Cache Valley Pumpkin Walk

Peanuts

Click Clack Moo

5 Little Monkeys Jumpin' on the Bed

When I lived in Cache Valley, one of my favorite things to do was attend the Pumpkin Walk in North Logan. I'm afraid I might miss it this year, but if you can make it, I highly recommend it. Each year they have a theme. This year's theme is "Calling All Heroes." Groups of people carve and decorate pumpkins and stage them in booths according to the theme. Every year, people become more creative. They add animation, costumes and music. You can go any time of day from 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. If you go in the daytime, you can see lots of details and cool things, but if you go at night, it is all lit up. Expect to be patient in the evening as the lines can get very long. This is an incredible tradition that is worth the trip!!!

Admission is FREE!!! Click here for more information and directions.

Utah Illistrators at Springville Art Museum

13 September - 28 December 2008

A collection of children’s books illustrations, this exhibition showcases the work of 27 illustrators that have their roots in Utah. Appealing to both adults and children alike, the show will also display works that explore the process of creating illustrations for books. Each artist has their own unique style, but all add tremendously to the joy of reading! In fact, some illustrators will be at the museum during the opening and throughout the duration of the exhibition to do live readings of their books. Every Saturday at 11:00 the Museum will host Storytimes with the illustrators represented in the exhibit!

There are some amazing artists represented in this exhibit including James Christensen, Guy Francis (Mrs. McBloom Clean Up Your Classroom) and Mark Buehner (Snowmen at Night, Fanny's Dream).

Fumi Kosaka will be reading at 11:00 on Oct. 11.
Guy Francis will be reading his books at 11:00 on Oct. 18. Both will be signing books afterward.
Check out their blog: http://unboundsma.blogspot.com/

Pumpkin Patch

We took our kids to the Pumpkin Patch in Springville to pick out their Halloween pumpkins. It was really fun to wander the patch and find just the right pumpkin. My 11 year old son wanted a huge one. They were $10 and he had to have it! It is really big, though. We found a cute pumpkin for our 3 year old. I cut the stem and handed it to her, but it was too heavy. She decided she wanted a little one because she is little! So, mommy has a pumpkin, too. The pumpkins from the main patch are only $3 each regardless of size. It was a lot of fun for the kids to find the right pumpkin for their Jack-O-Lanterns.

It is located just east of the Springville Walmart.

M & M Miniature Golf

My sister suggested a fun idea a while ago and we decided to use it for today's Friday Adventure, kind of. She actually told me about M & M Bowling and we decided to go miniature golfing instead. It works like this: Every time you start at a hole, each person draws one M & M out of the bag. They have to hit the ball according to color of the M & M. We used the following:
Brown= regular
Green= opposite hand swing
Yellow= one handed swing
Blue= close your eyes
Red= swing between your legs
Orange= sit down on the floor (I was very happy I didn't draw an orange)

But you can make up whatever kind of swing you want.

We went to Trafalga in Orem. I found a coupon on the ValPak website. It was $5.49 for people over 12 and $2.99 for ages 4-11. Kids under 3 are free. If you haven't been to Trafalga for a while, they remodeled their indoor course and it is all 'glow-in-the-dark'. It was so much fun. We had such a great time. Afterwards, we went to Artic Circle for shakes.

Trafalga Website
ValPak Coupon (good until 7/25/08)

Other Miniature Golf places:
Cascade Putting Courses, Orem
Boondocks Fun Center, Draper
Mulligans, South Jordan
NEW!! Liberty Fun Center, Lehi
Water Gardens, Pleasant Grove

Bear Lake

Our family is going camping at Bear Lake, so I thought I would post some ideas of things to do at Bear Lake.

We will be staying at Rendezvous Beach. It is a State Park and has some great beaches. You can get a day pass and go in for the day or there are camp sites.

Minnetonka Cave
Most people don't know about Minnetonka Cave. It is a 9 room cavern on the Idaho side of the border. It is just a short drive up St. Charles canyon. The fee is $5 for adults and $4 for kids 6-9 or a family pass for $20. The tour of the cave is guided and is 1/2 mile long.. There are some beautiful features in this cave and the tour is packed with scientific and historical information. This is a great adventure for the kids, but take a jacket. Visit this website for information.

Pickleville Playhouse
This is another fun activity for the whole family. I played the piano at Pickleville after my junior year of high school and it is so much fun. Every year they do a melodrama. This year it is "Chuck Wagon's Wild West Showdown." If you haven't been to a melodrama, you should-and take the kids. You get to cheer for the hero, sigh for the heroin, and boo at the villain. This year, they are also producing "Thoroughly Modern Millie." They also have a delicious western bar-b-q where they offer lemon herb chicken, pork ribs, or rib-eye steak. This meal is always fantastic. Tickets that include both the show and dinner run at $16.50 for kids and $29.50 for adults. You can also purchase show tickets and dinner tickets separately if you wish to do one or the other. You can visit their great website at www.picklevilleplayhouse.com

LaBeau's Drive-in
One thing you HAVE to do if you go to Bear Lake, is get a shake and fries at LaBeau's!!! Their shakes are thick and over the top. Bear Lake is famous for its raspberries and the fresh raspberry shake is my favorite. I also love their french fries and fry sauce. They are home made and delicious. Expect to wait in line regardless of the time of day, but the line is even worse during regular meal hours. So plan well. Their address is:
LaBeau’s Drive In
69 N. Bear Lake Blvd.
Garden City
435-946-8821

Limber Pine Trail
This trail is located up Logan Canyon. It is a one mile loop trail and is easy enough for children and families. I hiked this trail with my second grade class. There is large limber pine tree along the trail that is incredibly old. The views along the trail overlooking Bear Lake are absolutely breath taking. Logan Canyon Website


There are so many other things to do: water sports (rentals are available), horseback riding, golfing, and Raspberry days are the end of August. So whether you are going for a day trip or vacation there are lots of things to do. Have fun. I know we will!

Drive In Movie

After a series of events that ruined my plans for yesterday's Friday Adventure, we decided to go to a movie at the Redwood Drive-In! My son wanted to see Kung Fu Panda and I thought that sounded like a great idea. Besides, my husband could go with us, too.

Here are some things you should bring:
*CASH-we didn't have enough and had to go find an ATM and come back.
*Snacks- I got each person an $.88 box of candy at Wal Mart, their own can of Pringles chips and a bottled soda.
*Pillows
*Blankets
*Camp Chairs
*Some people had dinner and coolers full of snacks

Things you should know:
Children under 5: free
Children 6-9: $1
Adults 10 and up: $7
*The first movie started at 9:30.
*Arrive early- we were there 45 minutes early and that would have been just right, except we had to go find cash. We ended up back quite far by the time we got back.
*Take something for the kids to do while waiting for the movie to start. My kids brought the game Catch Phrase to play-smart kids.
*When you pull in to a spot, make sure you can see over the cars in front of you. The people next to us had their mini van, but were sitting in camp chairs. Someone came and parked in front of them and they had to pick up all their stuff and move it so they could see.
*The drive in theater on Redwood Road is a double or even triple feature. We went for Kung Fu Panda, but stayed for Indiana Jones. Luckily, my little ones fell asleep. It was fun to stay up late with the older kids.

Here are some drive-in theaters in Utah:
Salt Lake City: Redwood Drive In
Ogden: Motor Vu Drive in and Swap Meet
Mount Pleasant: Basin Drive In Theater
Tooele: Motor Vu Drive In

Springville Museum of Art

I wish I had this information sooner, but I found it by accident Friday morning and decided to go. The art museum in Springville has an annual Children's Art Festival. They had booths, food and entertainment. Each of the kids got a punch card. As they visited each booth, it was punched and when they had visited 7 booths, they could enter it in a drawing.

The booths were so much fun. All of them were hands-on art activities. We created Styrofoam ink prints, puppets and books. My 2 year old had fun doing the fingerprint art. Her hands were covered with ink. My 7 year old loved making her own bracelet out of copper wire and beads. My 10 year old really enjoyed the leather stamping booth. And my 13 year old liked making the sun catchers out of sequins, glitter, thread and contact paper. There were also paper lizards, 'china' plates and face painting.

There were storytellers scheduled throughout the day as well as entertainers. I especially enjoyed the Native Americans that shared their heritage, music and dances.

They also had food available to purchase- hotdogs, otter pops, kettle corn, etc.

My kids came home with a bag full of art projects and I came home with a bunch of ideas for school. We will definitely go back again next year!

You can visit the museum for their regular exhibits year round. They also have great materials for school teachers. Their website is: http://smofa.org/

Golden Spike

For all you train and history buffs out there, this is a can't miss. Promontory Utah is located North West of Brigham City. It is out in the middle of nowhere. But it was worth the trip.
In 1869, the Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads joined tracks at this spot. A golden spike was driven to celebrate the event.
There is a lovely visitors center with a video presentation, museum and gift shop. The museum was very interesting and showed the steps for laying the track. My kids loved exploring the gift shop with all of the books and memorabilia. We had to purchase a train whistle before we could leave.
The best part by far, however, are the trains. There are 2 steam locomotives, the Juniper and the No. 119. They are replicas of the original engines at the golden spike ceremony. They demonstrate the engines and you can get right up next to them. My son and nephew loved getting up on the platform to look inside the engine. They are absolutely beautiful. There are no rides on the train. The only problem was the whistles are awfully loud and scared the little ones. But they got over it.
This is a National Park and if you have a National Parks pass, you can get in with it. If not, the cost is $7 per vehicle. We had such a great time, especially since my 4th grade son had learned a little about it in school.
Visit their website for directions and more information:
http://www.nps.gov/gosp/

Bingham Copper Mine

I've lived in Utah my whole life and had never been to the copper mine until last summer. My husband went on this adventure with us. It is truly an amazing place. All four of my children had a fun time, even my 2 year old.

As you drive to the mine, you are stopped at the gate and asked to pay a $5/vehicle fee. You continue driving up the mountain until coming to the visitors center. The view from the overlook is breathtaking. It's hard to imagine the enormity of the whole thing- the trucks, equipment and the mine itself. We stood for a very long time watching the trucks (which looked like little ants) going in and out. It's amazing.

The visitors center is also very fun. We watched an informative video and learned an awful lot about the mining process. There are lots of displays set up. Many historical items are on display. They also have a display of a house set up showing where copper is used, both inside and outside, of a house. There is a gift shop with lots of fun little trinkets, pictures, games, copper pots, etc. We purchased a wind chime.

This was a fun, inexpensive trip. We were there for a couple of hours. It was a little breezy, you may want to bring a jacket depending on the weather.

You can get more information at Kennecot's website: www.kennecott.com/?id=MjAwMDEyOQ==

Friday Adventure for June 6

On June 6th, the Pony Express PTA and Eagle Mountain City are once again sponsoring a movie at the amphitheater. They will be showing "Horton Hears a Who." They are asking for a donation as admission and will be selling concessions. All proceeds go to the PTA.

Last year, this was our first Friday Adventure. We had so much fun. They showed "Night at the Museum." It was cold last year, so come prepared with blankets and jackets. Pillows were also good to have to be comfortable. Most of the fun came before the movie. We had a lot of friends and teachers there and had so much fun visiting.

This is a must do!!! We'll see you at the movie!

Sub Zero Ice Cream

Last year, I saw the guy from Sub Zero Ice Cream on Fox 13 News. It was so intriguing, we had to give it a try. Sub Zero Ice Cream is located on Main Street in Orem in the same building as New York Burrito. This is an experience, because you build your ice cream from scratch.
First, you select which ice cream mix you want, depending on the fat content. They pour the cream into a large silver bowl. Next, you choose the flavor, I chose coconut. Then you choose any mix-ins you want, I had almond joy pieces. Last, they pour liquid nitrogen into the bowl and stir it up. It freezes right in front of your eyes.
My children loved watching them create the ice cream, but even more, they enjoyed eating it. It is possibly the creamiest ice cream I've had. And it stayed frozen for a long time. This was a great adventure and my kids still beg to go back!!

Sub Zero Ice Cream Website: http://www.subzeroicecream.com/