City Creek with cousins

I like shopping online.  I hate crowds, I like to read reviews, and I like to quickly get exactly what I want in exactly the right size and have it show up on my doorstep a few days later.  But I was curious about City Creek.  I had agreed to go with my mom and sisters back in April but my Father in law was in the hospital and I was helping get him checked out when they were going.  They offerred to take Tessa with them so she went back in April.  Spencer had been at school and after school went to a friend's birthday party at Airborne.  In May we went as a family and Tessa gave us a tour.  She remembered where the Disney Store, Gap, Gymboree, the fountains, and Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory were.  Boy am I in trouble when my 4 year old has the shopping center mapped out and memorized after one visit.

In June my sister and I decided to go to City Creek with all the kids to play.  We started out at the fountains and let the kids go wild getting all wet.  The splash pad fountain area isn't very big.  I was thinking more like a Gateway thing so I was a little disappointed but there were only a couple other kids there so they had a blast.  And they got drenched.

 My sister brought up the idea of a person selling towels right by there.  Since there wasn't we walked to the nearest restroom and wrung out and changed clothes on the kids.  Then we did a little shopping as we walked to the other side of the shopping center.  The kids also liked the bridge where they could see the temple.  They get exponentially sillier the more they are around cousins.

At the other side we let the kids play in the dinosaur themed play area of the food court.  There are eggs to climb in, slides to go down, dinosaur bones to climb through and on top of, and plenty of dinosaurs to climb on and slide down.  They played and played and played.  Such a fun day for the kids without having to spend any money.  Of course we did spend money, but we didn't have to. (The picture of my 3 kids on the pink dinosaur was actually taken the last time we visited City Creek as a family but I like it so much I threw it in here).

Hogle Zoo to see Rocky Shores

I've been so excited about Rocky Shores that this year I got a season pass.  I usually try to avoid season passes because there are so many fun things to do around here that I don't usually visit the same place more than once a year anyhow.

We had a blast at Hogle Zoo.  The kids love seeing the animals and it's great to be outside walking around.  We saw the usual monkeys, elephants, giraffes, stinky animals (small animals and reptiles inside a building), tigers and other wildcats, rhinos, camels, and a few others.  Then we saw Rocky Shores.  We were most excited for the polar bear.  The kids were a bit surprised when he wasn't walking around on ice.  We had fun watching him for aboutr 20 minutes.  He would push off the window and back float across the water.  Then he would dive down and swim back towards the window.  Repeat and repeat.  We were mesmerized watching this routine.

We also saw the river otters, seals, and sea lions.

And in the Rocky Shores they have grizzly bears.  They were out swimming and laying on the rocks when we were there.  They were very cute and fun to watch but I sure hope I never run into one outside of the zoo.

And of course the kids' very favorite part of the zoo are the carousel and train rides and the playground.  As they are ripping out this playground I made sure to take a few pictures of our favorite play items in hopes they will keep them or at least be sure to make fun themed play structures in the new playground.

First week of summer and Mt View Park

For the first official full week of summer Brodie was out of town so I had a busy, fun week with the kids.  We went to the Lone Peak skate park for Family Skate Night, took Tessa to gymnastics, had swimming lessons for both kids, and Spencer started tennis lessons (which he loves).

We also had a fun day at Mt View Park on Fort Union.  We've been watching the progress almost daily as we drive by and the kids have been so excited.  I've also been very excited.  I love taking my kids to playgrounds and try to find as many different ones as I can so they don't feel like they are always playing on the same ones.  I am also so excited for the splashpad.  Most of Sandy's public areas were built long before the splash pads came around and the only one I know of close to us is Alta Canyon's but you have to pay to get in.  Last year we drove out to Herriman, Riverton, or Liberty Park to visit splash pads.

We also invited Spencer's friend to come with us.  There are two different playgrounds.  One is geared more for little kids.  There are the little bouncy animals, a small tractor play structure with a little slide, a low teeter totter, and a short climbing structure with a slide.  Even the older boys managed to be entertained.

The other playground is great for older kids.  There is a game thing where you run around tapping the lights and there's music. There is a fun spinning structure you can stand on, climb up, or hang on and swing on the outside.  There's a bridge, tunnels, big slides, rope climbing structures, and a rock climbing structure.

Then there's the splash pad.  The center had buckets that would spill over.  There was also the section of loops that spray, blasters the kids could aim all over to hit people with a stream of water, a frog structure that sprayed just small water out which was perfect for Clara, and then plenty of places the ground would spray out water.  The splash pad rotated through but always had a few places spraying at once so the kids could spread out.  I know this park is brand new and it's the beginning of summer but it was REALLY crowded.

Big Bear Park and Spaghetti Factory

Nice warm days in March.  So for Friday fun day we went to Big Bear Park.  Spencer's friend was coming home with us from school so we brought him with us to the park.  The kids had so much fun.  We love this park because it isn't your typical playground.  It's old school with a metal castle slide, a boot slide, a circus car/monkey bars, a dinosaur climbing structure, and a tin ant they can climb inside.  There's also a plastic slide structure and a swing set.  And a volleyball court the kids think of and use as a sandbox.  They had so much fun.  I even took some fun pictures with my brand new camera.  The next day was their first soccer games and I took some pictures of Spencer's game and haven't seen my camera since.  Which is why I'm not posting the fun pictures I took at the park.

My Aunt and Uncle from Oregon were in town and wanted to meet up with my folks and any of us kids for dinner.  Then my Aunt and Uncle from Idaho decided to come down as well.  So we all met up at Spaghetti Factory.  My cousin and his kids came as well.  We had two large tables and risked putting all the kids together at their own table so we could visit with the adults.  Ha, ha you can guess how well that went.  Actually the kids were quite well behaved for the most part.  It was fun visiting with my relatives I don't see often.  The kids had a lot of fun together.  I took this picture with my phone.

Playdates, Cold Stone, and fun with cousins

Spencer didn't have school again.  This time I noticed with enough advance to block off part of my day at work so I only went in for a couple of hours.  Then we arranged for Eric to come over for a playdate.  When I got home from work there was a message from another one of Spencer's friends.  He called again and I invited him over as well.  I figured they are all in the same school class and poor Spencer hasn't had very many playdates with me working so much so I hoped having two at the same time would kind of make up for that.  The three boys played for a few hours.  They played Ninjago--had a discussion about the pronounciation of Nya that I finally had to step in and settle.  Then they had their predictions of who would be the green ninja.  And who they heard someone at school say it would be.  Curious, I looked online and discovered Lloyd Garmadon (son of Lord Garmadon) will become the green ninja.  At least I found a description of the upcoming Green ninja Lego toy that says it is Lloyd.  I told the boys and they didn't believe me because Lloyd isn't a ninja.  So much for my authority.  Then I sent them outside onto the trampoline.  They played out there for a while and then discovered if they ran around on the wet grass in their socks and then got on the trampoline they could slide really well.  I don't think their mothers were too happy to pick them up with wet, dirty socks.  They also had fun playing Beyblades.  Who knew spinners were so exciting?  And they were very good about allowing Tessa to play with them.  I was thinking that Nya Lego toy I supplemented her savings with to buy on our most recent Toys R Us trip was worth every penny so that the boys would let her play with them.  She was grinning and laughing and keeping up with them the whole time.  It was really cute.

Because of work and then the long playdate it was already dinner time.  I made a quick dinner and then the kids asked what we were doing for Friday fun day.  So we took them to ColdStone.  I had purchased some vouchers at Costco so our ice creams were half price.  And I got an extra spoon for Clara but she wouldn't give back my bowl.  At one point Brodie tried to give her his bowl so I could have mine but she only wanted mine.  Good taste.  My favorite is the "Founder's Favorite" which is sweet cream ice cream with brownies, hot fudge, caramel, and pecans.  Tessa got cotton candy with sprinkles, Spencer got banana with Twix bars, and Brodie got red velvet cake with brownies and hot fudge.

Saturday was my nephew, Carson's birthday party.  We went over for cake and ice cream and presents.  The kids had a blast on the swingset and I nudged Brodie a little more about the idea of us getting one.  I wonder if Brodie has learned that if I bring it up as much as I am doing I've already decided we're getting one whether or not he likes the idea.  I'm just hoping if I can get him on board with the idea that he'll help me set it up.  He worked in the garden while watching me try to haul all the boxes of the trampoline, open them, and try to set it up.  I think I was at it for a couple of hours before he gave up and came and helped me.

As we were leaving the birthday party I mentioned we were heading to Rumrz for dinner with our Groupon.  My sister mentioned that they needed to eat before driving back to Tremonton so maybe they'd join us.  My mom volunteers at the Temple so my dad said he'd come because he loves Rumrz.  So then my brother and sister-in-law decided since it was 5:30 and they didn't have anything prepared for dinner that they'd come as well.  My youngest sister had just gotten off the phone with her mother-in-law who was buying dinner for them so she wasn't going to join us.  I don't think the other customers at Rumrz were too happy about our big group of kids, but the cousins had a blast eating together.  We had a "boys" table with Spencer, Logan, Carson, and Jacob.  Then we had a "girls" table with Tessa, Alexis, Aliya, and Clara.  Then we adults sat at another couple of tables and visited while we ate.  It was great fun.  Brodie gave our waitress a 25% tip on our bill for taking such good care and putting up with the bunch of us.

Then I stopped at the Distribution Center to be told I shouldn't procrastinate because they had sold out of pictures of the 12 Apostles a week ago.  She didn't understand I'm much more productive last minute.  So I came home and printed off pictures of them instead.  And I read through 16 conference talks from October's conference.  I finished preparing my sharing time lesson around 1 in the morning.  Combined with the loss of an hour for daylight savings the morning came way too early.  And because we had been out kind of late I didn't get all the kids bathed and showered Saturday night so I had to do it Sunday morning.

Even though we had all been together on Saturday for Carson's birthday and most of us went to dinner last night, we all got together again at my parents' house for dinner Sunday evening.  We of course had a whole bunch of yummy food and enjoyed trying to get a word in the conversation during dinner.  Because of the nice weather all the kids wanted to play outside in my parents' huge backyard.  But the stairs off their deck don't have stairs and their huge yard has plenty of dangerous things for my little Clara so I went out to make sure she was safe.  While taking care of the baby I heard the kids playing zombies and then heard mention of playing a game called "murder".  I was a little apprehensive about my little ones playing these older kid games so I intervened and told the girls we should play fairies.  I flew Clara around and we all chose a name and had fun being fairies.  So much fun in fact that the boys wanted in on the action.  So Carson declared himself Jack Frost and he was out to capture or destroy the fairies.  So my heroic Spencer declared himself the person to save the fairies and he and Carson proceeded to wrestle and chase each other while the girls ran away from them, found hiding places, and collected magic berries.  I don't remember what Logan was doing during all this.  But at one point he was chopping a tree stump with a couple gardening shovels he found and ended up cutting his finger.  So I got him a band aid.  Then I decided to ring the kids in a bit in hopes of having a little more control over the wildness.  So I enrolled them all in "Fairy School".  I taught them how to fly like a fairy and a couple other things.  Then Bailee wanted to teach them how to be a fairy rockstar.  Then Aliya wanted to teach them how to magically disappear from one place and reappear in another place (I'll give you a clue--it had something to do with covering your eyes).  Tessa was too shy to teach anything and I don't remember what Afton taught.  Alexis taught fairy gymnastics.  Then Carson got in the action declaring himself "Fire Fairy" and taught us how to make a fairy fire.  Then Logan taught us how to make a Fairy Thunderstrike.  And Spencer taught us how to make a fairy laser force field.  After that I left them on their own and came inside with Clara.  I am so glad my kids have cousins their age who we get to see regularly enough to have so much fun together.  It was a great weekend!

Tired of McDonald's and more Ute gymnastics

The kids have been going crazy ever since they learned McDonald's would be getting Star Wars and Build-a-Bear toys.  And one day we passed by the McDonald's on Highland Drive just South of Fort Union and somehow their McDonald's radar eyes caught from the car window a small glimpse of the music playland and really wanted to go.  They have this same play feature at the McDonald's by the District (although the District one has a bunch of other fun stuff and the Cottonwood Heights one only has the music toys).  After Spencer's school I drove straight to the McDonald's.  Spencer's friend was with us but his mom recently brought Spencer to Farr's for ice cream so I didn't think she'd mind if I brought Eric to McDonald's with us.  Plus Tessa, Clara, and I hadn't even eaten lunch yet.  Of course buying 4 Happy Meals and my own food was pretty expensive.  But the boys got some Star Wars spinner toy and the girls got some little Build-A-Bear toys.  I was pretty disappointed with the toys this time.  And the kids weren't happy with their selection either.  While I typically tell the kids they get what they get the restaurant was pretty empty and I hoped a different toy might be cooler so I took the kids to the counter to ask if we could trade.  The staff was very unfriendly and uncooperative about the idea so the boys kept what they had and only Tessa traded so she didn't have the same toy as Clara.

The kids had a blast sliding down the piano slide and playing on the guitar and xylophone.  They also had fun playing the little touch screen computer games.  Here are some pictures of this McDonald's play area:

I've never particularly cared for McDonald's food and I think I've exceeded my tolerance threshhold.  I didn't even finish my food because it was so bad.  There was hardly any meat--it was mainly fluffy nothing bread.  And when I took a little bite of the thin patty of meat by itself I noticed it didn't taste a thing like beef.  Then I tried one of the kids' chicken nuggets and was really disgusted.  It was mushy and didn't taste anything like chicken.  So I've decided at least for a while I'll just buy the toy separately on occasion and then take the kids to Chik-Fil-A instead.  Really.  The customer service is great.  The staff is always happy, smiling, and friendly.  And they even tell me to go ahead and sit down and they'll bring my tray out when it's ready.  The restaurants are always clean when I go.  They even have the plastic placemats that stick onto the table for little ones.  And if  I forget to get one the person bringing around mints brings me one without me even asking.  They also have little plastic containers of Cheerios to keep the baby happy until her food comes, although someone is usually bringing out our food just as I am opening the container.  And they have coloring pages and crayons.  The one by South Towne has a fun treehouse that is perfect for little babies who can't climb, and even the older kids like it.  I don't remember if the other Chik-Fil-As I've been to have this same set up or not.  And the most recent time I visited I noticed they now have grilled chicken nuggets and squeezable applesauce for the kids meals if you'd like.  And they use real chicken.  Real chicken that tastes real good.  And the most recent time I went I noticed they dropped their prices.  I think the 4-piece nugget kids meal was only $3.49 or something really close to that.  And they didn't even charge an upgrade to a cup of fresh fruit or the applesauce.  And their toys are educational.  The last time I went they had books.  Tessa got one on Helen Keller and Clara got a little board book.  Over the summer they brought Chik-Fil-A sandwiches to the skate park on family skate nights and they were also passing around coupons so we ended up with quite a few buy fries and a drink get a free chicken sandwich coupons.  Plus Wednesday night you can get a free kids' meal with each adult meal you purchase.  I really regretted my trip to McDonald's.  The kids didn't even play with their toys after this day.  But Spencer's really begging to go back on the next toy rotation when they will have the Green Lantern Animated Series.

On the radio we heard an advertisement for the Utes gym meet against Stanford.  We had a free family pass (in the upper seats) from Tessa's gymnastic class so we decided to go.  It was a lot of fun and the U barely squeezed past Stanford for the win.  This time Tessa really enjoyed watching the older girls.  After the meet she said she was going to learn how to walk on the balance beam on her hands so she could win when she was bigger.  I told that to her gymnastics coach the following week.  Spencer also seemed to enjoy watching the cool tricks, but I think his favorite was riding on Trax.  Clara's attention didn't hold so I pulled up some Elmo videos on my new Smartphone for her.  But then all the kids wanted me to get them videos to watch.

An unusually warm February day at Wheeler Farm

Spencer's friend was sick so we didn't have a planned playdate after school.  And the weather was so absolutely beautiful despite being the middle of February.  So we stopped at Wheeler Farm after school.  The kids had so much fun on the playground.  Even Clara kept climbing up and going down the slide.  I had to follow her up and around because there were too many places for her to fall off.  And she kept trying to go where the bigger kids went.  But she loved the slide.  The older kids also pointed out to her all the little carved animals that were hiding.  Clara loves animals.  She knows a lot of animal sounds and names of animals.  I think animals rank right up there with princesses, Elmo, and Minnie Mouse.  I loved chasing the kids around in the nice weather.

Then we walked around the farm.  Have I mentioned how much I love living in Sandy, Utah?  I do.  I know it's not Manhattan, but it does have more of a "city" feel than small towns like Tremonton (I know you won't argue this one Tiff).  Yet we still have a lot of outdoor things to do and even a free working farm to visit (I know Tiff has one just down the street from her...and up the street...and around the street...).  Once again Clara is mesmerized by animals so she loved this.  Last time we went (blog on here with pictures already so I didn't take any this time) she was still too little to walk around by herself so she loved it this time.  She ran right towards the ducks and geese and wanted to pet them.  Spencer kept yelling, "No, Clara!" because he thought they would bite her.  He's a very good, protective big brother.  The geese were even bigger than Clara but she wasn't the slightest bit nervous to get right up and try to pet them.  Tessa was sad I didn't think to bring bread.  At least today I didn't see anyone feeding the ducks and geese chicken nuggets and french fries like the last time we went. 

Cows and dogs are Clara's favorite animals.  And it just so happened there was a lady with a pet dog by the cows.  Clara got so excited and was "moo"-ing at the cows.  Of course all the kids had to pet the cows.  Then we went over to the horses, who the kids also got to pet.  From there we headed to the goats, pigs, sheep, turkeys, and chickens.  And then back to the playground again.

When we got home we were happy to see Brodie back from his trip to Florida!  The kids are used to him going on much longer trips overseas and returning with unique, cool items.  So Brodie made an effort to track down something fun for the kids.  He brought Spencer an alligator head and Tessa a wooden, carved dolphin figure.  Which she really loved since we watched Dolphin Tale and ate pizza one night while Brodie was gone.

What a perfect Friday fun day!

The Wild West at Veterans Memorial Park

I wanted to take the kids to see the witches at Gardner Historical Village on Friday but it was INSANE.  Instead I met up with my sister and her kids at Veterans Memorial Park off of Redwood Road and 7800 South in West Jordan.  We met up at the Wild West playground (there are a few playground here and this one is just at the entrance/exit off of Redwood Road).  My kids and I have never been out here before and I'm so glad we made it.  As much as my kids love playgrounds, I enjoy finding the unique ones.  We'll definitely be coming back here again.

This was a mainly wood type playground with tons of little buildings they could go in and most had the platforms kids could climb up on and slides going down.  There was a little climbing wall and a rope type bridge.

There were 2 different swing sets.  The one in the older kids section had a couple regular swings, one of the large red ones for disabled kids, and a tire swing that the 3 girls had a blast on.  (Janelle--I have one where you can't see Tessa but is way cute of your girls' faces that I'll send you)

This playground was sort of split into 2.  One said it was for kids ages 2-5.  The other said for kids 5-12.  The little one had the baby swings and another one of the special red ones.  This side had smaller structures and a couple small slides.  Clara LOVED the slides and the swings and got mad if we left either of these.

The only problem with a fun playground that is so large is that it is so large.  It was fully fenced--only 2 ways in and out.  But you couldn't see one entrance from the other.  And from plenty of places you couldn't see either entrance.  And the fences were really low and kids were going between and over the fences continually.  Not to mention all the places someone could hide or get lost within the structures.  Yes, I'm a bit paranoid so my heart was racing most of the time we were here as I was having a hard time keeping my eyes on all 3 of my kids.  I was glad my sisters' kids were also there cuz that gave us 2 adults and with the 5 kids it was more likely that there were always at least 2 of them together.

Later that night my sister brought her girls over while she went to the Witch-a-Palooza Show.  Spencer and Bailee took a bunch of science books out back and were reading them and exploring the back yard.  Tessa and Afton were looking through all their collections of Dora books while sitting in the backyard and Clara had fun just getting on and off her chair by all the big kids.  Then the kids collected some leaves and grass and asked if they could make a picture with them so I got some paper and glue and let them have at it.  Then my mom came and picked up the girls to take them back to their place for bed while I put mine down here.  As Spencer was reading Chocolate Covered Ants to me I heard the phone ring and realized with panic that I had never given my mom the key to my sister's place.  So I drove 25 minutes out there where she was reading them bedtime stories on their stairs.  I used to think it was funny that my mom would leave half-drunk cans of Diet Coke in the most random places and never be able to remember where she had left them.  I think losing your mind is one of those involuntary sacrifices you make when you become a mother.

Playgrounds and Neighbors

Spencer has been in school all week.  While he's gone Tessa keeps hanging on me constantly wanting me to do something with her.  While I love spending time with her, I have other things that need to get done as well.  But I feel so bad when she gets that "look" on her face when I tell her I'm busy.  So I've spent a lot of time playing princesses, baby dolls, dress up, Wii, coloring, and reading.  We also went to the puppet show at the library then spent one hour reading books and then ran into my mother-in-law and nephews and spent some time visiting with them.  We went shopping together at Kohl's and Costco (she actually likes shopping, unlike myself--or Spencer).  As a result I haven't gotten much done around the house this week.

Thursday afternoon I briefly thought about what we'd do on Friday for our Friday Fun Day.  It's Spencer's early day from school so we still have time to do something.  I considered the Reservoir, Seven Peaks, or a splashpad.  But then we had this crazy burst of lightning, thunder, and rain.  The weather Thursday night said to expect the same kind of sudden storm for the next few days.  I could see us getting everyone in swimming suits and sunblock, packing towels and water and snacks, driving 30 minutes to get somewhere, and then having the storm hit.  So I tried thinking of something that didn't involve water.

Friday morning I woke up in a grouchy mood.  Maybe cuz I had a crappy night's sleep or maybe just because I'm me, but I didn't really get out of it.  So I didn't want to go sit outside in the 90+ degree weather nor did I want to go and spend a lot of money.  And Clara was pretty ornery and I wanted her to get a nap in the afternoon.  And I really wanted to catch up on laundry, dishes, and cleaning up the house.  So I decided after Spencer's school we'd come home, put Clara down for a nap, let the kids watch half an hour of TV while I started on changing sheets & laundry, then do homework with the kids, then have the kids help me pick up toys in all the rooms of the house.  Then after dinner we'd go to a park when it's a little cooler.  The kids weren't too happy so I told them we'd go to a park they haven't been to and get ice cream after.  That worked.

Sadly my kids have never been to Murray Park so that's where we went.  We went in the main entrance off of State Street and the kids just wanted to play at the playground, not explore the stream or anything else.  So we pushed the girls on the swings and watched the kids play around the very crowded playground.  It was pretty windy, but they had a lot of fun!

 

Then we cleaned their hands with baby wipes and hand sanitizer and drove to Cold Stone.  I had bought one of the City Deals certificates a while ago and I really like Cold Stone.  Brodie actually prefers his favorite kind from the grocery store, which is why we rarely go there.  But I enjoyed the Founders' Favorite (sweet cream ice cream with brownies, caramel, fudge, and pecans) and Tessa got pink ice cream (strawberry) with sprinkles while Spencer got banana ice cream with gummy bears.  Clara shared mine with me.  Well, she screamed every time I took a bite and really thought the whole thing was hers.

Saturday morning I was up with the kids at 7 so I could get everyone fed, dressed & ready to head out to the Out of Darkness Walk at Sugarhouse Park.  Earlier this year our neighbor's 13 year old son committed suicide.  This walk was to raise money and awareness for suicide prevention.  His favorite color was red, so we all wore red.  Some of our neighbor's family members came in from California and a few other families from the neighborhood also came down to support them.  I'm so grateful I live in such a great neighborhood!  I thought the turnout for the walk was great!  There were so many people there.  It's sad to think of how many people lost someone they loved to suicide, but great that the families have so much support and are spreading awareness that will hopefully help others considering suicide.

The first thing Spencer noticed as I was applying sunblock to the kids was a bird nest in the corner of the pavilion.  Turns out there was one in each of the 4 corners.  The mommy birds were busy flying back and forth to feed the hungry little mouths.  They were really cute.

We brought the old double Graco stroller to push both girls in.  Not fun to push both girls up those hills.  Especially after borrowing my sister's Phil & Ted stroller earlier this summer and now having something to compare it to.  Thankfully Brodie pushed it most of the time.  Really if it were 15 degrees cooler and Tessa could walk the whole way by herself I really think I would have enjoyed it.  It's a beautiful park and I had some great neighbors to talk with as we walked.  But after we completed one rotation of the park and started on the second, the kids were really whining and I was really sweaty so the kids and I cut out to a playground while Brodie finished the second lap with the group.  Spencer had a great time at the playground but after 5 minutes Tessa just kept complaining of how hot all the playground equipment was.  And it was only 11:00 in the morning!  I was hot and sweaty and Clara's face was red so we stayed on the grass under a tree.  Clara was mad about this and kept crying and trying to go play with her siblings.

We then headed back over to the main area to wait for Brodie and the group to finish the second lap.  While waiting Spencer had his face painted.  He wanted to be a black puppy dog.

Then we came home, had lunch, and sent Spencer to his best friend's house for a playdate.  I took a second shower and filled 100 mini-tarts to bring to our neighbor's house for a BBQ.  We hung out on the grass (everyone else sat at tables but with Clara I decided the grass would be easier for us) eating hamburgers and hotdogs and some yummy salads and stuff.  Spencer and Tessa had a blast playing with a few of the older neighborhood kids who were there and Brodie enjoyed visiting with the adults.  I was able to do a little visiting, while mainly taking care of the baby.

cousins, water, dinosaurs, and the Zoo

I meant to put this post up last weekend, but so goes life.  Brodie was out of town last week for work and since it was the last week of the summer I knew we needed some fun, summery things to do.  Wednesday I headed up to my sister's place in Tremonton to spend the day with her.  However, as I was in the shower Tessa came running up saying there was an emergency and that Clara was spitting up and it was too stinky.  I jumped out of the shower and came running downstairs in a towel to find Spencer hiding on the fireplace so he wouldn't get any throw up on him and poor little Clara was more scared than anything and screaming so hard.  I tore off her pukey clothes and held her to calm her down.  And of course I had fed her a bowl full of blueberries for breakfast.  So I cleaned her up and then stuck her in her high chair while I proceeded to clean the carpet and get her clothes and the rags in the washing machine immediately.  I then brought her up to my bathroom while I finished getting ready.  She was acting just fine, holding down soda crackers, and didn't have a fever so I decided to proceed with my plans for Tremonton. 

After packing up the van, setting up the DVD players, and stopping for bathrooms and McDonald's we finally made it to Tremonton around 1:00.  The kids headed up immediately to Aliya's room where they had so much fun.  Especially Tessa as she had another girl to play with.  A typical day in our playroom has Tessa playing princesses in her castle and then Spencer crashes a monster truck in it killing the princesses.  Then some screaming and yelling occurs and so on.  Here's Tessa having fun with Aliya in her beautiful, girly room:

A little later the kids got on their swimming suits and headed out to go swimming in the hot tub.  My sister has it turned down during the day for the kids to play in and then turns it up in the evening.  Aliya is a little water baby and kept doing sommersaults and all sorts of fun stuff.  Tessa kept sticking her head in the water.  Spencer was fine with his feet on the ground and water not being squirted onto his face.  Clara even spent a little time in the water with either Tiffany or me holding onto her from outside the hot tub.

We stayed for dinner and ended up getting home around 9:30.  Spencer and Tessa both fell asleep on the way home but Clara didn't.  I enjoyed a yummy late night snack of crackers with cream cheese and the habanero jelly my sister sent home with me.  It was better than ice cream.  Then around midnight Clara woke up crying and when I went to get her she had thrown up again.  I cleaned her up again and put her bedding and pajamas into the wash.  Then I had to make sure I stayed up long enough to get them in the dryer in case I needed to change them back.  The next morning she threw up in her crib again.  So we stayed in on Thursday, other than driving Tessa to preschool.  Since we weren't going anywhere fun and the front yard needed some extra water, I sent the kids out front with the sprinklers.

Clara didn't throw up again so Friday we headed to Hogle Zoo with my other sister, Janelle.  Spencer went earlier this year with his kindergarten class but the girls and I haven't seen the robotic dinosaurs yet so I was excited.  I thought of our trips to Red Butte and Thanksgiving Point Gardens earlier this week and decided to pull out the old Graco double stroller for the zoo.  I haven't used it since last summer and didn't think pushing that heavy stroller with both kids around the zoo was too much fun.  We went to the bird show that was a lot of fun and informative.  The kids liked the talking parrots, dancing cockatoo, and the flying birds of prey.  After that we had some lunch that we had packed up for the kids.  We watched the monkeys and elephants and had fun watching the cool, realistic robotic dinosaurs.  We dug for dinosaur bones in the sand and played in the water from the squirting dinosaur and from the cooling fans.  The kids favorite thing seemed to be locating the dinosaurs we were looking at in their guide book and reading about them.  Tessa didn't want to get out of the stroller.  If you haven't been to the zoo while they have their Zoorassic Park exhibit, you should really get out there before August 31 and see these cool dinosaurs.

But pushing the double stroller, the 90 degree weather, and the fact that I have been to the zoo so many times (I have had a pass 4 out of the last 6 years) that I feel I have seen and done it all made the 3 hours we had been at the zoo feel like long enough.  So instead of seeing the rest of the zoo we rode the train and then played at the playground for quite a while and then we left.  Spencer was sad we didn't go in the stinky, but cool, reptile building and I told him we'd come again when the weather drops about 20 degrees.  He seemed fine with that.  I think the kids had more fun playing with their cousins than looking at the animals anyway.