A Surprise Visit to Utah

I took a rather spontaneous trip to Utah this past week - I woke up one morning and thought to myself that it'd be fun to take the kids for one last summer Utah visit, especially with Pioneer Day around the corner... so I talked to my dad and let him know my plans to come up the next week and that it might be fun to just surprise mom.  I figured she wouldn't suspect a visit - particularly since this would be my first time ever making the drive to Utah with the kids by myself.  I'm 30 now, so I'm a big girl to make the trek on my own right?  (with my AAA card in hand, of course).   The drive to and from Utah went so well.  The kids are such good travelers.  Emma helped a lot, opening up fruit snacks for Jake, and picking up Claire's blanket when she'd drop it.  We stopped only 3 times both ways (about once every 3 hours), and made record time.  :)  We beat my mom to the house (since she does her temple laundry calling on Friday afternoons), so we hid my car, and dad and Sarah acted like things were normal when she walked in the door, while the kids and I hid in another room.  I sent Jake out to quietly come up to grandma and say "hi".  When she saw Jake, she was quiet for a moment, and then says, "Jake!!" And then starts screaming repeatedly (a high-pitched happy scream) as she finds us all in our hiding place.  It was really fun.  :)

Saturday morning we went to the Draper Days Parade (a lot of the pictures in this post were swiped from my mom - she got a great new camera for her birthday earlier this month, and I'm happy to benefit from it).

My brother and me...

Watching the parade go by...

Lining up for otter pops...

After the parade, we enjoyed the community festivities going on at the nearby park...

The girls loved the pony ride, but Jake made this face the whole time - he was very nervous, but he did willingly get on the pony, so that's improvement for him (comparing to past pony rides when he was younger)...

Playing on the playground- although warm, it was such a treat to be able to play outside without being in a swimming pool.  Hooray for Utah summers!...

Claire loves playing in wood chips...

Watching the horse trainer show...

Becca didn't want to sit too close to the horse...

And Jake didn't want to sit long enough for a picture...

Later that afternoon, we took the kids to a new splash park - 

But most of the time, the kids just wanted to play on the big playground right next to it... it had some unique play equipment...

That night dad offered to stay home with the kids, and the rest of us (me, mom, Sarah, Aaron, and Stefani), all went to see Batman.  What an awesome movie!!  And I get to see it a second time this weekend with Ben, since he hasn't been to see it yet.
Sunday was relaxing and nice - we went to church, played some games, took a walk, and ate good food.  On Monday, dad once again offered to watch the kids, while mom and I had a mommy/daughter lunch date to Cafe Rio and for a little shopping.  It was so fun.  That afternoon we took the kids fishing - our outing to Silver Lake was short, as it started to really downpour on us.  But Jake didn't fall in the lake this time, so I call that a success.  :)

Tuesday was our last day, so we were extra busy with activities - Mom and Dad got a zoo membership, and we ended up spending 5 hours at the Hogle Zoo - it was great!

My kids love maps and brochures..

And they love carousels even more...

The new polar bear, otter, and seal exhibit was wonderful.  This polar bear was the star of the show that morning - he was doing the backstroke and flipping around in the water and smiling through the glass at everyone repeatedly...

Claire loves Grandpa...

The seal show was very entertaining...

We also went the bird show at the zoo - I've seen it many times, and it's always fun...

Feeding ducks...

Petting a really big snake... I was impressed that Becca would touch it - in the past she would have been too nervous to - yay Becca!

The always popular zoo train...

That evening I thought we needed to do something Pioneer-ish, for Pioneer Day, so we had a stick pull...  Jake was nice to help me out... those girls are strong :)

It was a close matchup, but in the end Jake had Stefani beat :)

Fireworks!

It was a great Utah visit, as always - thanks family, for hosting us last minute.  :)