The reason Jen took me to the airport, is because of our well-crafted plan. I would fly to Boise to hang with Greg, Kari and Max while Mom, Denise and the twindividuals drove 8 hours to Boise after Denise got off of work. I'm no idiot, I definitely scored on that deal. Especially since Ali barfed in the car an hour into their trip. Poor girl - nothing like ralphing up Goldfish.
Greg and Kari were wonderful hosts as usual! We ate at Five Guys, which is a burger joint, and then we went to have ice cream - no ice cream potato this trip. We then went to the store where Kari and I were silly enough to give Greg movie-renting responsibilities. Yeah, not again. Who rents "Race to Witch Mountain" with Dwayne the Rock Johnson? Needless to say, we didn't watch it - we instead played some Skipbo and waited for Denise, mom and the kids to get there. Once they did, we stayed up and chatted for a bit before crashing - we had another 5 hour drive ahead of us.
The next morning Ali, Pax and Max played for a while and we packed the car up. We then went to a breakfast place to thank Greg and Kari for letting us stay there, then we headed on our way to Utah. Max was very sad to see us go, and he really wanted to come with us, so his send-off made me laugh - as he was busy playing with cars, and we were saying goodbye to him, he said "Bye suckers!" He's hilarious.
The car ride was successful - not a speck of vomit! It was so nice to be back up at the cabin. My mom and Jean bought the property a couple of years ago out in Lambs Canyon, UT and it's peaceful, beautiful, and very home-y. I love it! I didn't take any pictures of the inside because it feels THAT much like home. Lame excuse? Oh well, I didn't take pictures, so deal.
My mom, sister and I really have a lot of fun when we're together - we fit in lots of games: hand & foot, skipbo, phase 10, big boggle, yahtzee, fill or bust, and blink. It was also fun teaching some of these games to the twins, but also playing some of their favorites: duck, duck bruce and rat-a-tat-cat. When we weren't playing games, we were relaxing on the deck - it's probably the best part of the cabin. They have incredibly comfy chairs, which were napped in quite a bit, the kids were able to play out there, and I was able to finish a book in an afternoon because it was so peaceful (the book is called "The Art of Racing in the Rain" by Garth Stein - go get it, such a great story.) We went on a couple of moose hunts, to no avail, and Denise and I even attempted to go on a hike with the kids. That didn't work so well. I had been feeling sick all morning (I think it was altitude sickness, we were 7,000' about sea level) and as we started climbing up the mountainside, I sent Denise and the kids along, and I yakked on the side of the mountain. Just a bit, but enough to make me not want to go up anymore. Thank goodness though, because I felt great the rest of the day!
Luckily the cabin is pretty close to Salt Lake City and civilization, so we went out each day to do something fun in town. The first full day we were there, we went to Park City to go on the alpine slides and coasters. Conor and I did this last year when we made our road trip out to NC, and it was a blast, so I was really excited to take the kids up there. We started with the coasters, which are always fun - you get pulled up the mountain in your coaster, and once you make it to the top, you fly down the mountain as fast as your coaster will take you, and giggle the whole way down. Unfortunately, I was stuck behind a lady with her son who was apparently not a fan of the alpine coaster, and they ended up going very slow. Boo. I could hear Ali and Denise behind me though, which was cute. After the coaster we went up the mountain again on a ski lift to do the slides (side note - besides the fact that I am awful at skiing, I don't think I do it because ski lifts terrify me.) Although the man in charge of the slides was a bit creepy, the twins were happy to tie at the end of the "race" and we headed back to the cabin and went out to dinner at Cafe Rio - they have some amazing sweet pork!
The next day out, Denise, Mom and I left the twins with Jean and had a girls out shopping day - although there were no major purchases, we had fun just being together. Denise scored some cute outfits!
The last full day we were there, we decided to stop by Lagoon - it's kind of like Wild Waves and Enchanted Village, but BETTER! We decided to skip the water park, and just went to the park for the rides. Although Al and Pax generally seemed very excited to get on the rides - they had no emotion while on the rides, and said afterward that it was very scary. Ha. They had a great time though! I have to talk about just one ride, although there were lots that we went on. Denise and I went on the ride called Wicked, which was AWESOME! I took a video outside of the park of what it looks like. So awesome.
I'm sorry, but if you're going to show up at a theme park dressed like this, I am allowed to take your picture.
The next day we had to pack up and head out - Denise had to work the next day, so she spent some time with her best friend Jill before flying home from Utah. Mom and I drove 5 hours to Boise to stay with Greg and Kari one more night. The kids were GREAT on that leg of the trip - all I have to say is that I love Mario Kart Racing for the DS, it kept them entertained for 5 hours straight, and they didn't fight over it once because we set up rules before the trip. Lifesaver. Kari made us pork burritos that I am excited to cook soon, and then crashed before our 8 hour trip the next day. Unfortunately, 8 hours was an optimistic ETA - due to the fact that NONE of us wanted to be in the car anymore, the constant peeing at different times, and the mosquito attach we had at one of the rest stops, it took us 10 hours to get home. But, home meant we got to watch Project Runway with Horia, sleep in my own bed, and I got to see Conor again after about 10 days.
The trip was perfect - thank you mom and Jean!
I will have to show Nate the picture that you took of that lady. He'll appreciate that he's not the only one that takes pictures of people who 'ask' for their picture to be taken.
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