First Day of Preschool

Elliott has started preschool!  He's going twice a week to the 3/4 year old class at the rec center.  He's the first of our kids to go to preschool at this age.  Technically, Molly and I did a preschool co-op when she was three.  The main thing I learned from that was to never do a co-op again.

Elliott loves school so much!  He tells everyone that he goes to "rec center school" and adores Miss Ruth and Miss Kelli.  Many of the kids were sad on the first day but Elliott just ran in, put his backpack in a cubby, and made a beeline for the toy cars.  I think he was ready to go :)

This is the Place

Salt Lake has a big pioneer-era living history park.  It's about perfect for 4th grade since they study Utah all year, and it has lots of fun stuff for the younger kids, too.

Before we stopped there, we stopped at Feldman's Deli, a delicious Jewish restaurant in Sugar House.  Fun fact:  there has been a small Jewish population in Utah since pretty early territorial days, so this fits in with our Utah history day more than you might think. Also, one of my early pioneer ancestors was training to be a rabbi in his youth so it's family history for us!

We had a knish, latkes, matzo ball soup, a housemade salt bagel with cream cheese, the most deeply amazing Reuben sandwich with fries, and some rugelach.  I would highly recommend it and Miles says he would eat here every day if we lived closer.

The restaurant was in an old grocery store building and they had all sorts of interesting ads and pictures up.  The prices!!!

Elliott was beyond excited about the train that went around the property.

 They some truly beautiful pioneer quilts and lace work

 Decorating wooden snakes

 They had a wide selection of pioneer games.  And also, pioneer laundry, which I think is probably more true of the pioneer child experience.

 Everyone wanted to try the stilts and the hoop rolling game!

There's also a really fun playground that doesn't have much to do with pioneers but is definitely fun for the kids.

We hustled over for the bank robbery but it was not perhaps the most fun.

 Molly and Miles got to demonstrate pioneer school punishments.

 Elliott was very excited to use the blackboard.

 Miles dres a commemorative picture of his dunce cap experience.

 Pony rides for all!

 I was so proud of Molly for this. She HATES goats but she still went into the petting zoo and she may have even willingly touched the smallest goat.

 Making arrowhead necklaces in the Native American area was the #1 thing Molly wanted to do all day and Elliott wanted to do it because she was so excited about it.

 Gold mining was very, very popular. Technically, pyrite mining was very popular, and now I have a bunch of pyrite nuggets in my purse.

 Elliott's top choice was the mini train that goes around the lake and has good views of the Salt Lake Valley.

These hogans were very popular with Miles the last time we came.  Elliott liked them this time!

One Last Bit of Summer

On the one hand, it feels like summer ends as soon as school starts.  On the other hand, it's still over 90 degrees for a month so it certainly doesn't feel like fall!  We had just a few more activities that felt a little more like summer.

The library had one of their 1000 Books Before Kindergarten parties.  We went to several for Molly but now we're officially attending for Elliott.  They had a really cute puppet show, some snacks, a craft, and a great face painter.

We didn't do much on Labor Day, but we did get the chance to finally go to the newest splash pad in the area.  I've never seen one with a water slide before and the playground next to it was lots of fun!

 This is what a trip to the splash pad looks like for me.  The most shade I can find and my Kindle.