SLC

I just got back from 10 days in Utah. I decided i was feeling well enough and that we all needed more of a diversion, an actual "summer vacation" and Utah is close enough to drive, we have a free and easy place to stay (my parents' condo) and there's a lot to do. As much as i will not live in Utah for a number of different reasons, i do love visiting. So much kid stuff to do in a very small proximity. Parks on every other corner. Etc., etc.

We drove to Breckenridge on Thursday night after Doug got home from work and stayed at a friend's condo. This cut off a good two hours from the following day's drive, which was really nice. The boys are stellar road-trippers. Seriously, they are so good. Yes, we have a DVD player and that helps, too, but they will sit and listen to audiobooks, look out the window and point things out, look at books and they know that after lunch we always do "quiet time" in the car. This way Keegen always falls asleep and most of the time Bode gets an hour nap as well.

We got in Friday evening and realized that our van A/C stopped working somewhere around Price. So we spent a lovely $1100 getting that fixed on Saturday (ain't no way i was driving BACK to CO without A/C). NOT how i'd planned to spend that kind of money. How did the A/C go out on a 3-year old van? There's a separation in the front bumper (just how it's designed) and a ROCK got between the separation as we drove and blew a hole in our condenser. So much for my CHEAP vacation. Alas. Our van had to sit in the shop all weekend since we have an extended warranty and wanted to see if any of the cost was covered from that. Thankfully, my parents keep a Jeep at the condo so we weren't stranded or having to rent a car for the weeekend. Anywho.

I've already forgotten the order of events. I used to have such a great memory! Oh well. We did LOTS. I think the boys played on Saturday--oh ya. Doug's brother came up to SLC and they played tennis with the boys and we had lunch at Morelia's. Sunday we met my grandma at the Original Pancake House for breakfast (they have GF pancakes. Bode was thrilled!). I made a trip to Ikea at some point during the weekend and spent way more than i should have. But i LOVE the underbed storage baskets i got. Love love love them. They are filled with all my extra sheets and quilts that were falling all over the place in my closets. Doug left Sunday night to go back home to work until Thursday.

So while he was away, we took advantage of all the things to do. We took Trax to the planetarium (riding on Trax is a treat for the boys in and of itself and we can get on it literally one block down the hill from my parents' condo). I wasn't so sure about the planetarium at first. There didn't seem to be as much to do as there should be, but the boys had a blast. They spent a lot of time on this "Newton's Sculpture" thingy, where these big balls and little balls orbitted around the ceiling and inside a glass 2-story wall. They could manipulate the balls with knobs on the outside of the glass and make the balls hit stuff inside the glass to make noises/music. Hard to 'splain. I was bored with it, but they could have played with it allthelivelongday. I decided to splurge and we watched the 3D IMAX Under the Sea. They're favorite part of the movie was the popcorn. We spent some time at Liberty Park where they have a splashpad now (maybe they had it last time and i didn't notice?). We drove up to Ogden and spent the afternoon with the Zeke, Bode's long-lost best buddy from CO. We also took Trax again another day and met Zeke and family at the children's museum, which has yet to disappoint us. We spent a large part of a day at Thanksgiving Point's children's garden. It was a really fun place to explore. Like the planetarium, i wasn't sure about it initially. It seemed really small and not terribly interesting until we just really explored. They had neat hedge mazes. And a lighthouse (where if you're taller than 4 1/2 feet tall you will crack your head on the door on your way out and see stars and wait for your black-out or concussion to occur. So beware). A pond full of waterlilies and fish that we fed. But we spent most of our time in the "outdoor classrooms" where they kids could build with "blocks." Literally just random shaped and sized pieces of wood that they had piled up around tables the kids could build on. Anyway. It ended up being time well-spent. Oh, and the splash area with the Noah's Ark and fountains was fun, too. A little mini-golf in the 100 degree heat (i was dying. And so glad they were quick little golfers). We ate out quite a bit and had lots of ice cream and treats and wore ourselves out. It was great!

Doug came back in the wee hours of Friday morning (he was supposed to get in around 8pm Thursday night, but weather in Denver delayed him). Friday he took the boys to Provo to play at Seven Peaks Water Park (which, by the way, is where Doug and i met ice skating eons ago!). The place was PACKED even when i dropped them off 10 minutes after they opened (it WAS a holiday for a lot of people, so i shouldn't have been so surprised). I was really curious to hear how the boys did since Bode won't go under water and neither are super-comfortable in water. They.did.awesome! They had so much fun. And the areas for the smaller kids weren't so packed as the rest of the place. Bode went down slides into pools over and over and was very proud of himself for going under the water. Keegen had a blast. They all went down the bigger slides together on a 2-man raft. They were there from 11-3:30 and had nothing but really great things to say about it. I was so happy. While they played, i tooled around the BYU Bookstore and then headed to the mall. There wasn't as much to do down there as i'd thought, but i enjoyed my time alone, especially after being the only parent for the week. I had a nice lunch just me and my book at PF Chang's.

I'm getting sketchy again on details, but i think Friday night we went to Doug's Aunt Susan's house for a 4th of July BBQ. Doug's parents drove down from Oregon so it was nice to see everyone. The kids had a great time playing with Doug's cousins' kids and after dark everyone hiked up the hill for the North Salt Lake fireworks show. Saturday?? I don't remember. I was kind of done. Ready to go back home. I think we spent more time with Doug's parents and brother and sister-in-law.

And Sunday was the long drive back home. But it was surprisingly tolerable. The boys did great. I did better than usual ;) We took the route through Wyoming which is usually painful (so brown and boring) but it was fine.

Anywho. TOO MUCH FUN. It was exactly what i wanted it to be. I just wanted to go go go with the boys and that's what we did. I was sure i'd come home and my cervix would be gone and i'd be put on bedrest, but amazingly, i am just dandy. No cervical shortening or funnelling. Yahoo!

The boys have had to adjust to not going non-stop and not getting treats every time they ask! I forgot my camera which i don't think i've ever done before. It's kind of a shame, but it was also kind of freeing. Here's the one and only picture we got. The Pillsbury Doughboy's got nothin' on me.

The End.