SLC, Summer 2011, Day 2

This morning, Aubrie woke up at 6:15am, while Evan slept until 9:15am (that's 10:15 Houston time!). Aubrie, Aiden, and Ansley were all awake to eat breakfast together, and I think they all really enjoyed being together.

After breakfast, we got all of the kids dressed and headed to Sugar House Park to feed the birds. The kids LOVED it! Aubrie would have just jumped right into the water just to pet the birds if we hadn't stopped her. It was so cute to watch all of the kids together. They are all so precious!

After the park, we decided that we would continue to feed some birds, and we headed to the Great Salt Lake. It was so much fun to watch the kids trying to throw whole pieces of bread to the hundreds of seagulls that were hungrily waiting. Evan seemed to have a great time, but it was hard to get him to give us a good picture. He wouldn't smile, but he would give us his best "pirate face!"


After going through about 10 bags of bread, we left and headed to the Kennecott Copper Mine. On the way there, Nick was explaining to Evan and Ansley that they would be going inside a mountain, and was getting really into explaining what we would see. Ansley got really scared, and wanted to go home! But we managed to talk her into it, and it looked like she had a good time. The mine is huge. It's one of the few things that you can see from space! It was really amazing to see the change from when they started in 1900 up until the present day. They also had some small "digger" replicas to show all of the different types of trucks used in the mine. Evan REALLY wanted to play with them, and didn't understand that they weren't toys! He was so bummed!



When we finally got back home, Aubrie and Aiden took a long nap, while Ansley and Evan played outside with Joy. Apparently, since Ansley has been warming up to us being here, she and Evan had their first "argument" on the swings. Alia asked Ansley if she had like the mine, and while she was trying to say no, Evan thought that he would jump in and tell her that she did. He was explaining everything that she liked, all while Ansley was trying to get in a word to say no, that she didn't. Everyone was laughing while watching the two of them "duke" it out!

After naps, the kids got to play in the yard again, and some of Bud's family also came to visit. It is so nice being able to spend time just sitting outside and playing with the kids. The weather is so nice, the food is so good, and the company is amazing. The kids love being here, too. I can tell that my kids are having an amazing time, because all they want to do is play!

And lastly, just to get out of the house, Nick, Alia, Chris, Bud, and I went to just hang out and eat some wings at a place down the street. We actually got to walk to the restaurant, which was great! The food was really good (maybe better than Wings 'N Things!), and we all had a great time. Now it's midnight Utah time, and I'm dying to go to sleep! We're getting ready for another exciting day tomorrow!

(pictures coming tomorrow... it's just too late tonight).

Salt Lake City, Summer 2011: Day 1

Yesterday was the first day of our family vacation to Salt Lake City, Utah! We were able to fly up this summer, and we are super excited to visit with Alia's family and sight-see together as a family. I'm going to try and blog at the end of each day so that I don't forget what we did.

Day 1:

We were lucky enough to have my sister drop us off at the airport, and we arrived about 9:30am so that we would have enough time before our flight left at 11:17am. Both kids were excited to see all of the airplanes taxiing around at the airport, Evan especially. He loved to just sit and watch the airplanes take off and land. Aubrie thought it was cool, but was more interested in walking around and being social with other passengers in the terminal. Then she started getting sleepy and saying "nigh nigh" while trying to crawl up in the stroller. I walked her around in the stroller to keep her happy, and it was perfect timing when they called us to board the plane.

The kids did really well on the plane. As soon as I could nurse Aubrie, she fell right to sleep. She only slept for about 40 minutes, though, because one of the overhead bins slammed shut and woke her up. But she really wasn't bad for the rest of the ride. She was kind of squirmy during parts of the trip, and I finally had to hand her over to Chris so that I wouldn't get sick. It was perfect timing (for me!) because she tinkled in her diaper and left a wet spot on Chris' shorts! Evan was great the entire trip. He kept asking, "Are we in the air, yet?," and the other passengers would laugh. Then he changed it to, "Are we at Bud & Joy's house, yet?" He also thought it would be fun for the plane to land on a mountain...


When we finally arrived at Bud & Joy's house, the kids went right outside and started playing. The weather is so beautiful here! We would have never sat outside for hours playing if we had been in Houston! 15 minutes, maybe. The pool was brought out, and the water from the tap was freezing! Aubrie wanted to jump right in, and kept making faces when she would fall in the water because it was so cold! But my little girl loves water so much, and she loved every minute of it. I finally took her inside for a little nap, and ended up falling asleep next to her. When she woke up, dinner was started. We ate delicious hamburgers that Bud made, along with some other side dishes, and some fries from Five Guys (which were amazing!). Just a funny story: when Karim drove up, he came in a red car. Evan got really excited and said, "McQueen is here!!" When he realized that there was a man inside, he said, "Where is that man?"


After the kids went to sleep around 8:30 (9:30 our time!), Chris, Nick, Alia, and I walked down to a sno-cone hut that stays open until 11pm! It was yummy, but I have to say not as good as Bahama Bucks (you can pay me later, Clarie).


When we came home, we all pretty much crashed with exhaustion. I was praying that the kids would sleep well, and they did really well for the most part. Evan ended up sleeping until 9:15am this morning!

Ready for day 2!