Staycation

Awhile ago we had decided that we were going to take this weekend and go to Park City for a couple of nights for a little vacation. We kept looking into it but couldn't make definite plans. The night that we were about to book a room, I came up with another idea. How about we save the money on the hotel, and just spend the weekend like it was a vacation, but sleep at home. So that's what we decided to do.

I took Friday off of work. We got up early and took the kids to daycare. Paul and I headed up to Park City to do the Mid Mountain trail again. However, this time, we did the whole thing. We rode 26 miles from Deer Valley to Canyons ski resort. It took us 3 hours and 50 minutes of ride time and 4 hours 45 minutes total time(there was a tire change in there). It was a tough ride. We had previously done the first 8 miles of it and really enjoyed it. The other end was a lot different. There was a lot of steeps and a lot of rocks. It was much more technical and tiring.

When we got to Canyons, we caught a city bus back to our car. We drove back home and took quick showers. We went and got the kids from daycare at 430 and went out to dinner at Ruth's Diner.It was really nice weather to eat outside

After the diner, we took the kids to the zoo. The zoo was PACKED and we realized it was actually closed for a private party. However, the guy at the gate didn't totally kick us out so we just went in anyways. We had promised Colin the zoo and he had his mind set on it. We couldn't take it back now. We just didn't stay too long and tried to stay in the areas it wasn't as crowded.

Audrey in the playground at the zoo

By the time we finished at the zoo it was bedtime so we headed home for the night.

On Saturday morning we got up and took the kids to Seven Peaks water park. We have a season pass to the place(included in a pass we bought for other things) and this is the first time we went. One of the reasons we were going to stay at a hotel was to take the kids to the pool to play. We figured this would be even better. The place is kind of run down but it does have great slides and tons of things that are appropriate for our kids' ages. They had a couple kiddie pools, a splash pad and lazy river. Paul took Colin on a tube down one of the "real" water slides, the slowest one, but Colin wasn't too impressed and didn't want to do it again.

We were there for a few hours and then took the kids home for nap time. Audrey fell asleep in the car though.

Saturday night we were all exhausted. Paul and I were pretty worn out from our ride and the kids were tired from the park. We just had a quick dinner at home and played on the deck.

Sunday morning we got up and I went for a run. We then packed up the kids and took them to Silver Lake for a little hike. We love it up there. It is so pretty and such a relaxing walk around the lake. Colin walked the whole way and Audrey did most of it. They loved the wildlife they saw(birds, ducks, fish, squirrels) and loved exploring and climbing on rocks.

So cute....holding hands and walking together

I LOVE this picture of Audrey

Climbing and jumping off of everything. Audrey has to do all that Colin does

"Take my picture Mommy!"

Trying to get another cute one of Audrey but didn't quite get the smile this time

Audrey LOVED the ducks. I don't know if you can tell from this video but I was about to have a heart attack with her on that boardwalk. I was so very much wishing that I had one of those kid leashes. I thought she was going to just dive right in.



She "quacked" at the ducks for a long time



After the lake we headed down to Silver Fork Lodge for lunch, which ended up being breakfast because at noon on Sunday they aren't serving lunch yet. We ate outside again and it was really nice.

It was a busy weekend and it really did feel like a vacation. I told Paul I "don't want to go back to the real world tomorrow". I want to stay on our staycation.

Messy Girl

Audrey sure can make a mess at dinner time. We never do pasta with marinara sauce unless it is bath night.

She was put straight into the bath

Our Garden

I recently changed my eating habits and haven't been eating any meat. Around this same time I decided that I would like to try a garden this year. We had talked about it before but never felt we had the time to do it. We decided we'd give it a try, start small, and not get our hopes up. Paul told me this was a project that was all mine and he didn't want to be stuck doing all the work, I had to do it. I talked to my dad about it and got him on board to help. He did a lot of preparing the area that we were going to use. It didn't stay very "small".

Since it was late in the season when we decided to do the garden, we started with mostly plants, instead of seeds. This was right after planting.

This one was taken a couple of weeks ago after my dad decided to plant corn. We've all had a lot of fun watching it grow. Colin gets really excited each time we go out and find more vegetables.

Starting to get some vegetables!

We actually had some zucchini from our garden for dinner last night. I didn't realize how rewarding it would be. This picture was taken with the phone for a size reference. I took it to send my dad, whose back in NY, so he could see how it was going. I figured I'd add it to the post.

Tibble Fork Loop

Today after church we headed up American Fork Canyon with Tara, Ben, Eliana, Jason, and Lindsay to hike Tibble Fork. It's a loop that's just under 4 miles long. This was the first time we have gone on a hike like this with each of us carrying one of the kids. It was a pretty steep uphill with a little flat at the top and then a steep downhill. I felt pretty good carrying Audrey. I actually expected it to be tougher. The hardest part was going downhill because it was a little technical and I lost my footing a couple of times with the off balance weight on my back. Paul carried Colin but I think he might have gotten out easier because Colin actually hiked a lot of it. We took both of the dogs. They had a blast, but probably won't be able to walk for days.

It really was a beautiful hike

Colin did so well hiking. He wanted to hike on his own as much as he had energy for and really did a lot of it....and it wasn't easy hiking

Paul had the camera today so we don't have any pictures of he and Colin hiking but here's a video of the fun they had


We had to hike across the river a couple of times. The water was FREEZING

We took some family pictures when we got back to the car. Audrey had eaten a granola bar that had some chocolate in it and had it all over her.

It was a busy weekend

On Friday afternoon, Paul dropped the kids off at daycare and I got out of work a little early and we went for a bike ride. We rode downtown on the Bonneville Shoreline trail. We had planned to do another ride but found out it was closed(at least we found out before we went). We knew there was a chance we would be riding the next day too so we didn't want to push it too hard. We rode about 7 miles.

Paul riding above SLC

On Saturday we got a babysitter and went to Park City to ride the Mid Mountain trail with Tara, Ben, and Marty. That trail is a lot of fun! We started at Silver Lake at Deer Valley and rode up and over to Park City. We had hoped to ride all the way to Canyons but were running out of time with the babysitters so we went down Spiro. That was a really fun down but also really crowded so that made it kinda tough.

Paul and Tara overlooking Park City

Right after I took that last picture we turned around and saw that this moose had joined us on the trail.

After we got back to the valley we all went out to lunch. We then headed home and got the kids. This was their second time with their new babysitter. The last time she watched them, they went to bed about 30 minutes after we left. This time she had them a good portion of the day and had to feed them lunch and put them for their naps. It all went really well. I'm excited to finally have/be willing to use a babysitter.

After we picked up the kids, we took them down to the rec center to swim at the pool. They loved it and had so much fun. I only have a couple of pictures from my phone though because I forgot the camera.

Sunday was another busy day but I think I'll do another post for that.

Golfing.....

.....is fun for all ages.



I had a girls' day this week with some friends from work. We decided to go golfing, dinner, and a movie. I had only been golfing once before so Paul took me to the driving range so I could get a little more practice. I really do enjoy playing. I'm totally awful at it but it is fun. The driving range was a pretty successful outing with the kids on Sunday after church.
We might make it more of a regular thing.

Promise Rehab Camping and Boating Trip

Last weekend we had our annual rehab boating trip. This year Barb and Kevin offered their cabin as a place to stay on Friday night. We were excited to get the kids out camping for the first time while still having a toilet and refrigerator available. It was a lot of fun. Their cabin is out near Oakley but way out in the woods. They have a 2 bedroom cabin with a fire pit, frisbee golf course and a tent area in the woods. We decided that we would tent so we didn't have to worry about the kids waking anyone else up during the night.

In the tent at 6am

Our tent site

Campfire

Overall camping went pretty well. It was a lot of work though. It was a lot of work getting packed and putting up the tent for just one night. And it was a lot of work because anything that we do with Audrey is.

On Saturday we got up and went boating at Rockport Reservoir. It was COLD water. It took a lot of preparation to get in the water.

Paul wakeboarding

Watching Preston....the kids really enjoyed watching him because he did a lot of tricks

Colin waving the flag

Colin and Paul went out on the tube first, but then Audrey and I joined them

All of us on the tube

I was able to make it up on the wakeboard but then was a little lost at what to do once I was there. Apparently everyone was really surprised I made it up and I was pretty funny to watch trying to figure out what I was doing.



Colin had so much fun telling us we had to go pick someone up from the water after they fell.



Colin really liked the boat and kept asking to go on the boat again. The kids were exhausted after the trip. They slept the hour ride home and stayed asleep while we carried them to their beds. They then slept another 1 1/2 hrs and we had to wake Colin up for dinner.

We all had a lot of fun and I know the kids loved it all. However, I'm not sure how soon I'll be ready to take Audrey camping again. She is just not very good with changes to her routine right now and she is definitely awful with strangers(pretty much anyone other than Paul and I).