I am in the beehive state. I needed dental work and have loss trust in my Maryland dentist so we decided to work in a family vacation around a gold crown on number 15. It has been so great to connect with my many relatives here. We also timed this so that I could possibly be here for the birth of my sister's baby. She had it yesterday- Yeah! I get to go down to Provo and meet him in about an hour. I wisely decided to let the kids get some much needed rest this morning instead of waking them early to go go go as we have done done done all week week week. My hint that this was needed was that my Big Girl said to me last night, "can we just have a day at Grandma's where we don't leave and we have nothing to do all day?" Sounds boring to me but they just can't get enough of the suitcase full of old marbles and laundry scoopers she keeps for sorting. Who needs LaGoon (a Utah amusement park) when you have a bunch of marbles?
Today our zoo plans have been changed to sleeping in and then going to see a new baby. That sounds like a good swap. Here's what we have done so far for anyone who's taking notes (and btw for all you stalkers who may be up to no good, my husband and two oldest boys are now home in Maryland so don't even think about home invasion). What we've done in Utah (list style because details would only bore): LaGoon (disappointed in the lack of street shoot-outs in Pioneer Village but otherwise awesome). A family reunion in the park with a 6 mile hike up the mountains and plenty of karaoke, paper airplane contests, ice-blocking and rain. Get together with old friends from medical school days (twice! Meaning we met up with two different sets of friends). This was a real highlight for me. A family ice cream social with T's family-fun and fattening, A visit to Utah lake where both boys got up on a wake board my husband skiied like a 20 yr old, I gave up on abusing my body trying to get up, and Little Boy's sunscreen failed him miserably. That boy got an A for not giving up even when the life jacket was rubbing his poor armpits into abrasion status. He was an inspiration to me. Looking back I realized I forgot to use my old super duper gripping position that stops the handle from snapping out of my hands. Next time for sure! I better also keep doing my push-ups in cage fitness class. There is still a Saturday left if I can corner my niece with a nice boat and bribe her somehow to take us inexperienced Easterners out on that filthy green lake of glass. I'm afraid if Middle Boy hears that we went out again he without him he will be furious. We also went swimming at a nice pool with water slides but way too many kids yesterday. Afterwards we sampled the Utah Cafe Rio and made comparisons to the Olney one where we live. About the same but with a whiter staff, tons more screaming kids, and a higher sneeze guard. Then we went to the Iceburg malt shop and gorged on ice cream to the point of throwing the extra away. Never had that happen before but we were without 3 of our best finishers. All in all it's been busy but so fun. I think I have T convinced that we need to do this annually. We just need to plan for it.
I was a bit worried because we left our oldest home alone for a week. He showed all sorts of creativity when he ran out of gas money by filling his tank with our lawn mowing tanks. Not surprisingly the lawn didn't get mowed. But hey, at least the dog was alive upon T's return so that's saying something. Maybe he will learn next time to not buy 10.00 headphones (when you only have 20.00 gas money) on his lunch hour at work just because he forgot his at home. KIDS!
