Summer Vacation

We have had a busy summer this year and I can't believe it is already over. I really wasn't ready. I love having my kids home and being able to go and do anything at the drop of a hat and not having to plan everything around school. But I also love watching them grow and learn and experience new things and starting a new school year is part of the whole process so I guess it is good in it's own way.

Because we have been so busy, there are so many things that I never got around to posting - like our summer vacation, our last camping trip, playing at the park, Austin's baseball games, etc. I may not get around to posting about all of them but I thought our summer vacation would be worth taking a trip back in time for. So here it is.

This year we went up to good ole' Salt Lake City. I have only been once since Chris graduated college 5 years ago and it was a one day trip for business so we didn't do much of anything worth writing about. This time we went to Lagoon, a first for me and the kids, the Hogle Zoo, Temple Square and Cabela's.

We learned something very important about our kids that will help us plan better vacations in the future. There is no need to spend loads of money on fun activities because the things they enjoyed the most were free, like Cabela's, swimming in the pool at the hotel (which I guess isn't technically free) and Temple Square.

The first place we visited was Cabelas. Chris went here on a business trip once and thought the kids would love it. He was right! There are huge fish aquariums to see and we were lucky enough to be there for feeding time. They feed them worms, pellets and live gold fish. The kids LOVED the carnage! They also got to feed some other fish some pellets. There were lots of real "stuffed" animals from Zebras and Lions to Deer and Bears. And they played a hunting game. Plus they loved looking at all the outdoor equipment you can buy!

I love these cute pictures of the kids sleeping in the same bed at the hotel. They woke up excited for the next adventure.

Lagoon was fun but for "die-hard" Disneyland fans it was a little disappointing. Austin and Allison were brave enough to ride Lagoon's scariest roller coaster "Wicked." I was actually scared for them but they loved it! We also loved "Rattlesnake Rapids," so much even that the kids went on it twice in a row, once with dad and once with mom!

The next day we went to Hogle Zoo. Growing up in Southern California and going to the San Diego Zoo every year it is hard NOT to be a little disappointed with Hogle Zoo. However, Zuri, the baby elephant won me over completely!! I LOVED, LOVED, LOVED the baby elephant and we sat and watched her play with her mom for probably a good half hour. It took Zuri about 10 minutes to walk over this log and it was so fun watching her try to figure it out. Then she played in the mud for a little while just like a little kid would, not like an elephant normally does. AND then we watched as her mom feed her some grass and then you could see she was getting sleepy and they walked off together for a nap. It was the sweetest thing ever!!!

The last thing we did was go to Temple Square. We have been several times before but there is always something new to see. We actually got to see the top of the Conference Center this time. It has been closed every other time we have tried. We ate lunch at the Nauvoo cafe for the first time. We also got to see the new movie "Joseph Smith: The Prophet of the Restoration" which was amazing! And we visited the Church History Museum.

FUN TIMES!! :)