Last Stop!!

After driving back from Utah on Monday (and stopping to see this amazing friend who left Texas a year ago -- I miss Hillary!!!):

We took Tuesday off.  

Tuesday night Chopper flew in and we HAD to show him SOMETHING in Vegas so despite the heat, we drove out to Red Rock Canyon and took a few trails there.

The elevation here isn't high enough to really be any cooler but the colors and the rock formations are very cool!  We should have brought more water (my fault), because the heat zapped our energy pretty quickly.  We hiked parts of 2 trails and enjoyed it but it would be a lot better in December!

 

William's attempt at climbing.

And he made it!  (Ok I gave him a leg up)

Ok so I think this is actually a really good picture of us!

It was absolutely beautiful!!  That night we drove to Henderson (just south of Vegas) and visited Chopper's Uncle Jarrard and Aunt Ruth.  Jarrard is Chopper's dad's brother and he resembles Chopper's dad a great deal.  The first time we met them actually was at Gary's funeral.  But we were there for about 2 hours talking and getting to know each other and some of their kids and grandkids that also live in Henderson and were able to come say hi.  Jarrard sat in a recliner and had many of the same gestures and mannerisms of Chopper's dad.  I know that he told Chopper a lot of things about his family and his dad that he didn't know.  Ruth showed me her quilts (yep, she's a quilter) and Their son Brett invited us out on his boat (too bad we were leaving the next day!).  They were a really nice family and it was really good to spend time with them.  

Thursday morning we got up and drove to Albuquerque -- we stopped again briefly at Hoover Dam so Chopper could see it live and in person and then it was 9 hours on the road.  William did ok.  But when we pulled into Albuquerque he shouted, "we made it!"  Poor kid has been run into the ground with driving.

We spent a day in Albuquerque.  A VERY full day.  We ate at Restaurants we love and we visited the BioPark -- combination zoo, aquarium, and botanical gardens. 

 

Even though we haven't lived in or visited Albuquerque in 11 years (wow!), the Aquarium was exactly the same.  It's pretty small but does have some larger tanks with some sharks and bigger fish.  And small doesn't really matter, the kids enjoyed the jellyfish and other exotic sea life.

The Botanical Garden though -- Chopper and I went there and loved it and always talked about how fun it would be for our kids.  Finally here, it did not disappoint.  They expanded it quite a bit but some things that we loved were still there.

Like the giant garden to make you feel like a bug.

This is the inside of a pumpkin.

They've added some model trains and a butterfly garden.  William LOVED the model trains and did NOT want to walk away from it.  The girls LOVED the butterfly garden but were disappointed that no butterflies landed on them.

The zoo is actually further away and you can go there by train.  This was pretty much the only thing that made up for leaving the model trains for William.  He was so excited and the ride was about 30 minutes.  We rode another train within the zoo and then this train back to the garden for our car.

We then drove to Old Town and walked around through some of the shops and bought a few souvenirs.  Pretty much 2 minutes into our car ride back to the hotel the kids fell asleep so we went for dinner instead, then back to the hotel for swimming and sleep.  Then it was up the next morning for the long drive back.  

We pushed the drive back hard and only stopped once at a Chik-Fil-A to eat and let the kids play.  But when a vacation is over and you've been gone for a while and one the road, it's so nice to get home that we really didn't want to stop.  Poor William was entertained by movies and making faces for a while. 

Finally we pulled into town and decided we needed some dinner.  I ask the girls what they want and Williams starts screaming and crying.  We decide to get pizza at a drive-through Little Caesar's and he was so upset that we "stopped".  Five minutes later, we're home and he's sobbing as I get him out of the car.  We walk inside, he stops in the hallway, calms down, goes straight to his room and starts playing with cars.  I let him skip dinner so he could have some car time before bed and he was fine.  He really is my most active child and with his age not having a lot to do to self-entertain, I think the travel was hardest on him.  Also, the upheaval of home and schedule.  But despite the exhaustion of our pace and trip, it was so very worth it.  We saw so many family members and amazing things and I'm really grateful for all the help my family gave us in making this possible.   

Phase Two: Utah

Salt Lake City, Utah is ONLY 6 hours from Las Vegas.  And quite frankly, after driving 18+ to Vegas, I didn't think 6 more would be a big deal.  To me this was an opportunity to show the kids Temple Square, the mountains (which weren't a big deal because we'd already been in them in Vegas -- who knew?), and a lot of my extended family that I love.  Going through these pictures I have so many of the kids and places and nearly nothing of family.  Maybe it's because I always feel a little self-conscious asking to take people pictures and maybe it's because I'm having fun visiting with family too and don't think about it!!  But now I wish I had taken more pictures.  Megan was asking me on the way home how she knows if they are aunts, uncles, and cousins.  And it's double confusing because most of the people she met are MY aunts, uncles, and cousins and so get those weird titles of great-aunt, cousin twice removed, etc.  We don't actually use those formal titles but then it becomes a question of who is who.  It's actually a great opportunity to explore our family tree but I wish I had the pictures to go with it.

Megan and Abby decided they were leopards at Grandma's house and made a sign for their door.  This is after we went swimming at a friend's and they had a  Beware of Dog sign up that apparently provided the inspiration.

Driving up wasn't bad but William started doing more and more of this:

When screaming didn't get him out of the car and nothing else would do, the blanket goes over the head for comfort.  

While we were there we stayed with my brother Mark and his wife Adrienne and their mostly new baby Remi!!  She's five months old and this was the first chance for me to see her live and in person.  She is adorable!!  And I have to say that she really loved me.  Not that I'm bragging or anything!  :)

We started our Utah mini-vacation with a trip to Hill Air Force Base's flight museum and Ogden's Dinosaur Park.  Both places that the kids loved although William was actually really upset that he couldn't actually get in any of the planes.  And the girls were kind've bored.  Ok the planes weren't that exciting really.  But the Dinosaur park was great.

William is trying to get in.

This plane is the kind that my great-uncle flew in WWII and was shot down in.  If I could remember what it was that would be great.  The story though is written down somewhere -- I think my mom has the book.

Dinosaur park is literally a park with dinosaurs.  They also have a small museum, a fossil digging place, and a play place.  I thought the dinosaurs were fun and there were quite a few "hidden" trails to go on that the kids really enjoyed.  We also happened to be there for craft time and they made their own fossils.

Our second full day there we went to Temple Square.  I have the best memories of going there with my Grandma and cousin and spending the day seeing the sites, looking for brides coming out of the Salt Lake Temple, and eating lunch at the Lion House.  I had really high expectations for taking the kids for the first time!!  We rode Utah's train system (TRAX) in and the kids loved it.  We had to wait for the right train to come and so every time one came in and left William got upset and told me to "hatch rain mommy hatch rain!"  He was very happy when it was finally our turn.

The kids were not as thrilled with Temple Square as they should've been!!  I guess there isn't a ton that is interactive so it's mostly walking and looking.  They did think that the "space walk" leading up to the Christus was cool and they liked the stained glass windows in the Assembly Hall.  And they pointed out every bride we saw (of which there were many -- it was a Saturday) for my benefit.  Even William started yelling "wedding dress" every time one went by.

Apparently we were not supposed to be this close but the barrier was down!!  

All attempts at a family picture in front of the temple were pretty fruitless.

Megan probably won't even want her own wedding pictures taken!

Abby on the other hand wants her picture taken in front of everything that she thinks is pretty or awesome.

If you haven't seen the video for this -- you need to.  It came out at Easter and somehow I missed it.  We watched it in one of the visitor's centers and I cried.  

This is one of the views from the top of the conference center.  I had never been on the roof before.  I knew that it had trees and gardens but I didn't know that President Hinckley designed them specifically to be like the western mountain woods and fields.  It was beautiful and had great views.

And the view of course over to the Temple.

That evening we took a picnic dinner and went to Wheeler Farm to meet up with some family.  It's a working farm you can wander and it's free although we did pay for a tractor/wagon ride and a cow-milking demonstration.  The kids loved it -- animals and machinery!!  It was right up their alley!

Grandma tried the milking.  I did not.  I have no desire to milk a cow.

Sunday night we did a barbeque at my Aunt Laura's house.  All of my aunts were there and several cousin families.  The kids played outside, we ate, we talked -- we sat outside in the backyard until 9:30 and finally went back to Mark's for bed.  It was blissful!  Having things cool down when the sun goes down is unheard of in Texas -- mainly because of the humidity.  Of course, come October when I'm still enjoying t-shirts and flip-flops and they're already bundled up, I won't mind so much.

Aunt Laura gave my girls some little things she had -- including jewelry destined for DI.  Abby loves jewelry and loves feeling pretty so she put it on and then agreed to take a picture with MY grandma -- her grandma-great.  I love her friendly and loving nature!!

Abby's smiles lately are very demure but I still love this picture.  I need to send a copy to Grandma and write her a letter about how good it was to see her again so soon!!  She's 90 and still doing really well I think but has her old-age problems.  Since we get to Utah so rarely I'm really glad that my kids got to meet her and that she got to see them in person!!  I know she reads the blog sometimes and I send her pictures in the mail pretty frequently (I'm pretty sure she has a shoebox full!) but nothing beats actually being there in the flesh.