Week Eight - Including 26 hours and 14 minutes in the car

UTAH!

Grandma Shopping has wanted to take the kids to the Heber Creeper, a train ride, for years.  The time had finally arrived and they were so very excited.  Unfortunately, Andrew had a few conflicts and as a result, was not able to join us.  Fortunately, I knew I was traveling with some very helpful grandparents.

This is what it looks like when one woman packs for five people for an entire week.

And this is what it looks like when one little potty trained boy is not trusted by his mother to drive hours and hours without an accident - I wanted him to wear a pull-up, and he wanted to wear underwear.  Cole escaped out of the house, with his backpack, naked, ready for our trip.

Our first day, Monday, we drove all the way to Brian Head, UT.  This is about seven hours away and we only stopped twice.  Honestly, how did people travel back when there were no DVD players in the car??  But I have to say, the greatest entertainment of that ride was watching Andi freak out over some bug she saw in the car.  

We had the two-bedroom grand in Brian Head and it was perfect.... well, we came to find out the beds sucked, but the set-up of the entire condo was fabulous.  It was neat being there without the snow and being able to see everything.  Kids slept pretty darn well that night - lucky them.

Tuesday morning, after a late night arrival, my early risers needed some veg time before hitting the road.

Every evening and every morning we had to pack and unpack.... yes, we stayed at a different location every single night.  It worked out nicely that the playground was right there so the kids could play while we finished loading up the cars.  Especially considering we had hours and hours of driving to do, again.

Yes, I am a fashion critic and yes, Ito cares.  He was quite proud of his outfit this fine morning and I have to say he truly deserved an A+

Tuesday we made one stop to eat I think in Provo.... not sure - anyway, the kids attacked grandpa grandpa's salad.

Finally, Park City, UT.  Love it here and wish we had more time to explore the city and Summer sports it has to offer.  Although we didn't have the time for all that, the kids did get about an hour to swim before dinner.  Cole tried his floaties, for the first time, and was not a fan.  He was truly terrified, actually.

Not only did we enjoy a delicious dinner in Park City, but we also had some great company.  So grateful to Mike and Paige for driving over to meet us for dinner because hello, we got to meet little Miss Ivie for the very first time.  Just love this little family!!  I think Jackson shared my excitement - haha

Tuesday night we had our own room so we took advantage of the space.  Andi was again with me because, "she just loves [me] so very, very much".  Ryan decided he wanted his own personal space, which is not uncommon for him, and chose to sleep on the chair and ottoman.  Jackson and Cole, of course, were together.

Wednesday morning we were dragging our feet.  We had had two late nights before and this was our first morning with a black out shade... as a result, Cole, Andi, Ryan and myself slept a bit too late.  At about 9am, grandpa took the kids to breakfast while I finished getting ready and packing up.  From what I understand, Cole ran out of the elevator after breakfast and tripped smacking his head into the plastic protector they have on every hotel wall corner.  It split his head right open.  I found out as I was returning from my car and saw my mom holding Cole telling me he needed stitches.  So I immediately took him to our room to check it out and at this point, there wasn't much bleeding going on.  So I took my keys to my dad so he could load up our luggage and then grabbed some first aid stuff from the front desk.  We were supposed to leave the hotel at 9:50am and when I looked at the clock after bandaging him up, it was 10:11am.  Shoot!!!!  The bright side of the story is that Cole was so very brave.

Wednesday morning we barely made it to the train because of Cole's forehead incident.... I mean seriously, we made it with five minutes to spare but my parents and grandparents made it onto the train with about thirty seconds to spare... the train DOES NOT WAIT!  So glad they all made it, especially considering this was the point of this entire trip, but had they not made it, they would have missed the "train robbery".  Truly one of the kids' favorite parts!

The scenery really was breathtaking.  The kids found the train to be quite exciting and the popcorn delicious.  Dad and I were able to enjoy it after using the SeaBands and drinking some Coke.  Ugh!

The train ride is a total of three hours round-trip, with a 15 minute stop at the park.

The ride back was a tad long for us all but enjoyable overall.  The kids loved being lassoed once we arrived back at our cars.

Cole knew we were on our way to grab some lunch but he still had to have the fishies.  These stinken gold fish were their favorite and in turn are all over my car.  Truly, my car is disgusting!  And yes, they ate the contents of that box within a couple of days.
That afternoon we enjoyed a delicious meal at Kneaders and hello, I could so devour some of their desserts right this very moment.
That evening, back in Brian Head, UT., we thoroughly enjoyed our free and delicious dinner.  The resort made an error and charged my mom $940 instead of 940 timeshare points.... oops!  After many phone calls the money was returned and we were treated like royalty.  I have to say it was a tender mercy.

Before heading up the mountain to Cedar Breaks Resort, we stopped in Beaver, UT. to grab some groceries.  I wasn't feeling well and the kids wanted to get out so we all ventured into the little grocery store.  To their delight, there were a couple mini shopping carts for their enjoyment.

My poor, little injured baby.  The stud that he is barely cried, fussed none while we applied the butterflies and carried on all day like nothing ever happened.  Again, had to sleep with Jackson!

We arrived at Zion National Park somewhere around lunch time.  I honestly do not remember the time but I remember being hungry and HOT.  The kids were hot and starting to not feel well so once we all found parking, we headed to the tram to make our way to lunch at the lodge. 

Cole was a bit apprehensive about getting onto the tram so he held onto my leg for the first stop or two.

Off to lunch.  Still hot.

Another tram ride.  A mile of hiking.  Finally arrived in the Narrows where it was enjoyable, cooler, challenging, exhilarating, refreshing, memorable.  Jackson, I think, enjoyed it the most.  But really, they all loved it.  

This kid is such a trooper - he hiked almost all the way there and he hiked ALL THE WAY BACK.... no, he RAN most of the way back.

Speaking of troopers - 80 years old and hiking the Narrows... come on, insane!

Thursday night we were beat.  We enjoyed the best meal of the trip at a Thai Restaurant in St. George.  Oh my gosh we were all in heaven.  Then from there we made pretty decent time in our arrival to the hotel and in turn were able to have Papa, Gramma Nette, Mya and Zoe come by and visit before bed.  The kids were so super excited to play with their cousins and were so hyped up.  The funny part is they still knocked out quite easily even after all that excitement.  I jumped in the shower as soon as everyone left and I had placed Jackson in my bed, Andi and Cole in the other bed and Ryan opted for the floor so he "could have [his] space."  When I got out, all the kids were asleep but not where I had left them.  Yes, I had a bed all to myself that night and it was heavenly.  Once again, the black out shade kept most asleep much later than usual but even more surprisingly, it helped Cole sleep until 9:30am.  Luckily grandpa grandpa came and sat with him in the room while I took the kids downstairs to eat.

 

The kids woke up Cole when we got back but it took him no time at all to fully wake and start eating the breakfast we brought for him.  Hard boiled eggs... poor housekeeping!

Because we arrived too late Thursday night, the kids wanted to hit the pool first thing Friday morning.  We did, and they froze... so we decided to pack up, load up and head to Vegas where we could swim at our timeshare resort there.

 

I assumed we would swim for about an hour and then get back on the road.... NOPE.  We arrived in Vegas at about 11am and went directly to South Point for the buffet and some gambling.  From there, we headed to Cancun to swim.  The kids were in heaven and showed no signs of wanting to leave until maybe 5pm.  This was only because Jackson started feeling queasy.  We figured it was time to get changed and start our journey home.

Andi was devastated when the lifeguard changed her mind and wouldn't let her go down the slide.  So we waited about an hour and had hoped there was a rotation and bam, there was a she did.  When I took her up there to try it out, the new guy asked me if she could swim and if she had been down already.... I responded stating she is my best swimmer.  He took it and let her go.  Bam, she rocked it and loved every minute.  He is such the fish.  The smile on that girl's face is much better than the sad one in the top left photo. 

I think this may have been my favorite day.
Cole spent most of the day watching and wandering as he was super sleepy, but the last hour he decided he was going to swim.  I was shocked because he hasn't done this since the beginning of Summer.  He started jumping to me, kicking his feet, swimming with his arms and eventually he even let me put the froggies on him and he began to trust them more and more.  So much fun.

Before hitting the road, the kids got their first go at El Pollo Loco - I can't really do fast food so I was a bit nervous but all settled well and all went down well.  The kids loved the chicken - the dark meat, and the mac n cheese.  I am a bit disappointed they did not "ooh" and "ahh" over the tortillas because after all, isn't that the best part of this place?
We headed home shortly after 6pm making a stop on the side of the freeway so the boys could pee and a stop in Victorville so Andi could pee.  I let them walk around Target a bit and grab the movie Brave because I could not stand to hear Shrek, Little Rascals, or Tangled another second.  Even my Pandora stations couldn't tune it out anymore.
I had to get gas after that and I will never, ever stop there to get gas after dark again.  It was freaky!  I didn't even fill up all the way because half way through I spotted a beggar coming towards me so I put the pump back and jumped in my car while avoiding eye contact.  Luckily they got the picture real fast and went to the person in front of me as I drove off.
The next scary part was driving at night - I DO NOT do well because the headlights of the oncoming traffic really messes with my vision.  We were truly blessed on this journey home as I was given two cars to follow and the endurance to make it all the way home.  I didn't realize my exhaustion until I got home!

So, today, we unpacked, cleaned, and folded.  We also worked on getting the green out of Andi's hair.  Not sure we succeeded.  Andrew had to leave for work at 5am and so the kids were super excited when he got home and they finally had the chance to spend some time with him.  At Target last night, Jackson wanted to buy him an "I Love You Card".  Inside he wrote:
"Dere Dad I mised you so much I wish you were here whith us I love you!!"

Jackson did such a good job being the man of our trip.  He said the prayer for us every morning when we got into the car and started our drives.  Every evening he asked that I prayed for us.  We were watched over every step of the way and we were grateful to my parents for making it all possible.  I do believe this will be a trip the kids will never forget and we hope that next time Andrew can join us so he doesn't have to be home sad and alone.  Yes, grown me do cry!