Day #7 Utah Trip - Pioneers, Parades and Picnics

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My mom had a fabulous idea that I'm so glad worked out. Since my sister works for This is the Place State Park in Salt Lake, she called Chrissy's boss - who loves her - and asked if we could get discount tickets. He was sooo nice and got our family in for free! We went the day before Pioneer Day (every July 24th in Utah) so they had all kinds of fun things going on there! When we arrived, we found these adorable pioneer hats in the gift shop and had to get them. Little did we know just how handy they'd be for blocking the hot sun and holding candy in from the "Candy Cannon". The girls LOVE them and still wear them all the time. (I am writing this two weeks later.) They love Little House on the Prairie and feel like Laura Ingalls.

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Do we look hot? But we're having fun!

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The girls all got to ride horses at the park!

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What a cutie pie...

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Playing with the school bell.

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Sarah always has such funny expressions. I don't even know what this one was for - she didn't know I was taking her picture.

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My "adopted" cousin, Wendy, used to work at the park and my brother found her name in the schoolhouse. I'm thinking she was role playing one of the teachers? It was so cool to find her name! She was truly a modern pioneer. She got to do the entire reenactment of the pioneer trek several years ago - it sounded amazing!

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Angela and Rachel ready to learn at school.

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This guy was hilarious. He played one of those quacky salesman with all kinds of medicine "good for what ales you". Here he is helping Collin with something that will aid in the healing of Collin's sunburn. (o:

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Danny was hilarious and said something like his arm had a fever. He was very serious about it and really wanted it fixed. (o:

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Dr. Quackenburg (or something like that) getting arrested for disturbing the peace. (o:

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Saying our goodbyes before hitting the road.

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I thought it was very appropriate that Angela was wearing this on our trek back home. We are modern day pioneers too, I guess. On a journey to a faraway land called Oregon. I am just grateful our journey had AC in the car. I would have been such a whiny pioneer. I am in awe at the things they did and the sacrifices made. This was the perfect ending to a wonderful trip to spend time with our families!

Utah Trip Day #6 Iron Chef, Craftiness and 3D

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On Thursday, it was kind of our - hotel activities day. We started out in the morning by taking the kids (and Chrissy!) to paint cute banks at the recreation room.

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After painting, the kids cuddled with Chrissy for a morning cartoon.

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Next we hung out in our rooms and did some fingernail painting and just hangin' around together.

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After lunch, it was time for the kids' cookie decorating activity downstairs.

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And then some ping pong! Sammy is amazing!

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Some hairstyling . . .

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In the afternoon, Tina and I decided that our family should participate in the Iron Chef competition! We got our special ingredient - Mandarin Oranges - and went to work!

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This is what we came up with - they were sooo yummy. Crepes with homemade caramel sauce and mandarin oranges - ala mode! (And with lovely mint leaves that Tina happened to have! We were so proud!) Seriously, it was good stuff.

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Taking our samples to the competition - riding on the elevator.

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Well, what do you know? We won!! We won a spoon, a funny frame and a certificate! But just the satisfaction of winning was better than the lucrative prizes. The funny thing was that we were the only adult team. Most of the other teams were kids with the help of their parents. I guess we were the young at heart team - we had a blast!

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After our exhausting competition, we went to see "Despicable Me" in 3D at the theater!

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Looking good! I love that Angela's glasses are upsidedown!

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We loved the movie! Steve Carrell is hilarious, as always!

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Pizza party after the movie on main street!

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Look who I saw on the bulletin board at the Marriott! We're famous! Once again - I can't help but notice that this competition draws more kids than adults.

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Before bedtime, grandma and grandpa had some presents for Angela to open early for her birthday! Here is what Natalie did with the wrapping items. What a crack up.

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Angela must really like these cute pants!

Utah Trip Day #5 Yummy, Toothy, Wet and Wild!

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Ahhh - lunch at Cafe Rio was a wonderful treat. And Training Table was for dinner! Our two favorite Utah restaurants. Good thing we spent the whole day burning calories at a waterslide! Cafe Rio is apparently popular with a few more people than us. We had a hard time saving our tables while the other half of our group ordered - it was stressful and we got a few dirty looks. People really love their Cafe Rio.

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In the middle of our lunch, Natalie came over to Ned* and I and showed us her tooth! She pulled it out all by herself! We were so proud of her - it's nice to not have lots of drama with losing teeth. OH wait - we didn't escape all drama - Natalie's tooth fell down in the car. (Because she couldn't stop admiring it and insisted on holding it.) Trying to find a teensy tiny tooth can be tricky sometimes and Nat was devastated when it fell down -thank heavens we found it.

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After lunch, we headed here - Classic Waterslides in Sandy. This place has been around for a loooong time. The very mild waterslides are perfect for little ones. They go so slow that Ned* and I often had to push ourselves down. However, you add a slippery mat to the mix and that tame waterslide turns into an insanely out of control ride - flying in all directions; especially if you go down with another person on a mat. Most of the time we went down with one of the many kids - our girls, nieces, nephews - it was so fun! We raced, we laughed, we lost glasses, we got bumps and bruises, we even got holes in our swimming pants. (That would be me - I noticed later - good thing I had two layers on!) Another funny thing - we were joking about some ropes that blocked off an area right by one of the slides that kids could fall down pretty far. The ropes weren't much of a barrier for the vertical drop that was right next to the slide. It made me nervous. Ned* joked that the mission statement there could be, "Classic Waterslides: where safety is #8". (O:

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The girls went up and down and up and down without ever getting tired of it all!

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These three little princesses were so hilarious playing in the kiddie pool together.

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I think they were playing mermaids.

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Cam the man. Poor little guy - he was the only one not having a blast. He wasn't feeling so hot, but he never complained.

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Kelly doing an interesting move at the end of a race with Ned*. I think it must have made him slide faster.

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Angela went down by herself by the end and loved it!

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A big hug after a delicious Training Table dinner! What a super fun day!!