Traveling Together - Running Home

We got up just after 5:00 AM  loaded the van, and headed for the Girls House. Thankfully, Crafty and Baby Doll were ready to go. We gave quick hugs all around and climbed back in the van. Baby Doll had volleyball tryouts at 6:00 PM and we didn't have much time to spare.

My sweetie was a trooper. We stopped once for breakfast and again for gas. But mostly we were just flying. It was an 8-hour drive with optimum traffic.

Not to be anticlimactic, but we dropped the boys at home in Utah county and we still arrived home just before 5:00 PM.

For the record, Baby Doll made the Bingham White Jr High team as a 6th grader. Games start next week. So proud of this cute girl!!

Traveling Together - Girl's House

Having two different vrbo houses across town from each other might seem a little weird, but our trip was originally planned as a Sisters Trip. Then a few guys decided to come and everything changed.

Truth be told, the girls had a much more amazing (and expensive!!) house than the boys did. Check out this pool!

But with my sweetie cooking, the Boys House had the BEST food!

Traveling Together - Lake Havasu

Saturday morning and we were all headed for the beach. We picked up the girls and we filled every seat in our 12-passenger van. It was hot! Nearly 100 degrees already, and we were all excited to be near the water.

I sat with my sweetie on the beach for a little while until I decided to give it a try.

But you know me, I can't resist big water very long.

The water was warm and except for the rocks on the bottom, it felt great. We played for an hour or so until our tummies begged for lunch.

We found a little pavillion and pulled out our sack lunches. By the time we finished, we were mostly dry so we loaded back into the van. I needed to wash my swimsuit so we could swim in the pool later. The girl's house has an amazing pool...

Traveling Together - First Vrbo Ever

We left the Valley of Fire and made our way into Lake Havasu. 

It was a long hard drive, especially for my sweetie who was behind the wheel the entire time. We were looking forward to a long rest. If you remember, Drama Queen rented a house for the girls and The Frog and my sweetie rented one for the boys. 

It was weird for me. Sort of like we were stealing someone's house.

Have you ever done a vrbo? Did it bother you?

Traveling Together - Valley of Fire

Friday dawned bright and early. We weren’t particularly anxious to get on the road until my sweetie came up with a fun idea for a detour.

My sweetie drove us straight into the Valley of Fire! It was a beautiful Nevada State park with rock formations that reminded me of the Southern Utah parks.

We had lunch at a little picnic table...

Then the kids did a little exploring. Polliwog is more adventurous than Tadpole, but they both had lots of fun.

Thanks, Grandpa, for a great adventure!!

Traveling Together: St George

Thursday was the first day of school for Curly and Baby Doll, and as soon as she got home, we got on the road. My sweetie wanted to hit St. George before it got dark. Yes, we were off on another grand adventure.

Our timing was good and our packing was even better, but nothing worked out according to plan. My New Jersey girls wanted an estrogen trip, so they invited their sisters and me to meet up in Arizona at Lake Havasu. Drama Queen had used vrbo to rent a house and she and Teach were flying in to spend the weekend with us.

Except that none of the girls (not counting Scout) wanted to drive that far, so The Frog was going to bring Princess and her brood and my Sweetie was going to bring the rest of us. The boys had rented another house across town so they would be close by.

Except on Thursday morning, our little Duchess wasn't feeling well, so Princess and The Frog, completely packed and ready to go, sadly changed their plans. We stopped by on our way out of town...

...and our plans changed too.

Our cute grandsons were so worried about their little sister and completely stoic in their disappointment that we invited them to join us. Three hours later and we were all trying to sleep in Washington hotels, halfway to Lake Havasu. 

This crazy adventure was about to begin...

1st Game of the Season

The summer still isn't over yet, but I just have to show you some pics from Curly's first Freshman football game. He is #66.

His game was the same day as Little Warrior's birthday party at Lagoon and he had to be at the high school by 3:45 to catch the bus. That gave me a couple of hours to cool off, but by the time we got to the game at 6:00, I was still overheated.

We finally made the trek around the field to use the restroom. The shade felt so good that I convinced my sweetie we needed to buy a hot dog so we would have an excuse to stay in the shade.

Then I suggested we just sit on the Cyprus side, but he reminded me that I was wearing my favorite Bingham Miners football shirt.

I looked down... then I had a briliant idea... but first I had to go back into the restroom.

I stepped into the stall, pulled off my shirt, turned it inside out, and put it back on. As I rejoined my sweetie, he took one look, gave a slight nod, and then followed me to the shady Cyprus bleachers. 

Then we quietly watched our boys squash the Pirates 34-0.

(whispers) Go miners!!

Summer is Almost Over: Adventure #)

Wednesday was Little Warrior's 5th birthday and all he wanted to do was go to Lagoon with his "best friends." Good thing his best friends are family members....

We got there early, not long after the park opened. It was Scout's first day of school, so just Curly, Baby Doll, Crafty and I met up with Beauty and her boys and Bossy and her two littles.

We had a great time!! Curly, Bossy, and I stayed with the littles in the kiddie rides while the others had fun on some of the bigger ones. 

When we were tired and hungry, we made our way to the Biergarten for lunch.

Little Warrior was treated to a giant fruit bowl and everyone in the room sang Happy Birthday with us.

Another great day!

Where are we off to next?

Summer is Almost Over: Adventure #2

Our 2nd adventure was a trip to the Museum of Natural History paid for once again by our amazing Salt Lake County Library system.

We had an appointment set for 11:30 and we managed to show up right on time even though we stopped and checked out The Beast's boys from preschool. 

Bossy's littles were super excited to see the dinosaur bones, but the ticket taker suggested we take the elevator to the top and work our way down... less climbing.

The little boys loved everthing! We could have spent all day there.

Little Warrior had so many questions about everything...

Skittles had all the answers...

They were sad when we had to leave so Curly wouldn't be late for football practice.

More adventures tomorrow!

Wordless Wednesday - Happy Birthday, Little Warrior

 

Summer is Almost Over: Adventure #1

We are winding down the final days of summer and I have been trying hard to take advantage of them. On Monday, we had an amazing time taking our girl scouts to the Tracy Aviary.

They have some really amazing birds there and we had a terrific guide to tell us all about them.

I wish it had been a little cooler. With temps in the 90s, I was melting. Honestly, I was ok when it was finally time to leave.

But when it gets cooler, I'm going back...

So Happy

Sunday was an amazing day! Crafty reported on her mission at church and then we had lunch for family and friends back at the house. 

Crafty had a bunch a people from her mission including her former Mission President and his wife from her days in Wichita.

The kids got tired of all the visiting...

So they found a different activity.

Some of us just couldn't stop smiling.