For the Centerville fireworks, we went up on the side of the mountain up above the city and watched the fireworks.  We actually got a double header–West Bountiful did their fireworks a few minutes after Centerville finished. Of course, I took pictures.

Then we got up for breakfast at IHOP and then sat in the hot sun and watched the parade. What kid doesn’t love having permission to play in the road and take candy from strangers?

Not exactly sure what happened to here leg here…

Jayci was particularly proud of her glass slipper she had thrown to her.

I played around a bit with a new photography technique called HDR during the parade.

After the kids took a nap, Cami, Martha, and I took them down to the park for some lunch and the festivities. The kids got to play in the bounce houses and had a blast on one of the obstacle courses. I had to help Corbin through the first couple times, but then he really got the hang of it.  I nearly killed myself trying to roll down the last hill.

Jayci wouldn’t go home until we went and played on the playground. Instead of going to the crowded one at the park, we went across the street to the school and the kids were by themselves. I played around with some more HDR.

Saturday night, mom and dad bbq’d some teryaki chicken and we had some chips and watermelon in the backyard. Cami and I brought the fixins for some patriotic drinks.

Grandma had some bubbles for the kids, and Cami bought them some interesting bubble blowing PVC pipe things at the park. Of course, I had to be a good dad and test them out thoroughly to make sure they were safe for the kids.

Then we sat around the fire and roasted marshmallows and socialized for a bit.

And I did some more playing with photos and HDR.

Then Pete and I got up on top of his trailer to get some pictures of the sunset.

The weekend wouldn’t be complete without a few pictures of the kids together.

On Sunday night we made our way to Applebee’s for dinner and I played a bit more with my camera and Pete’s beer.

We stayed at Mom’s until Monday morning and then we headed home and got ourselves ready for more fireworks and dinner in Farr West with Pete and Wendy. The greek food there is awesome. And the kids talked mom into a snow cone.

We were up close and personal with the fireworks.

We got the kids faces painted. Corbin looked a bit scared or mad about the process, but he wasn’t. He loved his dragon. Just new for him, I guess. He was so upset when I had to wash it off before bed. And dang, look at those kids and their baby blues!  I did not add extra blue in those. Maybe the blue sky helped.

Quick note about the last one…  I have no idea what is going on. I had nothing to do with it. I was inside working.

The kids were fascinated with the bubbling garbage can… full of root beer.

The kids got to try making some slime out of glue, paint, and borax water.

Halle was just chillin’ with Grandpa.

Corbin gave horseshoes a try.

Then afterward, we decided that we weren’t ready to go home yet, so we took the kids out to North Ogden to a trout farm to go fishing. They have several ponds out there with thousands of fish. They have poles for the kids to use that have a little piece of leather on it resembling the food that they feed the fish. The fish aren’t stupid, though, but it didn’t take long before the kids had caught 5 or 6 fish. After Corbin caught his second fish, he got so excited that he backed into a shallow area of muddy water off of one of the ponds. Each time Jayci caught a fish, she performed a little dance. You have to keep whatever you catch, but they clean, and optionally fillet and skin the fish for you. They charge you based on the length of the fish. If you are looking to go get some good cheap trout for dinner, this isn’t the place. It cost us about 18 for about 5 or 6 fish. But I would definitely go back to take the kids. They had a great time. They also sell a BIG cup of fish food for 25 cents and the kids had a blast throwing food to the fish.

Here’s a bunch of pictures from today. I was going to caption some of the, but it’s been a long day. If I’ve done my job as a photographer, you shouldn’t need captions anyway.

[Show as slideshow]

Shooting Daddy’s Gun

Playing in the Dirt

Jayci found this dead tree and drug it around everywhere!

My 3 favorite people in the world!

Next we went to Plymouth. Not the same kind of camping. We were at a campground. I definitely prefer an atmosphere like Willow Creek. Just camping in the middle of nowhere. We still had lots of fun though. We usually do. There was some fun 4-wheeling trails. Rob bought the kids some goggles to wear with their helmets. They love them. Corbin is a totally different kid on that 4-wheeler now. It’s surprising the difference those goggles make. He screams and cheers and enjoys every second of the ride. And we thought he liked it before. Now there is no doubt. We played a little on a playground. The kids were frozen though and of course on the walk back to the trailer we got slammed by a rainstorm. It was cold!

Congratulations!!!

We went camping this year for Easter. I know. BIG SURPRISE! We go camping so rarely. Anyway, we went to Coalville with my family this year.  It didn’t exactly turn out to be the springtime festival you’d expect for Easter.  This is what things looked like the first morning.

While Cami was helping prepare for the easter egg hunt, the kids and I decided to build a snowman. The camp host saw what we were doing and brought me out a handful of carrots for accessories and offered up a hat and scarf when we were ready. He also told the kids that he was having a snowman building contest. The first kids to build a snowman got an ice cream. Not sure if he thought through the prize very well. Hot chocolate, maybe? But nice gesture, and the kids loved it. Grandpa Hales made the hat we stole Jayci’s gloves and the flower from her hat and made it a Mrs. Snowman.

I was a little nervous about coloring eggs in the trailer. Eeek!  I wasn’t crazy about the idea of a rainbow floor. But we spread out a table cloth on the floor and the kids were really good with it. Cami got an egg spinner, which was a lot safer than the dyes. Cami did most of the dying and we let the kids use the egg spinner to spin the colors on. They were so proud of their eggs.

They loved the egg hunt and got a TON of candy and toys. Thanks to my mom and all my aunts for putting it together for them. We had lots of kids come up to camp for the easter egg hunt. The snow was so deep that a lot of the treats were dropped in footprints in the snow.

Hmmmm…  Left over egg dye. What shall I do with it?

The easter bunny hid their baskets around the trailer and they had to go hunt for them. They loved their umbrellas. They still want to use them every day!