soccer, IHOP and Karl Malone's pirate ship

Spring Break for the kids.  Of course the first week of April isn't much of a break for a tax accountant.  I did block off my Friday however.  So we didn't do a whole bunch this week.  First we went to redeem our Pass of all Passes so we could attend the Real game.  It was such a nice day we went across the street to the 17th Street River Park to play for a while.

We went to the Salt Lake Real game with our Pass of All Passes.  I do enjoy going to soccer games.  These men are real athletes.  They are running for almost two hours with basically just a half time break.  Seriously not all the time outs and standing around that occurs in the NBA and NFL.  And there are hardly any substitutions so the same guys are out pretty much the whole game.  Also these guys get hit and kicked and tripped and they keep on playing.  Unlike NBA players who fall down crying if someone barely touches them in passing.  I like how high energy the games are, even if the overall scoreboard remains really low.  And I like to see the different plays get set up and all the defensive moves they have to make.  I also love the energy in the crowd.  One day my kids will enjoy watching sports as much as I do.  Maybe.

The kids really enjoyed the first 20 minutes or so.  Then they were a little bored.  And with about 30 minutes to go they began asking if we could go yet or if they could play a game on my phone.  One day...

On Friday I didn't work and instead we all went to IHOP for breakfast.  Even Brodie--since his birthday was in a few days and I wouldn't be able to take him to dinner.  Serves him right for being born a week before tax day.  Just kidding.  The kids love IHOP for some reason.  Of course they have only been for free Scary Face Pancake day around Halloween and on Memorial Day with Grandma and Grandpa.  But this time we went for Friday fun day and the kids got to order off the Lorax menu.  They enjoyed their Truffaluffala pancakes and green eggs.  Well they didn't really like the green eggs as they were eggs with chopped up spinach in them.  But they were excited about the idea of them.  And I joined IHOPs Pancake Revolution.  That was great because within 2 days they emailed me a free breakfast coupon.  And they had me put in everybody's birthday so I also got emaileda coupon for Brodie to have a free breakfast.  Crazy that with 2 free breakfasts our bill was still so high.  I'm used to kids meals including a drink so I didn't think about the fee for all 3 kids to get milk.  And the idea of fresh squeezed orange juice sounded great so Brodie and I both ordered larges, I mean our meal was free so why not splurge?  Then we saw them pour our drinks out of the Tropicana with pulp container.  The same kind I have in my fridge at home (but without pulp).  One glass cost us more than the whole container in my fridge.  But the kids loved it.

After breakfast we came home so I could shower and get ready for the day.  Then I announced as part of Friday fun day we were going to get the oil changed and brakes replaced in the car!  You should have seen how excited the kids got.  I'm serious.  That's why I pay the extra money to go to the dealership.  Because Karl Malone Toyota has free popcorn, televisions, AND a pirate ship to play on.  (Also it is very clean and they wash my car and give me a scented tree for no extra charge)  So I had made an appointment and we drove the van up and got out.  All the workers got a huge kick out of my three kids decked out in their pirate gear.  They wore their hats, hooks, and eye patches.  After all this was our Friday fun day!

We got some free popcorn and water and headed to the pirate ship.  The kids had a blast taking turns climbing the mast, steering, and playing in the living quarters under deck.  Who knows if I'm using the correct pirate terms?  I don't.  They played and played and played.  Occasionally they took a break on the raft to eat some popcorn.  After about an hour they got a little bored and put the Muppets in Manhattan DVD in the television by the play area.  Then they went back to play some more.  Karl Malone was even there in person.  I pointed him out to Spencer and told him that was a real former basketball player.  Spencer didn't seem too interested.  And honestly I wasn't either.  Seriously I was a huge fan until the end of his Jazz tenure when his head got too big and he was criticizing and bad talking the other players on his team and then gave up on his team and went to LA to try to get a championship ring.  I didn't have any reason to go clamor over for an autograph.  Besides Brodie has one of his shoes with an autograph on it already.  And that's been put away ever since we got married. 

The downside to the dealership was that we were there for 2 1/2 hours.  But it was clean and the kids had a lot of fun.  I just wish I had brought my Reader or that my phone battery hadn't been so low so I had something to do other than watch the Muppets and my little pirates.  They were pretty cute though!