PHOTO OF THE DAY!! to see why, read on!
Aaron had heard about the Alpine Slide, a large slide where you have to ride to the top of a mountain on a ski lift and then ride a toboggan type thing down to the bottom. He wanted to do this with his kids. I thought, "sure we'll go along and watch but there is NO WAY were going to get our kids on something like this." Kaitlyn is a bright girl, but new things are overwhelming for her and she tends to shy away from them. And unfortunately because she's the oldest, the others follow her cues. Lindsey (wild woman) would LOVE something like this but I was afraid she'd be too little.
But I didn't voice these concerns out loud I thought I'd give my kids the benefit of seeing it and making their own assessments.So we get there and we take the kids to see the actual slide. THANK GOODNESS for my sis-in-law Summer--she's the BEST!!--Kaitlyn really feels safe with her but not so safe that she'll freak out. Summer was able to explain to her how everything worked and even agreed to go with her and take things at a pace that was good for her. Once Kaitlyn was on board, Sam was in and thankfully we learned that Lindz could go too! AWESOME!!
So tickets were purchased and the crew climbed aboard the ski lift. Again I thought this would cause some concern but it didn't (Lindz a bit once she realized she was going up high and was away from Mom (who stayed down with Matthew) and Dad (who was on the other chair lift with Summer, Kaitlyn & Sam).
On the way down you can control how fast or slow you go (I didn't realize that at first) and I guess Kaitlyn just kept wanting to go faster and faster! I was SHOCKED!! And THRILLED! Kaitlyn needs experiences that push her outside her box, and this was WAY outside that box! Way to go KP!!
Here are Sam & Dad
And Grandpa with Lindsey.
After this, we grabbed a bite to eat and then headed to Bridal Veil Falls. Our thought was that the kids could wade in the water and cool off. We unfortunately were not the only ones with this idea.....
So the water fun was okay, the water was cold and my kids had a hard time "warming" up to the idea. But Stephen had other ideas, he wanted to climb up the falls--and he took his kids with him. At first I glance up and see him starting to climb with Sam. I thought, "Oh what a good father-son activity to do--Sam will LOVE that." But then they kept climbing, and climbing and every time I looked they were higher and higher and I was getting NERVOUS. But eventually they stopped (way after I would have liked them to) and came down.
THEN, Kaitlyn still in "out of her box" mode wanted to have her turn to climb so she did it too!After Bridal Veil Falls we headed to my Dad's favorite place on earth--BYU PROVO campus. I wanted BYU T-shirts for me and my kids, but know what? It was a "holiday" for the 4th and the Bookstore was closed! BOOOOOOO
BUT, we did take a shot of the "Lewis" kids, Me (with my little bundle), my "little brothers" Ben & Aaron. (my sister, Pearl wasn't able to make the trip and we missed her!)
For those of you who don't know, we just accomplished something GREAT! We survived a 2 week vacation with our kids, driving 22-24 hours each way From Dallas, Texas to Salt Lake City, Utah--and what's more, so did our kids!!
My grandfather Lewis turned 90 on July 5th and for the past few years a reunion celebrating this event has been in the works!! It had been 16 years or so since this many of the Glenn Lewis family gathered (counting babies there were probably 100 of us) and we really had a good time. And since we're not really Utah people and unlike many of our Allen, Texas church friends we DON'T run off to Utah each summer, AND since we were going to make the effort to DRIVE, we were going to make a vacation out of it and see some of the things Utah has to offer. So for the next few posts, I'll be bringing you up to speed on our trip.
Days 1-3 of the trip:
Were really a lot of driving. I'd prepared for the worst and had amassed quite the arsenal of activities for the kids in the car. Sure we had a portable DVD player but I didn't want my kids brains turning to mush so we mixed it up with music, Books on CD, I read "James and the Giant Peach" to them, we colored, etc. We were prepared for the worst, but they amazingly did really great in the car!The first day we left about noon and drove to the New Mexico-Colorado border. And stayed in a REALLY GROSS Super 8 Motel (everything else was full!!) thankfully our stay there was brief. The next day we drove from there to Moab and spent the late afternoon in ARCHES NATIONAL PARK! It was a really cool place!!
These rock formations were amazing! All the layers of rock and the way that nature has created these "tunnels" as Lindsey called them!!We spent the next morning in the Park as well driving around and went on a small hike to see this famous arch (it's in the background)
Then we got back in the car and drove the rest of the way to Heber City, UT where my grandfather had rented a lodge (a massive house on a couple acres) that would be the gathering point for the weekend reunion. It was a great house that slept 22 on beds alone and was just perfect for our group to meet!!People started arriving on Friday evening but it wasn't until Saturday that the festivities began! Growing up there was a group of us girl cousins that were pretty close. We all lived close enough to each other that we did the church dance circuit hitting a different one each weekend--what good times! It's fun that we're all now grown up and married and many of us have our own kids. Man how 16 years can change things!
Day 5 of the Trip:
Sunday was the official birthday party. We had a church like meeting as a family in the morning and then the special dinner and presentations. We all had done acts of service to total 90 and my cousin bound them in a book to give. And my dad painstakingly made a family tree representing everyone in the family as they were at the time of this reunion (he'd done one probably 25 years ago and it needed a bit of updating=))
All in all the reunion was a blast, my grandfather had the BEST DAYS!! And it was so good to be with him!!
Now for some photos!!
The traditional treasure hunt! When I was little my grandfather always led us on treasure hunts. So my Dad did one for the new generation!!
Watching fireworks in the front of the house with Grandma and Grandpa Lewis. My cousin's husbands had bought some "illegal" fireworks in Wyoming and were putting on quite the show until the Fire Marshall pulled up and told us to tone it down. But thankfully he didn't take our contraband!! One of the coolest things about this trip was watching my kids interact with my brother Aaron's kids (Grant and Sam are 6 weeks apart and Gracie and Lindz are 4 months apart
This is my dad and the man of honor just before the church meeting. It was so neat for my kids to meet their Great Grandfather--they kept asking me when they'd get to meet him and it was so great. Grandpa has his wits about him still and he knew who I was and that I had a slew of kids and he was so kind to meet them all! And to encourage me on my role as a mom!
The 4 babies! In age order nonetheless! oldest is about 10 days older than Matthew, the next about a month behind Matthew and then the youngest was only about a week old--she came early and we didn't even think she'd be born at the time of the reunion but she must have heard there was going to be a party and she didn't want to miss it!! (Notice how one of these babies looks like he's from Texas? We just grow them big here--my aunt says I must produce straight cream!!)
And finally, a family photo!! We try and take one 2 times a year, at the 4th of July and at Christmas, this is the best one of the group....there's only so much you can expect with a family of little ones!! Enjoy! (and stay tuned for part 2)
This was a charming "all day long" activity for our family as well! This park marks the spot where over 160 years ago, Brigham Young arrived in the Salt Lake Valley with Mormon pioneers and recognized it from a vision, declaring "this is the right place, move on." Signaling the arrival to the place where Latter-day Saints could now build a new city and worship free of persecution.
A train type trolley would take us to various parts of the village (one of my MTC companions, Hermana Katie Young lives in the area and came along with us for the morning--she looks fabulous and it was fun to have her meet my family!!)
The indian village where we went inside a tee-pee (I never realized how spacious those things can be!! a lot bigger than you'd think)
And a very cute activity of panning for gold in the stream. When you found the gold you could take it to the "bank" and trade it in for some candy. Stephen was a super dad and patiently found 3 tiny pieces of fools gold so that each kid could have some candy--WAY TO GO DAD!!
Then a train ride around a pond.
A train type trolley would take us to various parts of the village (one of my MTC companions, Hermana Katie Young lives in the area and came along with us for the morning--she looks fabulous and it was fun to have her meet my family!!)
The indian village where we went inside a tee-pee (I never realized how spacious those things can be!! a lot bigger than you'd think)
And a very cute activity of panning for gold in the stream. When you found the gold you could take it to the "bank" and trade it in for some candy. Stephen was a super dad and patiently found 3 tiny pieces of fools gold so that each kid could have some candy--WAY TO GO DAD!!
Then a train ride around a pond.
A really cool memory for Kaitlyn was visiting this blacksmith's shop. She asked the men a question and for her bravery in asking that question, this kind gentleman took a piece of iron and pounded it into a pretty leaf for her--it's been a cherished treasure ever since. It was amazing to watch the process and so neat for my kids to see it in action--I think Stephen was REALLY impressed by it as well!
Lindsey's favorite thing of the day was riding this pony.
And a SUPER COOL thing was this printing press. This very patient man allowed the children to try out the printing press, inking the tablet, pressing the levers and then carefully carrying the wet sheets over to hang and dry! AMAZING!
