The End of (Summer) Days

My sister Brianna came out to visit in August.  It was so fun!  We ended up doing a few little outings.

The first one was going to a new water park in Rexburg.  It's really awesome!  There's a really shallow end that has little spray things that come up.  There's another area, also shallow, that has a few little slides for little kids.  At the top of those slides is a HUGE bucket that fills with water, then tips over and dumps all the water out on the kids waiting below.  There's a climbing wall, and a lazy river, and two big slides.

We had so much fun!  I enjoyed the lazy river the most.  Jake and I went on the big slide.  While we were waiting in line, my dad looked up at me and said, "Do you have Brock?" Uh, NO.  Brock had told my parents that he was going on a green slide.  They kept waiting for him to come out of the tube, and he never showed up.  I was like, great - either my child has drowned or has been kidnapped.

Turns out he had gone to the lazy river section by himself.  Luckily we found him.  I asked him about it, and I think he originally said he was going to the green slide but then got distracted or thought differently or something.  And luckily he could touch the bottom of the lazy river.  But we talked again about always having an adult with him.

Ivy and Brianna were buddies the whole time.  Ivy loved watching Beej's long hair float around in the water.  Even though the wind made it a little cold to be there, it was still way fun.

About a week later, we got to go to Lagoon in Utah.  It was so awesome - and hot!  We took zero time in heading to the water rides like Cliffhanger and Rattlesnake Rapids to keep cool, and then the heat was no big deal.  Look how soaked Jake is in this picture:

I know I went to Lagoon as a kid, but I don't remember much about it.  And then I went a few times as a teenager.  So going back was a whole new experience, because I've never gone with little kids before.  I was surprised at how many rides they had for just kids.  Plus, they get new rides every couple of years, so there were some that I had never gone on before.

Ivy hated waiting in line.  I think she didn't get the concept.  Right before this boat ride she was pitching a fit because it wasn't her turn.  The little girl in the boat was by her in line, and kept trying to comfort Ivy.

Brock was, of course, a little freaked out by some of the rides.  We took him on one at the beginning of the day that goes around in a circle really fast.  I kept looking back at him and his face was sheer terror.  Pete took him on a big boat ride that swings back and forth, and he said Brock was gripping the rail for dear life and shaking with fright.  Yeah, we're kind of mean parents.  Not a lot has changed.

But Brock loved the swings ride, and he insisted on riding the train, which takes you to this hidden zoo part, which is way cool.  I had forgotten about that.

Jakob was tall enough to go on some of the big rides.  I think he was a little scared, but wasn't about to show it.

After losing Brock at the water park, I warned in earnest about always being with a grown-up at Lagoon.  Troy chose my dad to be his buddy-he hardly let go of his hand the whole time.  One of the times we went on Rattlesnake Rapids, Troy got ABSOLUTELY drenched.  I watched his face, and thought for a minute that he was going to start crying, but instead his look of incredulousness turned into a huge smile and he said, "That was AWESOME!"

I'm more of a chicken now than I used to be.  We went on Colossus, and I totally closed my eyes at the top.  There was another ride that's new (to me), called Wicked, and during the corkscrew part I kept saying "Oh mama!  Oh mama!" and closed my eyes a few times on that one too.  One girl in front of me put her hands in the air and I started yelling, "Get your hands down!  Your hands are going to get chopped off!  The ride says keep your hands inside!  Put them down!"  I'm sure she didn't hear me.

Despite the slight fear on some of the rides, it was a way fun day.

Then the next day we went to the planetarium in Salt Lake City.  It was pretty cool.  The kids loved seeing all the different science-y things, and seeing models of the planets.

We watched a movie while we were there.  The seats were so comfy, and it was dark...yeah, I barely stayed awake.  I think the same was true for my parents as well.  The movie was called "Space Pirates Attack!" or something like that.  I was thinking that it would be all action-packed.  Not so much.  Oh well-my kids still liked it.

My little Martians:

And here are my science boys.  Jakob is Pete incarnate.

I think we'll have to do a repeat trip next summer.