More Fun At Home/ Aunt D's Home

Thursday we packed up the troops and headed to sunny, and hot, St. George. I haven't seen my sister nor my brother-in-law in a long time. I also haven't seen my little friend Pauline, (above). So we all decided to meet at the Cracker Barrel for lunch. It was so much fun to catch up with my friend and my sister. Thanks Pauline for coming to lunch and for the kiddo's gifts. You are a doll.
Danielle has been telling me about these splash parks that are all over the St. George area. So we got online and found one that was closest to us and headed to go and check it out. It was amazing. I want to build one of these in my back yard someday. What a treat! This particular one was out in Washington. It was this huge slab of concrete with all these different things sticking up out of it. This one had palm trees, and snakes, frogs that were water guns and then rings of water. To turn the park on, there was this black cylinder of metal sticking up on the far side and all you had to do was to put your hand on top of it and the park turned on for about 10 minutes and then it shut off again.
There were also random fountains that spit water from the concrete. Here is Tyson getting ready to run through one of them. I loved this park, not only because it was so cool, but the water turned off after a bit and that gave you a chance to rest and warm up and then you could turn it on again when you wanted to.
The bikini baby. Taryn really didn't like going through all the water, but she did enjoy sitting on the concrete and watching Tyson run around. Tyson would stop periodically to lay down and play with his little sister. We went to this park early enough in the morning that is wasn't so dreadfully hot. It felt great to get in the water and then lay on the warm concrete and dry off.Such a cute little button.Two happy sisters. We look and act a lot a like. I only wish we lived closer together. This day was a blast to be with my sister.Tyson didn't want to leave this park. He would have stayed the rest of the day, if I would have let him.Taryn and mom before we got soaked.

Aunt D and Tyson under one of the spouting palm trees.Here is Aunt D trying to coax Tyson into running underneath of the Palm Tree while the water is going. Tyson eventually ran underneath. He and Aunt D played with the frog water guns until they were both soaking wet!

That evening we went to Aunt D and Uncle Jesse's pool. Now Taryn actually liked the pool and even let me put her into the water. I guess because the water was warm was the reason for her liking to swim. Uncle Jesse played with Tyson in the water and the two of them were fast buddies. Tyson loved to play with Uncle Jesse. (I unfortunately forgot the camera at this point in time. What else is new)

The next day we spent shopping and then saw Aunt D's school classroom. My sister just completed her Bachelors degree at DSC, where she graduated with an Elementary teaching certificate. She procured a job at Bloomington Elementary where she is now one of 4 forth grade teachers. She is so excited to get started that she has been working on her room for most of the summer. This is her reading corner. She decided to theme her room to look like the tropics.

Her desk is a big hula skirt. She has bamboo hanging from the lights with grasses all over the place. It is really cool looking. I never spent that much time on my room, when I was teaching, of course, I was in high school not elementary.

Such sweet sisters. She is going to make such a good teacher. Her room was so colorful and exciting and new, that kids are going to love coming to class to see what new things she has in store for them. I would send my kids to her. Here is her white board complete with all manner of sea creatures.
Aunt D and her niece and nephew. She loves them so much and they love her.Aunt D couldn't believe that Taryn had grown so much. She last saw Taryn in April and she was still a little baby. Now she is a big little girl that is almost to crawl and one that babbles all of the time. This is Tyson's masterful picture taking. He kind of cropped off our heads, but he did a pretty good job. My mom, sister and I don't get to all be together that often, so when we do we have a great time and make the most of the time we get to hang out with each other.

Danielle is my only sibling, and I guess that is what makes us so close. Even though we are far apart, we call each other several times a week and keep up on what each other is doing. I love you sis.

The last day at Aunt D's house was spent shopping, and celebrating Tyson's birthday, a little early. We took him to the Texas Roadhouse Steakhouse for a birthday lunch. They brought out this saddle for him to sit on while they hollered and sang "Happy Birthday" to him. He was pretty proud of himself. Thanks Aunt D and Uncle Jesse for having us over to stay and play. We loved every minute of it and cannot wait until we can all come back to visit you.