Anna the archer

Anna has turned into quite the advanced archer!  She started with her archery class last year, during 6th grade.  She then moved onto the club that meets after school twice a week.  Then she took the same archery class again this year (can you do that?), and again with the after school club.  They went to state finals in April and then to western nationals this month.  We are sooooo fortunate that it's held so close to home.  I almost felt bad for the other archers from Montana and Alaska.  That's quite the trip for only 90 minutes of shooting time.  That's all it lasts for!  You shoot 10 arrows at both the 10 meter and 15 meter lines, plus some practice arrows, and then you're done!  Everyone is scored and automatically ranked.  I bet they have an awards ceremony, but we didn't stick around for that.  I'm just so proud that Anna found something she enjoys so much.  When she was at state last month, she was actually interviewed by KSL and was quoted in their feature article.  They called archery the great equalizer.  You compete with yourself.  It's accessible to everyone, regardless of athletic predisposition.  It does take concentration and focus, something that Anna has struggled with.  Archery has definitely helped!

Spring Break part II

We won the lottery and got a campsite in Snow Canyon for 3 nights!  Beautiful scenery and so close to St. George. We had to make the most of our "long weekend" spring break.  It ended up being a lot of fun AND the weather was great  (Does anyone remember the blizzard in Zion last spring break?!)

The only thing the kids begged to do was the Children's Museum in downtown St. George.  Easy enough!  We got there around 10am and let them play the entire morning.  We went outside for a picnic lunch and splashpad for a couple hours.  I thought the kids were beat.  Nope!  They went BACK into the museum until they kicked us out at closing time.  I estimate they spent about 5 hours in that place.  We definitely got our money's worth.  Bevan and I even snuck out for walks around the grounds and downtown.  Everybody was happy.  We went back to camp, ate dinner, and hiked to the lava tubes.  That place is such an oasis of beauty!

On Saturday, we wanted to check out the Scottish Highland Festival at the local park.  We bought bouncy house wrist bands for the boys, while Anna, Bevan, and I walked around to the booths and watched the bagpipe parade.  I had no idea that Scottish clans were still a thing!  They have their own tents and coat-of-arms, it was really quite fascinating.  They had "games" going on in the middle of the square which mostly just involve throwing heavy things.  They threw large bricks, heavy sticks, cannonballs, sticks attached to cannonballs, and insanely large timber called cabers.  Everybody wore kilts.  We were done in about 90 minutes.  After lunch, we headed over to Thunder Junction.  It's been a few years and it's not quite as spectacular as I remember.  The little train and splash pad were fun, but the kids asked if we could go back to yesterday's splash pad next to the Children's museum.  Why not!  We spent the rest of the afternoon there.  

They were all super sad to leave the next morning, but it was starting to get hot, so I was glad to leave.  I feel it was the perfect length of a trip and left the kids wanting more, which gives us reason to come back soon!

Spring Break part I

I don't think the kids' spring break will EVER line up with Bevan's spring break.  In all the history of spring breaks, we will be the last family to ever leave town for a whole week.  So until then, we will just make the most of "long weekends".  

We went to the cabin for a couple days to get some projects done.  Mom was so good at keeping up with the maintenance, it really doesn't take much now.  We caught some dead mice, made cinnamon rolls, watched a lot of movies (like old-school Godzilla... twice), and went sledding on what was left of the sledding hill.  It melts away so fast.  Drew was my best helper, so he naturally ended up in most of the pictures, but there were other kids out there somewhere!