Stay-Cation

The week after the 24th of July, we had our annual family trip. This year, we knew we wouldn't be able to do anything too ambitious because of the two little boys.

Jeff had done a trade for a condo in Park City and we decided to stay there for 4 days and have a stay-cation instead. Unfortunately, we didn't take very many pictures (but did get a lot of video) of the trip.

We headed up Sunday after church and the kids were THRILLED to find they had a tv and bunkbeds in their room. They pretty much had a Disney free-for-all every night we were there. The other exciting feature was the gigantic hot tub on the smaller of the two wrap around decks. Seriously, we could have fit 10 adults in there with plenty of room to spare. The kids thought it was a small pool and loved taking a dip every night (up to two hours at a time). It felt especially like a pool because it had a hard time staying heated. 98 degrees was warm the first night, but the second night it was down to 93. Just not hot enough for me. But perfect for the kids and we didn't have to worry about them overheating.

Monday morning we spent in Park City at Olympic Park (where the ski jumping and aerial events were held in the 2002 Olympics). We road the Alpine slide and zip line and pretended we were at Disneyland. It was a lot of fun and the weather was absolutely beautiful! We also did some school clothes shopping at the outlets in the afternoon, which was an adventure with all of us, but we came home with quite a load. We cooked dinner when we got back to the condo and spent an enjoyable evening hot tubbing and hanging out.

Tuesday morning we got stuck in a convoy of cars leaving Park City. Several cops and cars with darkened windows drove slowly down one of the main streets, and Jeff commented that it must be the President of the United States or something. Close. It was actually Michelle Obama in town for a fundraiser and we were stuck right behind her. Eventually, we made it to SLC and Hogle Zoo. After living in Columbus and Jacksonville, which both have really nice zoos, Hogle Zoo isn't exactly impressive. It was quite smelly, and Allie's irrational, crippling fear of spiders made it hard for any of us to REALLY enjoy it. The bird show was super fun, though, and it was all worth it to see Carter's excitement when he saw the animals. Tuesday night was more of the same--dinner, "swimming," and sending the kids to their room to watch tv when we couldn't take the noise anymore.

We only had room to take one pack n play (for Carter), so McKay was sleeping in bed with Jeff and me. That lasted part of one night, and Jeff was worried about rolling over on him, so he went and slept in the kids' room (not only did they have bunkbeds, but they also had a double bed besides). The sleeping was hard. McKay had nowhere to really nap (and we were on the go a lot), and I had to hold him like a newborn while he slept. That was definitely the biggest challenge of the entire trip. Carter held up amazingly well, considering he didn't get nearly as many naps as he usually does, and was happier than he has been in a long time. I hope that means he's growing out of his extreme orneriness. That would be nice.

Wednesday, Jeff's parents came up and met us for another day in PC. We went to a fun farmer's market at the Canyons ski resort and then took a gondola to the top of the mountain, where it must have been 70-75 degrees. SO nice. We did a little hike and enjoyed the beautiful scenery and even found a patch of unmelted snow.

Proof that we were all there.

Including McKay, who enjoyed nature by snoozing in his grandma's arms.

The kids loved this moose that was there at the top.

All except Carter, that is, who wouldn't let go of his grandpa.

You can see the gondola in the background.

That night we had a yummy bbq and then--you guessed it--let the kids "swim" and watch tv. I really think they were in heaven the whole time. Jeff commented that it was a kid's dream vacation. We all really enjoyed ourselves, though, and it's been really hard getting back into our real lives here. The kids have especially felt lost without their constant tv time at night. But all good things must end sometime. And that cliche is all too true.