The Treehouse Children's Museum 07/08/08

On Tuesday, July 8th, we took all the kids, including my brother's kids and went to The Treehouse Children's Museum in Ogden, Utah. It was nice to be able to see my brother's family (he was not able to be there because of work obligations). This was the only day I was able to see them while we were there.

The Treehouse was really cool! http://www.treehousemuseum.org/home.html It would be nice to go there again because we missed a lot of things (possibly when Tye is a little older). He got bored at times and wanted to go see new things when there were still a ton of things left to see in each area. They had lots of different areas representing different countries, timeframes, activities, professions, etc. Right in the middle of the building is this huge (fake) tree! It has bridges over to it and a large slide to go down. I was with Tye and Kendrick and the next thing I knew Kendrick was gone! Right down the slide! Tye was too afraid at first "it's too dark." But then I put him on it and did a soft little push and down he went! lol He was certainly fine to do it a few more times after that! They even had story times and games. All the kids loved it! We were not able to hang out and talk as much as we would have liked, but the kids certainly had a ball and that was what was most important!

Little 4th of July Celebration

Our 4th of July Celebration was little. Reasons, first there weren't that many of us. Second, we just hung at home, no cool giant city-sponsored fireworks, just a few homemade ones. But they were nice anyway!

Grandpa made hamburgers on the grill. As always, THE BEST! YUMMY! We had chips and dip to go along with it. Very good!

Then the kids went and watched a movie. They were so funny because they wanted to sit in the doggie bed and watch the movie. I think the kids sit in that bed way more than the dog does! MarleeAnn at one point even tried to hold Tye's hand. He was okay for a little while with it and then was over it! lol It was really cute.

That evening Grandpa did fireworks, mostly for Tye's benefit and the rest of us just watched with him! lol They were very pretty and a couple of them even scared us. We weren't prepared for the "finale" explosions that happened with a few of them! lol Tye sort of got the sparklers, but not really. Staci had to really help him. At first he was even trying to blow them out like a candle! Silly boy!

Happy Independence Day Everyone!

Seeing my Sparker Buddy again 07/03/08

On Thursday, July 3rd, we saw Marilee, my SparkPeople buddy again. This time Staci went with me and they were able to meet for the first time. We met at McDonald’s (not the best place for us now healthy eaters, but much better than sitting in the 101 degree weather to go to a park. And much cheaper than say Chuck E Cheese’s!) Although this was probably the hottest McDonald’s in all of North America! Ugh, I think the A/C was dead in the playland area! We really enjoyed our time together visiting. Marilee and Staci got to know each other better. And of course, Shae and Tye had a wonderful time together! Marilee told me that Shae had asked her the week before who she was going to marry. When Marilee told her she didn’t know, Shae informed her she thought she would marry Tye! Soooo cute! 4 year olds already preparing for marriage! lol…not so fast little ones! lol I am so glad to have met such a wonderful friend. And it was so nice to see her again. I sure do wish we lived closer so we could see each other more often! This picture is of Staci, Marilee and Shae. Unfortunately, we didn't have anyone that could take a picture of all of us together. So we had to settle for several different ones (but this is the only one I ended up with on my camera)! lol

Best Friends spending time together

Kendrick is Tye's cousin, they are the same age exactly 1 day apart! They are also best friends. Tye just told me today he missed Kendrick and got a sad voice and everything, so I told him when we got home we would call them. So we did and both Tye and Kendrick were so excited to talk to each other and both sad when they missed each other.

Anyway, because of some other circumstances and plans we had (Kevin had to go to airport to come home and I was seeing my SparkPeople friend again) Tye was able to spend several days with Kendrick and Taylor (they all play well together for the most part, but Taylor is two years younger so he gets left out sometimes).

On Tuesday, July 1st, we all went swimming at Sally's house. The kids had lots of fun together. It was a bit nippy when you first got in, but after you got moving it was A-OK! We had lots of fun and they have this little wading pool for the kids, just their size! They also played on the playground right next to it after we got out. We were all tired after and the kids took a great nap! The kids just played and played and played that afternoon. Grandma got there later that day and they were excited to see her.

On Wednesday, we went and saw WaterHorse. We had never seen it before, so Tye really enjoyed it. He and Kendrick sat next to each other and a couple of times, during the little more tense parts, I saw them holding hands. So precious! Afterwards, they really wanted to play the video games. So luckily they are still not quite old enough to know they aren't really playing and think the demo is just awesome! lol I caught them all sitting together in the Star Wars game with their guns poised at the ready! lol

That afternoon they all decided to go back to the theatre and see Wall-E. Since we already saw it earlier in the week, I decided to keep Tye home to take a nap and wait for Staci's arrival. (She is my aunt and was coming to visit me and see our SparkPeople friend too!) Later that evening, Staci gave Tye and Kendrick these super cute Thomas the Train bubble blowers!! SOOOOOOO CUTE! Tye was SO excited (as you can see in the picture below)! All three of the kids played with them and took turns. Since we only had two of them and there were three boys. We ended up using an extra set of just regular bubbles and each one got a turn on that. Out of all three boys, honestly, the one that could do it the best was Taylor! Very fun!

Taylor kept telling us, "I did it!" He was so proud of himself, just like the big kids, and even better! They rode bikes together and had a great time. The weather was cooperative and very nice outside in the evenings.

On Thursday we told Kendrick and Taylor goodbye and went to meet our SparkPeople friend, Marilee. All of the kids were not happy, but I promised we would see them again next week so they were okay, not happy, but okay with it.

They had a great time together and really love to be around each other. Someone said while we were in Park City how everytime they came into a room that the other one was in how each of their faces lit up and they would say the other one's name like they hadn't seen each other for several weeks, even though it had really probably been only about 5 minutes! They truly are best friends.

Park City Utah 6/27-6/29

While I was visiting my family in Utah we went on a mini family vacation. We went up to Park City, Utah and spent 4 days there. We had so much fun seeing the sites and exploring the town.

Warning: Sorry for the length of this blog, I should have done a separate one for each day, but didn't realize it until I was already part way done and there was no way I was going to redo it at that point!

The first night (Thursday) we got there and got settled into the condo. There were 5 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms. There was just enough rooms for each family to have their own. Of course, Tye did not want to sleep with his mommy and daddy, but with his cousin and best friend Kendrick (their birthdays are exactly 1 day apart, same year and everything!). After getting settled, we headed off to dinner, we weren't exactly sure what there was, so we kindof just took off and found something. We ended up at Ruby Tuesday's. The family has never eaten there, but since there are several in Florida we have. The kids were so cute as we were leaving the boys all wanted to hold hands.

When we got back to the condo the kids all wanted to watch a movie before bedtime. So they all crowded into Grandma and Grandpa's bed. So cute!! Taylor was the only one missing. Bonnie and I got on the internet and formulated our plan of attack for the next day.

The next morning we got up and had Mickey waffles and cream cheese eggs for breakfast, provided by Laura. YUMMY!! Then out the door we went at 9:30 (quite a production to get 5 kids in car seats! Not to mention 6 adults in their cars on that day!) We headed off to the Park City Mountain Resort. http://http//www.parkcitymountain.com/summer/index.html We each bought a book of tickets for the kids and let them have at it. They started on the merry go round. Since Laura has the twins she needed help. So MarleeAnn was my buddy. She was so cute, telling everyone, "I riding the horsey!" (or piggy, or chicken or whatever it happened to be that turn--we rode it 5 times!!! lol) Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of it because I was riding the whole time. Tye got bored quickly and wanted to play miniture golf instead. We didn't want to do that there, so then he said he wanted to ride the Alpine slide! So off he and Kevin went up the mountain on the ski lift and down the slide! Tye absolutely loved it! He had a huge smile on his face when he came off! Not that I am surprised, he loved the huge slide at the fair. Grandma and Grandpa decided to ride the ski lift up and back (about an hour ride). They really enjoyed it and said it was just beautiful!

By the time the tickets were all gone and Grandma and Grandpa were back, everyone was hungry and tired. So we went back to the condo for lunch. Provided by myself, we had sandwiches, chips and grapes. They were very good.

That evening we decided to hit Park City's Main Street. The twins were ready to go and the others were trying to rest and nap so Laura and I decided to take a little walk. We decided we were going to just walk and meet everyone there. Well we took the scenic route! It was some great exercise, but didn't get us to where we were supposed to be. In fact, we ended up where we started! lol Oh well, we had fun! About that time Laura talked to Marvin (her husband) and he was almost there. So we loaded the kids into the car and everyone else came down about then and we headed off to Main Street. (Sally, Max and Dan were close too, so they met us on Main Street). We wandered along Main Street looking in the shops as we wanted. It was a nice relaxed atmosphere. At the top of the street (it was a pretty large hill), a guy came up behind us and said, "Look it's the stroller brigade!" Yes, there we were with 5 strollers, huffing up the hill! (Unfortunately no picture to go along with it either!) We told him he could join us (since he had a stroller too), but he declined. Oh and one thing I was proud of Marvin said to Kevin and I, "wow, I can tell a difference, before you guys used to be at the back of the pack and now you are leading it!" Very cool. That evening we found a restaurant called The Hungry Moose. It was a little hometown kitchen type place. We ran out everyone that was in there when we arrived and kept people out for awhile (what do you expect with 15 of us?!) Very good food and great conversations! On the way back we found a bear to take our picture by.

They had a cute little trolley that rode through the main part of town. So we threw the stollers in the cars (literally, huh Bonnie?! lol) and caught the trolley. They took us through town and gave us a few tidbits. A great little ride and all for free!

What a long and fun day. Everyone is exhausted and sleep well. Ready for the day tomorrow!

On Saturday, Sally provided a great fruit crisp type casserole thing for breakfast. It was delicious! That morning we went to the Canyons Resort http://www.thecanyons.com/ and rode the gondola ride. There were a few parts where it was high and over the canyon that it kindof took my breathe away. The scenery was beautiful. We rode it up to the top and got out. There was a restaurant up there, but we didn't eat at it. We hung out in front and the kids found a "stink bug" they said. It was huge! (Max was the instigator of that one!) They watched it for a good 10-15 minutes! Then we went on a little hike. We went up the mountain a little bit and then over a bridge. And guess what we found on the other side of the bridge? SNOW!!! Can you believe it?! Snow in June! lol Kendrick decided it looked good enough to eat! lol OOPS!

After that, we rode the gondola back down and then up again and back down. It was so peaceful and nice. We had hot dogs for lunch provided by Bonnie and Kendrick (he was the little helper man!) in their hot dog maker. Looked like a little ballpark stand or something!

That afternoon we went to the Utah Olympic Park. http://www.olyparks.com/ I was determined to ride a zipline (there are two in Park City). Sally and Max of course were up for it! Marvin said he was too. Marvin and I were a little worried, but I so wanted to do it! Laura and Kevin were unsure. The ticket people said you could buy then or down at the actual zipline. I decided (and convinced Marvin) that we should buy them at the top then there was no way we could chicken out! Grandma said she wanted to go but we were concerned with her back and everything else. We saw some ski jumping (into the water). It was really cool. Then we went off to our doom! lol The four of us (Sally, Max, Marvin and I) went up the ski lift to the zipline. On the way up Marvin and I were feeling fine, until a group came down the zipline just a screaming their heads off. We weren't so sure at that point. But that was the only way down so we knew we couldn't turn back now! We got in the starting gates (and truly that was what it felt like). There was a black cloth in front of the door so you couldn't see what you were doing. I guess the added element of surprise! lol They opened the gates and we were off! I took the lead and went FLYING! I screamed at first, but then relaxed and enjoyed it soooo much! It was wonderful! We decided it was gentle enough that Grandma could do it, so she was all over that as soon as they got done with their little bus tour of the Olympic Park. I ended up going on it another time with Marvin again. It is the steepest zipline in the world at 435 feet high. All of the adults rode it except Kevin and Bonnie (she is pregnant, so we figured they wouldn't let her and Kevin is regretting he didn't do it!)

After the zipline, Kevin and Tye went on the Apline slide there. Then everyone else decided to go on the Apline slide too. So off we went, Dan and Kendrick, Max, Sally, Tye and me, Grandma and Grandpa. It was fun, but a little bumpy (Kevin said it was better than the other one, glad I didn't go on that one then! lol). It was another long, but fun, exciting day! On the way out, we got a picture of Kevin and Tye in an official Olympic bobsled!

We played board games that night after the kids went to bed. And I want to thank Bonnie for being the trouper on bathtime with my child. Everytime we would be doing things and the next thing I would know she had all three of the boys in the tub taking a bath! Thanks!!

Sunday morning we had breakfast and packed up to leave. We had a great time there. I didn't get many photos of Kenden on here and saw this one I took at breakfast the morning we were leaving. He gave me a great big ole CHEESE! lol Sooooo cute! Sort of sums up the enjoyment we all felt on our mini family vacation.