyment.

Much like my mother, I never buy Pringles, so I thought it would be a cute tradition to continue on with this fun memory of my Grandma and serve heaping piles of Pringles with a side of Sloppy Joes for our back to school dinner. The kids appproved!

With all the stress of back to school, the boys have gotten a little feisty. We stole an idea from the magazine, The Friend, where they shared a story of siblings who got to choose an activity out of a bucket to do together whenever they weren't getting along. We decided to give The Love Bucket a whirl. Nothing makes me happier than walking upstairs to screaming children, making no noise other than the subtle shaking of The Love Bucket to prepare the bickering boys for their mandatory love assignment. 

A Boy's Life

After our month-long hiatus from the heat, we made our way back to Vegas and were greeted by a few extra boys! Ben and Laura were going on a trip and I had volunteered to watch their boys as a fun finish to our summer. 

As I was planning how we would spend our week, I knew the secret to our success would be 1) keep them busy 2) keep them moving 3) keep them fed. And with that, Sarah Excell's Exclusive Summer Camp for Adventurous Boys was officially in session!

Day One involved showing our visitors our favorite Las Vegas hot spot...and it's our favorite spot because it's actually not hot. Up the mountain is 20 degrees cooler, so we hit up a hike!

They worked up an appetite. Time for make-it-yourself pizza night!

Day two was filled with a morning at the splash pad...

And an afternoon at the trampoline park. My daily goal was to get them more tired than me by 7:00 PM.

We even had a little extra time after dinner this day so we went rollerblading at a park.

Of course, if you give a boy some excercise, he's going to ask for a cup of milk. And chances are if he asks for a cup of milk, he's going to need a Rice Krispy Treat to go along with it.

You know that part of the movie A Bug's Life where the ants are all chanting to themselves, "They come, they eat, they leave, they come, they eat, they leave" as the grasshoppers begin to swarm them?

You could say that's my mothering mantra, "They come, they eat, they leave."

Day whatever-this-one-was started at a nature preserve center place where they have a whole bunch of rescued birds and a few other animals you can go keep company.

The llama was a favorite.

Oh, have I mentioned Jeff happened to go out of town this same week, so I had been running the show solo? We celebrated his return with a trip to the swimming pool!

We fit one last hike into the last morning before passing the torch off to David and Mary.  

I feel very privileged to be able to say that I have eaten lunch with The Blue Man Group. 

We all wore blue shirts accidentally and that happy coincidence was the best way to end a fun week of boy bonding!

Bearadise

"Howdy Ho!" Is how I overexcitedly began all of my emails to my family as we made plans for our reunion. The big day finally came, starting with a hike at Limber Pine Nature Trail while we waited for the green light on our Bear Lake Beachfront Playhouse. 

We made it in the fun house! Apparently I was having too much fun that first night to snap any pictures other than this one of my parents. The house we rented had slides connecting all three levels, an indoor basketball court, indoor trampoline, and indoor playground. It also had rooms to comfortably sleep each family and a kitchen with enough seats to feed a small army (and as it turns out...one mouse).

When we walked into the house, Eli said, "This is what I've been dreaming about!" And then on the first night before Jonah would let me put him to bed, he kept saying, "Need Grandpa." He refused to lay down and kept making his Grandpa insistence. We roamed through all three levels of the house before we finally found Grandpa. I thought Jonah just wanted to say goodnight to my parents, but instead, when he saw them he gave a timid "Thank you." It was so sweet.

The next day we hit the beach!

Jonah's sunglasses were finally living up to their full potential!

If you go to Bear Lake without getting shakes after, have you really gone to Bear Lake at all?

There's the basement play area that fulfilled every child's craziest hopes and dreams. Especially when Abe threw a pinata into the mix.

Jonah found a baseball bat which was all it took to keep him busy all week.

Eli found a pool table and played a few rounds with G&G before bed.

Carson and Newland's bond continued through the reunion. These two buddies were inseparable!

We woke up early for a morning cave hike. It was super interesting and super cold!

Back to the beach to warm up!

We had to utilize the movie theater one night before bed!

Mainly because the adults wanted some extra game time.

The next morning was our last at the house which meant soaking up all our last moments of trampoline shenanigans...

One last run for everybody through the triple-decker slide...

And one last stop for shakes. Bear Lake, we had so much fun we could Bearly stand it... (Be proud of me for only squeezing in one pun through all of that.)

We spent the afternoon on a journey to locate Peter Sinks. Not many of us had heard of Peter Sinks before the day Dallas encouraged us all to sightsee it with him. We were easily converted to the cause. Especially once we learned it would require us to four-wheel to get there. What an adventure! So we got to test different brands and models of four-wheeled...minivans...to see which one was the best off-road vehicle. Hint: When it comes to racing minivans on a rock road, everyone loses.

One did lose more than the others though. This loss was announced over the speakers to the whole skating rink at our evening outing. The employees politely informed the skaters that there was a minivan in the parking lot with a flat tire. We all looked around in a panic, breath held, and eyes bugged because we knew just the kind of afternoon adventure that could cause a popped tire. Sure enough, Jacob's van had bitten the dust of the Peter Sink's trail.

But what's funny is Jacob was the first one to turn around, saving himself from the 2 miles of jutted-rock road the rest of us traveled before finally giving up. And what's even funnier is the thing that popped Jacob's tire wasn't even a jutted rock, but a nail. So while we were all rightfully expecting flat tires through the rest of the day's travels, the least rightful person got one and not even from what we expected to cause it.

Moral of the story: If you're going to Peter Sinks, don't taunt the Peter Sinks gods by wimping out before completely exhausting all physical, emotional, and mechanical resources. They will seek their revenge.

Next up: Conquering Cannibal! (A less thrilling ride than the one to Peter Sinks.)

Lincoln demanded I take him on Terror Ride. His confidence and determination in regards to the ride led me to believe he had ridden it before. We waited in line, making scary faces. I pretended to be scared and Lincoln repeatedly talked me into staying in line and getting on the ride...and then halfway through the ride it all changed. Lincoln became very nervous. He shrieked in...well...terror. Ending with tears. So as we got off the ride, I got wide eyes from strangers who saw me carrying my emotionally tormented 4-year-old off the ride.

These two adventure seekers buddied up.

Before long Newland and Carson had braved up enough to join Logan and Eli. All four conquered "Cannon Ball."

And we'll end with Jonah in the whale.

Another successful reunion in the books!