Bean's Dancing School: Summer Recital

It's hard to believe that Bean just wrapped up her third year of dance!  This was, by far, her best experience ever.  I'm not exaggerating when I say she is constantly dancing around our house.  I am so happy that it makes her so happy.

                                             

I was a little unsure of my decision to keep her in the preschool class--I believe I mentioned before that it just worked better with PM Kindergarten.  And while I could tell that, by the end of the year, she was a little more ready for a challenge, she really loves her teachers and it was nice for her to have the same teachers for a 3rd year.  In fact, she got really sad when I said this was the last time she would be dancing with them.  

Her recital was at Sandy Amphitheater again--I love this place!  Unfortunately it was the early performance so only Gma H could make it.  And as luck would have it, S got sick that afternoon and had to stay home in bed.  So it ended up just being Boy, Bean, Gma H and I.  Despite our small group, it ended up being my very favorite recital ever.  Bean did such a great job!  She has come quite a way from her first performance (where she just kind of stood there looking adorable.)  I am so proud of this girl!

Return to Summer

Our annual trek up to the cabin occurred a little later in May this year--with our vacation and work schedules, we didn't have a chance to get up until after Memorial Day.  

It was already so much nicer having Boy a little older this year.  He tagged along with Bean and I found myself stressing a little less.

When I was a kid, river access was so easy--it was literally out the back door of our cabin.  But recent floods changed everything when the government had to come up and build kind of a retaining wall to keep the river on it's course.  This completely changed our riverfront, which also made it nearly impossible to get two little kids down to the river to play.  Luckily, we were able to find a little secluded beach a short distance up the river.  This turned out to be a prime spot on this particular trip to throw rocks in the river and build sandcastles.  I'm positive that this will be the place Bean and Boy want to go to from now on!

My parents joined us up there for the weekend.  We celebrated my dad's 77th birthday while we were there!  This picture has been repeated for decades now (both of my parents have summer birthdays and, more often than not, we find ourselves celebrating at the cabin.)  It's fun to include my own kids in the tradition now!

A week later we went back up to East Canyon resort with S's family.  This is, I hope, a tradition that will continue for years to come.  We had such a good time!  Our cousins were only able to come up for one evening, so we made the most out of it: swimming, playing, and a barbecue.  Bean was in Heaven!

This year Boy really loved playing mini golf.  Ultimately he just ended up finding the hole and dropping his ball in, but, whatever!  He had fun!  There was one particular hole where, if you dropped your ball in the hole, it came out in a different spot.  He spent the majority of his time at that hole and we had a hard time convincing him it was time to go.

The next morning we headed up to the fishing pond again.  This time Boy was really into the fishing as well.

I think both kids caught their limit within an hour.  We brought the fish home and had a delicious dinner the next night.  Not many kids like fish--but mine do!

It was really hard to leave this time.  In fact, when we got home Boy just kind of laid on the floor--he was experiencing post-vacation blues big time.  I know exactly how he feels.  It's awful coming home from a fun vacation!