Back from Utah

We just got back from a 2 week roadtrip to Utah to visit family.  Other than a couple of minor problems, such as a bridge being washed out in Wyoming causing a 50 mile back track, things went great . My favorite memories:

1.  Swimming with the cousins.  Abby, Ben, Ike, and Hailey just could not get enough of the pool.  At one of the condos we stayed at there was a huge water slide that only Abby liked.  Ben wanted to go, but there were two jets of water shooting across the opening that he didn't want to deal with.

2.  Grandpa Hal and Grandma Jayne's 60th birthday party.  Everyone came over and it was so much fun.  It was also the first time in forever that all of their kids and grand kids were in the same place at the same time.  It was very special.  My other favorite memory is at one point all the grown ups were sitting around a big table outside while the kids played.  Ben decided he maybe wanted to join the grown ups but he wasn't quite sure, so he set up a chair on the deck about 10 feet away and sat there.  Very cute.

3.  Dinosaur Park.  There's this park where you just walk around and there's all these statues of dinosaurs.  The kids all loved it except Ben who did improve from the last time we went 2 years when he just cried.  This time Ben kind of liked it, except whenever there was a roar from somewhere in the park (they had speakers set up).  We tried to explain there are no real dinosaurs, and he got a little braver, but I don't think he believed us 100%.

4.  Mount Rushmore.  We saw it.  It was cool.  Probably don't really need to go back.  But it was very cool when we went to pick out souvenirs.  Ben picked a tee shirt with the mountain on it (which is cool because dad is a very big tee shirt guy), and Abby picked a dream catcher and a mini-replica of the mountain.  It was fun.

5.  The drives.  It may sound like torture to drive for 12 hours in a day, and sometimes it was, but overall it was an adventure.  An adventure with family.  The kids were mostly great, either playing on the ipads, watching a movie, coloring, or just playing with toys.  They actually got bored with ipads at times if you can believe it!  But no real complaints and it was good times stopping at weird gas stations and eating sandwiches at rest stops.  Plus it's always fun to spend the night in a hotel room and get free breakfast in the morning.

Overall it was just a fantastic 10 days spent with the side of the family we don't get to see often enough.  We'll definitely be doing it again, but probably not for a couple of years.