Thursday, September 1, 2011

Vacation

We had the BEST summer in Utah. I never realized how blissful Utah is for having children until now. Everything is so accessible!  So much to do with kids. And people expect that you have multiple kids so prices are more reasonable and places are set up to accommodate it. Blissful grass that you can run around in barefoot all summer (and people that don't yell at you for letting your kids do so). For living in a tropical location, we sure have the nastiest crab grass here. Ouch. Anyhow, we had our fill of parks and playgrounds, bounce houses, children's museums, indoor play lands, hide-and-go-seek, ice cream and more ice cream.... Anyhow, as soon as we landed in Utah I saw a lady pushing 2 kids in a double stroller while carrying a baby in the front pack and I knew I was HOME!  :)

Here we were at the airport ready to go (ok, well, this was the first failed attempt).  But I loved seeing the boys walking through the airport carrying their lunchboxes.


Burning through all my planned entertainment.


Spent lots of time with cousins.  Boys, lots of boys.  Leading to lots of time spent like this:




















Lots of time in the backyard - really the point of my trip.  I just wanted my kids to have a normal "kid" summer with a backyard and sprinklers and walking down the street to swimming lessons.  And bearable temperatures.  It was exactly what we got.  The boys were a bit hard to convince at first. They're really not used to being out that much because in our life it's an "outing" to go outside - meaning everyone has to be dressed, ready, bags packed to go out, no one napping.... So in Utah when I'd first say "Let's go outside!" they were all like, "No, we want to stay inside." And then when I'd get them out, every few minutes I'd have to go fetch someone out who had gone back in.  Finally they got used to it and loved being out. I was mad I didn't have my camera though - the first time we ran through the sprinklers was probably the most sheer delight I have ever seen out of Cash.  He was just screaming and yelling, "WOOOO!!! I LOVE this!!" all over the place.  It was so cute.  (The twins were terrified and wouldn't go near the sprinklers.)












We got to meet up with Brooke and her boys a few times while we were there which was great. Also our friend Rochelle who I probably haven't seen since college.




And some good old family entertainment.


(And I won for the worst pores on my nose. How lame is that?!)




 

And here are the kids at swimming lessons.  I kept wondering why Ashton was coming home with dry hair when all the other kids were wet, and then the day the parents came to watch they had them duck under the water - one...two...three! And there goes Ashton, eyes squeezed shut, big breath of air in, holding his breath - and ducks all the way in...until his chin is under water. And stops there. And the teacher keeps saying, "Maybe you can get your eyes in this time!" Too bad I didn't get a picture, it was pretty funny.








And gymnastics:








Enough for now.
I'm tired.

12 comments:

kimber said...

I love the picture of one of the twins rolling his eyes (sorry, don't which one it is). Is he rolling them at you? I have a feeling I'll have a lot of that in my future.

Anonymous said...

Jen, I LOVED your photos and stories. Yes, that rolling of the eyes is a real kicker, but certainly your summer vacation in Utah was special. I too miss REAL GRASS, and we are still having killer heat, the absolutely hottest August EVER record wise. Aunt LeJeune

Anonymous said...

What an awesome post! So many fun memories!!!! GREAT pictures! It really is awesome you blog so you have it all down for the kids to remember. Just so much fun!!!!!

Julie

Jenilee said...

What a great summer vacation! Our kids are growing up way too fast.

Carolyn Hunsaker said...

Such great photos! Fond memories!

xoxoGrammy

Anonymous said...

I love the last photo - the just-home-from-3 hours of church, tired, but still willing, brown-and-blue-dressed, photo on the front porch. (Well, at least we just walked kitty-corner across the street to church and did not have to drive 30 minutes each way.)

xoxocyh

Anonymous said...

Great pictures!! That's it, I am buying a decent camera.

I bet living in Miami is hard.

Lindsey said...

Gorgeous pictures! So glad you got lots of family friendly yard time!

Anonymous said...

And I am so glad that Cash is wearing his new CTR ring given him by his Utah Primary teacher! In case it gets lost, this proves he had one.

xoxocyh

Aimee said...

Ahh, there are the pictures I was waiting for! Your boys and Brooke's all together. They all look so much older! I'm so glad you had such a great time, looks like you made the most of it!

Melanie said...

WOW! look at all those boys!! I want to spend summer with you guys! In Utah.

Deb said...

i've been stalking your blog for a while now and have never commented (i'm a friend of corinne's!) but we do the same thing in the summer: go west to experience the outdoors, the grass, the bug-free days, the dry air! i love it!

(and thanks for letting me laugh along with you; my boys still talk about your son drinking honey...)