A fun day at the beach, well a reservoir actually.

I've heard about the Blackridge Reservoir in Herriman and finally decided to go and try it out.  I told the kids we were going to a "mini-beach" with a pond, instead of an ocean.  They were soooo excited.  Of course after breakfast this morning it took me about an hour to have the kids ready and everything we needed packed for our day.  We got to the Reservoir around 10:30 in the morning and there was plenty of room on the beach.  It got more crowded as the day went on, mainly teenagers laying out in the sun. 

We set up fairly close to the port-a-potties as I was sure we'd be frequenting one.  And we did--6 times between the two kids.  My kids are very cautious kids, Spencer especially.  So at first the kids only went in ankle deep.  It took a while before they dared go further in the water.  I never told them there are fish in the water--just for the purposes of keeping the water clean--and luckily they didn't go deep enough to ever see any.  I told them they could go until the water touched their belly buttons and they couldn't go any further than that unless I was holding their hand.  A couple times I took each kid out to where they couldn't touch.  Tessa thought that was fun, but Spencer panicked.  I still made him kick his legs around, hoping to teach him to not panic and doggy paddle if he ever ends up in deep water without me.  Don't know that it did much good today.

For the first hour or so they mainly just wanted to play in the sand with the sand toys we brought.  They built sand castles, had me bury them to make Tessa a mermaid and Spencer a robot, made puddles and streams that quickly drained the water through the rocky sand, and just played around.  Clara LOVED playing in the sand.  I kept trying to get her under the shade of the umbrella I brought, but she would eventually move out.  I was quite successful in keeping her binki in her mouth and the sand out--I think there was only one time (at least that I caught) where she had her binki out and had some sand around her mouth.  Her smile was so cute that I took a picture before cleaning and re-inserting her binki.  I was surprised she never cried about crawling on the rocky sand.

I packed up lunch so I did my best to wipe off everyone's hands and pulled out the lunches of PB&Js, pea pods, grapes, and go-gurts.  I always hear that being outside makes kids hungrier, but mine always eat less when we are out and about as opposed to home.  I'm curious how much Spencer will eat in a couple weeks when he starts eating lunch at school.  I'm already nervous about not being there to make sure he eats enough food.  I know, I know he'll survive, but he's my first and I'm very nervous about this!  As Clara can't eat peanut butter yet I packed up some cold, leftover tortellini from dinner last night (these are her favorite food) along with plain bread and a go-gurt.  Then the kids were ready to dash off to the water again.  After lunch they seemed to spend more time in the water--and the port-a-potty.  They practiced their swimming lessons, laying on their bellies and kicking their legs or walking through the water with their "ice-cream arms".  They also filled up and dumped their buckets, kicked and splashed, and floated around a little boat.  I even had Clara sitting in the very shallow area and she had a blast splashing and crawling around.  They had a great time.

Finally, a little after 2:00, I had the kids pack up the sand toys and towels and we headed back to the van.  I sent Spencer to the rear of the van and had Tessa in the middle by the seats so they could both change.  Which reminds me I forgot to vacuum out the sand.  I guess that's tomorrow's chore.  Then I changed Clara up on the drivers' seat.  I remained in my sandy, swimming gear until coming home (although I probably brushed off the sand better than the kids would have).  After changing and driving the half hour home, it was about 3:00 by the time we got home.  The drive was too long and Clara was too far past nap time to manage to keep her awake on the drive home so I let her sleep.  Usually if she falls asleep in the car (which is very rare anyways) she won't fall asleep again when we get home.  But today when we pulled into the garage and I unbuckled her she only opened her eyes half way and whimpered then curled up on my shoulder.  I laid her in her crib and she didn't make a sound.  I then sent the other two kids down to the playroom so I could take a shower.  The kids said this was the funnest Friday Fun day ever!  I think we'll try to hit the "beach" one more time before summer is over and bring an inflatable boat or something.

Blackridge Reservoir is located at 15000 S. Ashland Ridge Dr. (5390 W) Herriman, Utah

Here are directions to Blackridge Reservoir.

Get onto Bangerter Highway

 

Turn West onto 13400 S.

Turn left onto Monarch Meadows Pkwy

Continue onto 4800 W which turns right and becomes Juniper Crest Rd.

Turn right onto Emmeline Dr

Take the 1st left onto Ashland Ridge Dr