In September we heard about the Shelley Spud Days which have evidently been happening for 40+ years and yet being an Idaho born citizen I've never heard of it. We didn't have anything planned so decided the night before that we would go. It turned out to be a boy adventure for the whole day.
We started with the parade in Shelley. We were told that an airplane closes the parade buzzing the street and dropping ping pong balls that had prizes written on them that you could redeem at the park where all the vendors were set up. Derek and Justin just wanted to be buzzed by the plane so they were really looking forward to that. Evidently liability issues have come up from past years so the ping pong balls were shot out of four huge potato guns on the back of a dump truck (can't get much more "spud days" than that!) so it was a bit of a disappointment but they each caught a ping pong ball and received free mugs at the Church of something something booth in the park. Levi and Caytlyn were a great help and entertainment at the parade. They were good to help keep an eye on the little boys (the crowd was bigger than I have ever seen for the Rexburg 4th of July parade) and they also acted like little kids running for candy.
We decided to skip the fried potato theme and really long lines at the park and went to the kids favorite restaurant for lunch. I'm not overly fond of Chuck-a-Rama but it does have the variety to please everyone. There was just as much silliness going on as there was eating.
Levi and Caytlyn stayed in Idaho Falls to do their own thing after lunch and we headed home. On the way to Shelley that morning Derek had commented on the big military tank in Rigby that is visible from the freeway. I decided to surprise the boys and stop for them to see it. Little did I know that there is a fun playground with a rock climbing gym, a merry-go-round, and a train to go along with the tank and my intended short stop on the way home turned into 2 hours of climbing, swinging, getting dizzy and pretending. It was boy heaven!
The rock jungle gym was super cool with climbing, slides, a cave and rock stairs coming out of the cave. Even Derek looked small on it.
The tank was so much bigger than we expected. I couldn't believe it when Hyrum and Nathan started climbing up on it and the two of them stacked on top of each other were as tall as the caterpillar like wheels (can you tell that I know not a speck of military equipment jargon?). They spent a good half hour in imaginary tank battle shooting spittle with all their sound effects. I don't know how their arms don't get tired from holding them up in gun position. Must be a boy thing.
We then headed over to the train. Who knew that an old caboose could provide so much entertainment. They lived out their James Bond/hobo fantasies as they jumped up on one ladder, climbed to the top of the car and ran to the ladder at the other end. I held my breath the whole time. They were hollering "take a picture of this" so many times that I was having a hard time pleasing everyone. These few pictures do not even dent the train adventure photo file that I now have from this day.
It was fun to have Derek and Justin take the camera from me and arrange shots that they wanted, some of them with me in them. When I looked at the pictures later I was so glad to be in some of them. As much as I don't like having my picture taken it was nice to see me in the activities instead of just knowing that I was there because the pictures exist.
We started with the parade in Shelley. We were told that an airplane closes the parade buzzing the street and dropping ping pong balls that had prizes written on them that you could redeem at the park where all the vendors were set up. Derek and Justin just wanted to be buzzed by the plane so they were really looking forward to that. Evidently liability issues have come up from past years so the ping pong balls were shot out of four huge potato guns on the back of a dump truck (can't get much more "spud days" than that!) so it was a bit of a disappointment but they each caught a ping pong ball and received free mugs at the Church of something something booth in the park. Levi and Caytlyn were a great help and entertainment at the parade. They were good to help keep an eye on the little boys (the crowd was bigger than I have ever seen for the Rexburg 4th of July parade) and they also acted like little kids running for candy.
We decided to skip the fried potato theme and really long lines at the park and went to the kids favorite restaurant for lunch. I'm not overly fond of Chuck-a-Rama but it does have the variety to please everyone. There was just as much silliness going on as there was eating.
Levi and Caytlyn stayed in Idaho Falls to do their own thing after lunch and we headed home. On the way to Shelley that morning Derek had commented on the big military tank in Rigby that is visible from the freeway. I decided to surprise the boys and stop for them to see it. Little did I know that there is a fun playground with a rock climbing gym, a merry-go-round, and a train to go along with the tank and my intended short stop on the way home turned into 2 hours of climbing, swinging, getting dizzy and pretending. It was boy heaven!
The rock jungle gym was super cool with climbing, slides, a cave and rock stairs coming out of the cave. Even Derek looked small on it.
The tank was so much bigger than we expected. I couldn't believe it when Hyrum and Nathan started climbing up on it and the two of them stacked on top of each other were as tall as the caterpillar like wheels (can you tell that I know not a speck of military equipment jargon?). They spent a good half hour in imaginary tank battle shooting spittle with all their sound effects. I don't know how their arms don't get tired from holding them up in gun position. Must be a boy thing.
We then headed over to the train. Who knew that an old caboose could provide so much entertainment. They lived out their James Bond/hobo fantasies as they jumped up on one ladder, climbed to the top of the car and ran to the ladder at the other end. I held my breath the whole time. They were hollering "take a picture of this" so many times that I was having a hard time pleasing everyone. These few pictures do not even dent the train adventure photo file that I now have from this day.
It was fun to have Derek and Justin take the camera from me and arrange shots that they wanted, some of them with me in them. When I looked at the pictures later I was so glad to be in some of them. As much as I don't like having my picture taken it was nice to see me in the activities instead of just knowing that I was there because the pictures exist.
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