Family Fun Week - Day 4

Today's agenda included: Tracy Aviary, Oquirrh Park aquatics, Chick-fil-A, and swim lessons.

I just took my kids to the aviary last month, but it had been years and years since Brian's last visit and so we went again.  I really didn't mind at all going again, since they have greatly improved the aviary in the last couple years.  And, I also discovered a whole area that we didn't get to see the last time.

 

Having Brian around this week has been fabulous!  Not just because I love spending time with him, which I do, but also because I have been spoiled with the extra set of helping hands.  I have hardly had to push a stroller all week!  I have found myself on many occasion with nothing to do but take lots of pictures.   

When we got to the aviary, we (I) discovered that a certain someone (Brian) failed to put any shoes on Luke.  And so he was banished to the stroller.   Our little wanderer hates being restrained like that, but he actually did remarkably well. 

Once we got into the owl forest, we let Luke out of the stroller to wander a bit...he was quite happy about that.

After leaving the aviary, we were off to spend the afternoon at the pool.  So, so, so much fun!  We spent about five hours there and when it was time to go, nobody wanted to leave. The big kids had just as much fun (maybe even more) as the little kids.  We left with a resolve to return again soon.

  Chase practiced his sitting skills...he needs more practice.

 Waiting for the big bucket to dump.

 All tuckered out.

We really could have stayed at the pool longer, but we had swimming lessons to get to.  All that fun in the sun had left us famished, so we made a pit stop at Chick-fil-A for a quick dinner.  We ordered our food, pulled up to the window, paid for our food, and as the worker was handing us our dinner, our car went kaput.  It just completely up and died on us.  The car was in park, so there was no pushing it out of the way either.  I know nothing about cars, so I couldn't give you an explanation, but Brian was dumfounded as well.  A Chick-fil-A worker pulled her car around to give us a jump which only worked long enough for Brian to switch to neutral so we could then push the car out of the way.  We had caused quite a back-up. 

Another attempted jump yielded no positive results and so my mom came to our rescue.  She picked up me and the kids so Ashlyn and Trent wouldn't miss their final day of swim lessons.  Brian was left alone at Chick-fil-A to figure out how to get our van back to the house.

While we were gone, Brian figured out that something called a 'relay' was possibly he problem.  However, that part has to be special ordered, which means that our van is out of commission for a week.  Dang. As luck would have it, Mindy and her family are out of town and offered us the use of their van.  So, we are back in business and our Family Fun Week will continue!  Oh and our good neighbors (and I'm not talking about State Farm here) came and towed our car home.  All is well...hopefully.  Unless, of course, the relay-thingy isn't really the issue. 

Favorite part of Day 4?
Ashlyn - "The big, red, twisty slide at the pool"
Trent - "I don't have a favorite part" (not sure what that means, but he does claim to have had fun)
Luke - "Birds!"

Family Fun Week - Day 3

The fun continued today with just two destinations: Hogle Zoo and Jungle Jim's.

We bought a year membership to the zoo last month and this was our third trip so far, with many to come - well worth it!  The first thing the kids wanted to do was ride the train.  The conductor announced during the ride that the train is closing down next month and won't reopen until Spring 2014.  Apparently they are going to be doing an African Safari-type exhibit and bringing back lions! Yay!  

The number one must see for the kids was the polar bear.  This exhibit is amazing and during our previous two visits, the polar was very playful and entertaining.  He was a little more mellow today, but still fun to see.

After sweating sufficiently, we moved our activities indoors.  This was our first time to Jungle Jim's and it was a fun place, but I will be very surprised if our kids don't get sick in a few days.  I'm sure that place was crawling with germs and it could really use a very thorough cleaning.  When we left I told Brian that I would love to own a place like that, just to keep it nice and clean and sanitized.  The place itself is a great concept, it just needs a little TLC, and a case of clorox wipes.  But, the kids were clueless and had a fabulous time. 

Some kids use tokens for games, but the kids without tokens simply take matters into their own hands.  Yep, when the balls wouldn't automatically come to Luke, Luke just crawled up into the machine and got the balls out himself.  Are we surprised?  No, we are not.

Once all the tokens were used up, we turned in the tickets for prizes.  Most girls would have gone for the rings and bracelets.  Ashlyn, on the other hand, chose lizards and a snake.  That's our girl!

After getting sufficiently filled up on the unlimited rides, we called it a day and headed home.  We had such a long day yesterday, so it was nice to get home early.  We ended our day with pizza, a movie and popcorn.

Favorite part of day 3?
It was unanimous: "Bumper cars!"

Family Fun Week - Day 2

Today's agenda: Movies, Dinosaur Park, Maddox Ranch House, Brigham City Temple

We started our day at the dollar movies to see Charlotte's Web.  After that we headed up to Ogden, to visit the George S. Eccles Dinosaur Park.  I've heard about this place and have wanted to visit for awhile now, but just didn't want to make the trek up to Ogden.  Since we were going to be headed up north anyway today, I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to try it out.  Turns out it was a lot of fun and very reasonably priced - bonus!  They have an indoor exhibit with skeletons, fossils, and even a few robotic dinos, and then they have an incredible outdoor park with 52 different species of dinosaurs on display - not real ones, just statues ;o)  But, I think they are all to scale and they were pretty life-like.  They also have a fun playground area, and excavating site, and an indoor education center with coloring pages, crafts and other activities.

After the dino park, we headed up to Brigham City and met up with my parents, Abigail, and Emily and her kids.  First stop, Maddox Ranch House for an early dinner.  I thought it was great, Brian gave it a C-.  He stated that he gets better food every Sunday at my Mom's house.  I can't really argue with that, but after talking it through with him, he bumped it up to a B+.  All the food was really good (especially those rolls with the raspberry butter, mmmm), but he was disappointed in his not-so-flavorful steak.  He even had to use steak sauce, and he hates steak sauce.  Anyway, enough with the food critique.  We had dinner and then headed over to the new Brigham City temple.

The company my Dad works for did the electrical on the temple and they were having a special open house for all the contractors and their families.  I think the official open house begins on Saturday.  It was fun getting a sneak peak, but is was so gosh darn hot in there.  Too many bodies me thinks. 

We had to wait in line for about an hour before we got inside and then we continued to move at a snails pace.  Just after we passed the recommend desk, a group came in through a side door by where we were standing.  In that group was Elder Neil L. Andersen!  Ashlyn was the first to shake his hand and he also took notice of Chase stating that this was likely his first trip to the temple.  As we were leaving the temple, his group passed by us again and Ashlyn got to shake his hand a second time.  I enjoy temple open houses, but it's even more special when you get to see an apostle in person. 

After suffering through the heat, we decided that ice cream was well deserved.  So, we made a quick stop at a local creamery, Peach City, before heading home. 

Favorite part of day 2?
Ashlyn: "The dinosaur park."
Trent: "The T-rex at the dinosaur park."
Luke: "Ice cream!"