I Don't Like the Heat

June was a happening month. All kinds of activities at the Wheeler household.  We started off with a whole lot of this.

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was starting to get very warm outside and we pretty much spent any time outside in the water. Including the dog.  At first Moose didn't know what to do with the sprinkler but after Elizabeth showed him it was just a little bit of water he was all over it, mostly getting a drink but also running through it.  We spent a lot of time at the local, free splash pad or water playground. Anything that is free is great but this place is even better because it's within my five-mile allowed traveling radius and it keeps the girls cool.  We usually stay for at least two hours when we go.

The girls and I were super busy making top secret crafts and gifts for that special holiday this month - Father's Day.  We made cute cards and homemade gifts that cost little or nothing (as a reminder for future reference we didn't purchase fancy and/or expensive gifts this year because it is a 'hunting year' and therefore all of our saved funds are going towards an excursion later in the year to hopefully yield high rewards...aka the elk hunt). Here are some of our creations:

Chalk art creation, made to look like the girls are holding the items in the picture

That is the girls holding two signs made of cardboard cut outs that say We Love Dad

 Front of a card that is meant to look like an Apple iPad or iPhone

And the back of the card including the iDad logo for the holiday to boot

The girls were very cooperative in helping participate to make all of the gifts.  They also traced their hands and made heart shaped cards and helped pick out new work out clothes for dad at the store.

Olivia had a milestone this month - she had her first hair cut. Yes you read that correctly - the poor child is over three years old and she hasn't had a hair cut.  While the photos might not look like much she did get a lot of hair cut off.  We are trying to keep some of her curl and help all her crazy layers grow out beautifully so we didn't do a big whack off like we did with Elizabeth.  But she was super excited and a big thanks to our neighbor who made it even possible.  As part of the routine she had to hold a comb under her chin to help keep things nice and even. We have before and after...and then during of course - she was super excited!

 

We made some fun crafts at home also, including a round bird feeder with gelatin and bird seed and some fire starters made out of a cardboard egg carton, dryer lint and melted wax.  We plan to take the the fire starters with us when we go camping and also keep some in our emergency supplies.  We are trying to do a lot of up-cycling at our house as part of recycling and doing good for the Earth.

 

The girls made some more crafts including hand painted bird feeders - and I even let them do most of the painting themselves.  The girls picked out the colors and I helped them get started but they did the rest for the most part.  Little did I realize that our outfits matched the bird houses - perfect photo opportunity.  We decided to put some leftover yarn in them and hang them in the tree in the front yard.  Slowly but surely the birds are pulling yarn out for their nests.  Hopefully they aren't too disappointed that there isn't any food in there. And I even planted some flowers in the front yard that were a gift for mother's day from my Grandma Marge and Chris' mom. And they are both still alive.

 

 

 

At the end of the month I was able to take a much needed trip with some friends to southern Utah where we explored the wonders of Zions National Park including lots of hiking and Snow Canyon State Park including some cave exploring (I did not go in the caves as I was too scared I'd get stuck). The heat was pretty unbearable but we powered through and survived, even though I didn't think I would. Here are some of the photos capturing the adventures of Marge, Melissa and Rachelle - aka the blue shoes group. Poor Melissa bought this fabulous new shoes on sale and decided to share her good fortune with the rest of us.  Well the rest of us thought it would be hilarious to get the same exact shoes - man was she confused at first.

 

  

 

 

 

   

 

I had a really great time even though we were out hiking in the middle of summer in southern Utah in the over 100 degree weather. The first day we hiked a few trails in Zions, including the narrows which is about a mile of paved trail and then the trail becomes the river bed. The water kept us cool and we had a great view at lunch.  The next day we hiked in Snow Canyon which was not quite as cool - there is lava rock their which makes the underground tunnels and caves. Melissa and Rachelle adventured down into the tunnels and deep into the caves themselves. Once you get inside the open up quite a bit but again I was too chicken to test them out. A big thank you to Chris for watching the girls and allowing me to go away for awhile.  We drove in the Prius and made it all the way there (over 300 miles) on one take of gas - that was pretty awesome!!