lareita – Page 4 – David & LaReita Berky

Firemen for the morning

Julles told us that Springville was opening a new firestation, so we went over to check it out. Not many

Dad pointing out some of the controls to Ben and James

people for the ceremony (complete with a printed program – only in Utah), but more people drizzled in with the rain. I found the EMT explanation quite interesting, but the boys were much more interested in the big trucks.

But the LifeFlight that landed and their tour was very interesting. Not that there was much to tour through, just their pointing and showing….

Watching the copter land was quite noisy! And dusty!

The boys kept asking silly questions. But I thought it was interesting that the flight nurse had to have a certain amount of years as an ICU nurse, ER nurse and take flight school classes. (Makes sense.)

Here's cousin Ryan with Aunt June, checking out the helicopter

One of the funnest things for the boys was to go and be able to sit on one of the original firetrucks, now on

Here's cousin Ryan sitting in the original fire engine (with random girl)

display. It was used until 1975, and still was fully functional at the time of decommission. That wasn’t impressive to the kids. What was really cool was that they were able to ring the bell from the inside of the truck that made it ring on the outside. Anthony immediately went to work trying to figure out how pulling a cord from the inside would make the bell ring on the outside. He figured it out pretty quickly!

Wish I had brought my better camera, but the phone camera will just have to do sometimes!

What really made me laugh was that they began serving cookies/cake/punch at the Open House by 9:30 am. Talk about needing to help people that go into sugar shock!!! I told my boys, NO SUGAR because they had not eaten breakfast yet. Apparantly I didn’t get the memo to Dave. He let them have cookies and punch when I was off helping someone else. Sigh.

Smiling Benjamin! He's so calm...(sometimes)

Flag retirement ceremony

Provo’s Freedom Festival always hold a flag retirement ceremony. I thought this would be very educational for the boys to go see. I thought it would be a good FHE activity. I had them wear their scout uniforms (as did I and many others, even though they didn’t participate). June also came with her kids. Dave ended up having to do some work, so he wasn’t able to join us this time around.

It was a good opportunity to talk to my boys about respect, honor and service to our country. I had to keep explaining it over and over to Anthony. He kept asking why we were burning the flag. It is a rather difficult concept to grasp for a 7 year old.

Some Marines were also there and I made sure my boys noticed how well they dressed, and walked in formation. It was not too hot of an evening, but the heat from the fire at times was a bit much.

Benjamin showing his respect for the flag. Ryan did too, but it was getting kind of long.

Truck ride at carnival

For Art City Days the ONE ride that Benjamin wanted to go on was this little truck ride. Cousins Samuel, Matt and Ryan also hitched a ride.

Trampoline fun at piano/violin lessons

Trying to 'crack the egg'. Samuel doesn't like this game.

During piano and violin lessons, the kids take turns going on the trampoline. There have been a few accidents. And for sanity’s sake, I should probably stop letting them do this while we come for lessons. But it has been a great bribe at the beginning.

While Savvy and Ryan have been visiting us, they also have come to lessons so they can also play on the tramp. Oh, and Ruxpin too, so he can see his half-brother, Sachmo. (Meika’s dog.)

Anthony’s last day of 1st grade

Anthony really wanted to wear his Tiger Scout uniform on his last day of school. Sure, Why Not?

In Anthony’s last day of 1st grade, he got the “Bionicle Builder” Award because he was always talking about his Bionicle creations that he does at home. And even brought a few too to show his class.

Camping in the kitchen

I can’t remember exactly why it is Benjamin and Samuel are camped out in the kitchen. I think it was because Jacob was beginning to sit up, so I put blankets and pillows around him, so the hardwood floor wouldn’t be such a hard landing. Sam and Ben got in the spirit of things as well.

3 Boys and a dog

Julles’ dog, Ruxpin, is pretty much a fixture in our family life. Wherever the boys go, he goes. Here’s a cute picture one morning of the boys playing on my bedroom floor, with the dog right smack in the middle of it all. It reminds me of my dog when I was a kid. She did the exact same thing. My mom told me that there was a children’s book in the 50’s that had the phrase, “And there was Timmy, right smack in the middle of it all”. So this phrase I use a lot because I heard it a lot growing up!

Oh, how boys love having a dog.

Samuel, Jacob (looking at Ruxpin), and Benjamin

Dad’s & Donuts

Reading at Larsen Elementary for "Dad's and Donuts."

The school has a program every semester (I think) where the dad’s are invited to come and read to their children in the classroom. Children seeing their father read is supposed to greatly increase the odds that children will also be readers, and continued learners. Having the boys see dad reading isn’t a problem at all. Though we could probably improve on spending time reading with them. Sometimes at night during story time, one of us (the parents) fall asleep mid-story. Then in the morning the child who was jipped with the story, insists that their book is finished that very morning.

At this particular Dad’s and Donuts we arrived a bit late (goodness, that’s something else we need to work on). So by the time it was time to get a donut, they were all gone. And when they were reading, they were kicked out of the room. Well, not literally, but were encouraged to leave to go get some donuts. Which had run out.