Cole Making Memories 6
July 21-23
It was Benji's turn to plan this annual event, but since he's out of the country, my mom took over. Apparently Benji will be planning next year's trip to Peru.
Mom put together a fun (and jam-packed :) itinerary of mostly "pioneer" themed activities for CMM 6. But the girls couldn't wait for the vacation to begin, so we started off the day before the official CMM start date with a massage (thanks to Chris for the Mother's Day present). I think the pioneers had massages regularly so it was the perfect beginning. :) We split in two groups and Lindsay and I were first. She arrived before I did and sent a text message, "There is a freaky guy waiting to massage you." And everyone about died. Ha! Turns out he wasn't too scary, but he did talk CONTINUALLY.
My mom was dying for the chocolate lovers of the group to try Costco's nut bar thing, so that's where we ate for dinner afterwards.
The official first activity of CMM was scheduled for Thursday afternoon. We went to the "
Book of Mormon Fiesta" exhibit at the Church History Museum. But we had to pass through the quilt exhibit to get there. I loved that.
The Book of Mormon exhibit had lots of fun things to do. I liked watching the girls try to follow the Mexican dancers on the computer screen. Austin loved fishing from Nephi's boat.
Its good we have Greg to create crazy games like this. It was pretty funny to watch this "ancient temple" tumble.
Picnic in Brigham Young park
Visiting Brigham Young's and Eliza R. Snow's graves
Afterwards we headed to Park City. Greg scored some great hotel deals so we stayed two nights. It was the hotel with a living room/kitchen in the middle and bedrooms on each side. The kiddos went to bed and the adults played farkle, relaxed, and snacked. Perfect!
And what is a trip to Park City w/o the Alpine Slide? (Really, the question should be "what is a trip to PC w/o a stop at the outlet malls?" but sadly we couldn't fit that in.)
It was a first slide experience for the toddlers and they did great! Elise laughed and laughed. Chris took Austin and went "really fast" (shocking, I know) but he thought it was fun!
Afterwards we swam, played ping pong, watched Gavin in the pie eating contest and laughed a lot.
 |
| Thank goodness for patient uncles! |
 |
| The whole crew at 501 on Main. They were SO good to us. The manager checked on us several times, brought out samples of their dishes, and his wife brought out cookies for all the kids. Oh, and the food was delicious. Gotta love baby back ribs and shrimp! Mmmmm! |
Friday evening ended with an outdoor concert at Deer Valley. Greg scored us free tickets. This one was by the Von Trapp children and the Utah Symphony. I really enjoyed myself despite two toddlers who decided to climb all over me and refused to go to anyone else. Plus we're kind of wimpy and needed blankets. Still, I loved sitting on the mountainside listening to the music of Rogers and Hammerstein. I just wished Geo was there to enjoy it with me.
Saturday's schedule included a hike to
Ensign Peak. Getting all of us out the door and moving was a bit of a challenge and we didn't start hiking til noon. Chris volunteered to stay behind with Cole and the rest of us hiked up the mountain. Lucy told me she got 3rd place and "I didn't whine at all." :) Elise was lucky enough to be paired with uncle Mark (her "best best best best friend") which meant she got some rides on his shoulders. Austin hiked the whole way up and wasn't real happy about it. The view from the top was quite spectacular. Before we started, my dad gave us a nice little devotional about the significance of Ensign Peak (based on
this talk by Elder Holland). However the messages that I kept thinking about as we hiked in the heat were:
1. The pioneers were not wimps.
2. Austin and I are.
Afterwards, we ate lunch and the
Lion House Pantry, raced to see the handcart pioneer movie
17 Miracles (my parents tended the kiddos - thank you!), had a BBQ at Chad & Gemmie's, and then went to the Bees baseball game. Whew! The Bees won like 18-8. I couldn't really tell you the actual score, but it was high. I spent a good chunk of time with Greg and the kids eating Snowies on the grass behind the field. The fireworks show after the game was the best one I'd seen all year. We got home at midnight --- exhausted but happy we got to spent so much time with the fam.