On the road again

Our journey this summer continued north and west to UTAH!  We tried to make the journey part of our adventure by doing things like stopping in Dove Creek's laundry mat/butcher/movie rental/grocery/florist/gift store for a pit stop and then making a scenic side trip in Moab.   

 

Thank goodness Auntie Beth was with us to help carry the little crazies up the trails and help me keep them from sliding all the way back down.   I'll be honest-- seeing all those rocks really made me miss Br. (But he was having a fun time looking at rocks in England so I'm not going to feel too bad that he missed out).

Once we got to the Wasatch front we decided to just stay put for a while.  Thanks to the most amazing family friends (the Dahls) we were able to do just that.  

In an attempt to make Br proud of me I tried to entertain the kids as inexpensively as possible.  The first day we took it easy and only took a short walk in a canyon and checked out the granite quarry.  The next day we went to temple square where we were in awe by the use of the granite pulled from the canyon.  

 

There was such a wonderful spirit present, especially when we were at the visitor's center.  As I was showing the kids the huge pictures depicting scenes from scripture stories I was amazed by what E had retained.  He kept trying to rush through it and would say "I know all of this already".  He did pause with me to listen to Christ's words at the Christus statue.

 I really appreciated the moment of peace as the kids sat calmly and had a little snack. 

We headed over to the (free) Church History Museum where the kids enjoyed experiencing some of the history.

During our visit to the grounds, E became obsessed with trying to figure out how he could build his own temple.  He insisted that he'd need lots of Legos to complete it.  We made a nice compromise by getting a little 3-D temple puzzle at the bookstore. 

Unfortunately, he was a little too determined to have a temple of his own that I HAD to put it together the second we got home (and I say home because the Dahl's house feels like home to me) resulting in us being late to meet up with some of my favorite people from my days as an RA at Utah State.  It was so fun to catch up with everyone.  I have some great happy memories made with my RA buddies (during a rough time in my life) and they will always hold a special place in my heart.  I love them (and those who weren't there) "all my heart". My kids didn't mind the get together since they finally got to hang out with other kids. I did feel bad for poor Beth and the spouses.

Our fun continued the next day reconnecting with other important people in my life at a Sunday Dahl family dinner (thanks for including us!).  After stuffing our faces with some great food with even better company, we headed over to see my Auntie A's AMAZING new house.  LOVED IT!  E was in heaven playing with cousin B (and his Legos). In fact, E spent the rest of the trip begging to go back.  It was a relaxing night with the people I love.

Monday we headed to a (free) tour of the Sweets candy factory where I got to see them make some of my favorite treats. Let's be honest, most any candy is my favorite kind of treat.  I was a little sad it wasn't as cool as the Wonka factory, but it was still really fun.  Plus it's probably good it wasn't like Wonka's, because with my luck, my daughter would have fallen down a trash shoot and my son would have ended up needing to be sent to the taffy pulling room.

Our adventures then took us to the Discovery Gateway where we took advantage of our science museum's reciprocity program for some more free entertainment. Miss A found her niche.
 
As did E.

They even worked together for a little while.

The fun continued that night when my Auntie M was nice enough to meet us at Chuck-E-Cheese (with a coupon in hand-- thanks Auntie!).  The kids blew through the tokens while my aunt and I had a nice chit chat.  Thanks goes to Auntie Beth for keeping tabs on my crazies who ran around the place like slot machine addicts in Vegas. We finished off the pizza, cashed in our tickets, said our goodbyes and then headed to bed.

Tuesday started off with a little sleeping in, followed by lunch at a place with a play place (to give Beth and I a little reprieve).  Then we headed to yet another museum that offered us free admission. We uncovered dinosaur bones, excavated ancient artifacts, tested structures abilities to withstand earthquakes and examined the details of a cell.

Since it was a Tuesday, my plan for the rest of the day was to swing by Ikea where I was going to feed my kids free dinner and then stick them in the smaland while I found a comfy place to sit (child free) for one hour. We made it to Ikea only to find that most of the Salt Lake Valley takes advantage of free kid's meal Tuesdays.  We did get the kids fed but it took so long we missed the smaland hours by a couple minutes--no longing on a futon for me.  The adventure continued when we went back to the car only to find that the lights were left on (duration and cause still to be determined).  The battery was completely dead.  Fun fact-- the majority of people visiting Ikea on a Tuesday evening in UT do not carry jumper cables in their car but know exactly where they are in their garage.  After finally finding a kind, responsible automobile owner to jump my car, I immediately drove to Walmart and bought some jumper cables to permanently ride around in my backseat.

Wed morning I woke up and decided to blow the wad I'd been saving by being frugal.  What better place to blow through your entertainment budget than an amusement park?  (although to my credit I did use some coupons for our admission) We had an AMAZING day!  My little thrill seekers were right in their element.
 

Auntie B made a great ride companion.
 
The kids loved everything-- the rides, the food, the waterpark (even though they froze after about 15 minutes), and even the little old western town.  E cracked me up when he suddenly found himself standing in front of a steam engine.
 
My favorite part of the whole day was watching the two of them get along miraculously well on the kiddie rides.  I even caught E leaning over and giving his little sister a kiss on the cheek as they rode in the little boats (I may or may not have gotten a little misty).  

With just a few minutes left in the night, the kids were able to make one more ride request.  E insisted on another kiddie ride

but Miss A demanded something that would provide a little more of an adrenaline rush.

 Thursday morning we decided to finally let the Dahls have their basement back and headed to Park City.  We rolled into town with just enough time to check out the Olympic training museum.

 
We even saw a few people training.

 Then we headed to get a few last thrills at the Alpine slide and coaster. The rides up the mountain...
 
 

...were almost as fun as going down...almost.

We finished off the day with some swimming and a pizza dinner before we turned in for the night and braced ourselves for yet another day on the road. (to be continued)