Summer Plans

Here is our summer plan. Mondays will be the day I choose to stay home and catch up on laundry. The kids can play with friends. Tuesdays we’ll go to the park (if the weather is good enough) by the library, then go to chess club. Wednesdays we’ll go to the dollar movie. Thursdays we’ll go bowling, with our free bowling passes. Friday, we’ll take it easy or maybe find something fun to do.
We don’t have any big vacations scheduled, but hope to do some fun day trips.
I just scored some awesome tickets for the Heber Valley Railroad for a train ride. (Click on the link on the left for your tickets!) We haven’t done the train ride in a long time. The kids should enjoy it.
The kids do have to keep up with their piano practice, reading and math through the summer. They also have chores they are helping with. I’m mean like that.

Golden Spike

We went to the reenactment of the Driving of the Last Spike. Everyone in the family was able to come, except Jayson, who had his last end-of-the-year exam in Salt Lake City. It was a bit windy, but happily there was no rain or snow. We arrived in plenty of time to get close to the action. We set up our camp chairs right up to the rope. Some people were in period dress costumes, which was fun to see. John and Jo were able to talk with a ‘railroad representative’ and hold one of the spikes they later used.
They welcomed everyone and we said the Pledge of Allegiance and sang the National Anthem. I always love doing that. Kyle Wyatt, Historian, spoke about the “binding together of our nation with ribbons of steel.” They laid a memorial wreath and had a moment of silence. The taps were played. Then it was time for the reenactment.
The Locomotives Jupiter and #119 showed off their engines, speeches were given and spikes pounded into place.
The kids had fun. It was interesting to see the engines up close. When we got on #119, I took a picture of John with my cell phone. It took me a few seconds to get it to camera mode. The engineer onboard asked me if I was texting. I laughed and thought, yeah, I’m going to climb up an engine, following my kids, and be so disconnected as to be texting while I’m doing it!?
It was fun and something everyone should do—at least once.