Jolly Extended Family Vacation: Park City, Utah, Part 1

We spent last week in Park City with Mimi, Tia, Kevin, Kelly, Wyatt, and Luke.  It was definitely a fun week, but it was also completely exhausting.  It's rough for the kids to adjust to different time zones, sleeping arrangements, and just the overall hyper stimulation that is vacation.  It is absolutely beautiful there.  The weather was pretty nice, except for the one day that it was freezing and actually snowed, which was a first for me...I had never seen snowfall in mid-June!

On the plane ready to go.

 

We arrived Sunday afternoon.  After a quick bite to eat, we scoped the activity area out.  Our hotel was right on the mountain with the alpine coaster, alpine slide, zip line, and other activities for adults and kids.  First up for Caden was climbing this slide.

 

Annabelle loved the Carousel.

 

Monday morning we headed to the zoo in Salt Lake.  A family selfie at the entrance.

 

First up...zoo train.

 

Annabelle loved the otters and this statue.

 



Annabelle's Toddler Bed

Annabelle started freely climbing out of her crib about a week or so ago.  So we have converted her crib to a toddler bed.  She's been enjoying her freedom, playing quietly in her room until the wee hours of the night.  She's really to the point where she's transitioning from needing a nap :(.  On days she naps, she will play in her room until as late as 9:30.

Here's a picture of the little escapee the first time she climbed out during rest time.

 

Here she is asleep in her new bed.

 

It's taken a few days to train Annabelle to stay in her own room during quiet time and bed time.  After repeated trips hauling her back to her room, we resorted to flipping her door knobs around, so that we can lock her in her room, if it's absolutely necessary.  I've only had to do it once, though.  The first night, Caden was fast asleep and we discovered that she had snuck in to play with Caden's toys.

 

Caden has been playing Small Fry T-ball at the local YMCA.  I think he's been enjoying it.  Here are a few pictures.

 

Leisurely running the bases.

 

I love it when Annabelle sits still long enough to do something fun with her hair.  I double French braided it down into a pony tail last weekend...my little baby doll!

 

Some rainy day fun with our train tracks. 

 

Caden is now officially big enough for a booster seat in the car.  We won't start using it all the time for a while, but we went ahead and ordered one to take on our trip to Utah, since it's lighter and easier to travel with than his current seat.  The kids had fun playing in the shipping box.  Daddy drug them back and forth along the hardwoods over and over again.  Annabelle didn't want to break for a picture.

 

 



Start of Summer

We've been enjoying our summer so far.  We are so thankful for our pool.  In summers past, it has been almost more trouble than it's worth, but we are getting a ton of use out of it already this summer!  Caden and Annabelle are both doing swimming lessons once a week, and Caden just graduated to the next level.  He can swim the width of our pool all by himself.  He hasn't yet learned to take a breath while he's swimming.  I'm hoping that'll be something he learns in this next level class. 

Annabelle and Caden enjoying a popsicle post swim last week.

 

Caden with his ribbons after graduating to the next level at swim school.

 

Week before last, Caden's class had an end of  year party at a local park.  Here's a picture of Caden with his wonderful teacher Ms. Leana.  We are going to miss her!  Hopefully, Annabelle will have her in 2 years.

 

Annabelle got a "Kitty Cat" balloon at the party.

 

The Arboretum has Fun Fridays during the month of June.  We headed there last Friday with a few friends.  The kids had fun getting their face/arm painted and seeing the animals in the petting zoo.  Annabelle wanted to be "Elsa" again, so she asked for a blue princess mask.  Right after she got it, she ran up to Caden and said, "Look at me, Caden!  I'm a pretty princess!"

 

 

Caden opted for a football on his arm. 

 

Annabelle had fun petting the sheep.

 

Annabelle, Cate, and Ella Grace watching the bunny. 

 

Caroline and Caden had fun running around playing house in the bird house area.  Caroline kept referring to Caden as "husband", and they would run in the house to make breakfast, and then run to a different house for a meeting.  Apparently, Caden is quite the hot commodity amongst our play group.  His friend Jack (4 yrs) told his Mom last week that he wanted his little sister, Isla (2 yrs), to marry Caden.

 

Annabelle tried her best to keep up the whole time.

 

Annabelle, Caroline, and Caden holding hands.

 



Legoland Discovery Center

Caden finished school the week before Annabelle, so we had two days one week for just the two of us to do something fun.  One day we went to LEGOLAND Discovery Center in Grapevine.  It wasn't quite what I thought it might be, but we still had fun. 

 

Here we are waiting to enter. 

In front of the Lego DFW Airport. 

 

 

A blurry pic of the Lego Cowboys Stadium. 

A few more Dallas buildings: downtown and AA Center. 

 

Reunion Tower. 

Caden had fun playing in the kids play area. 

 

The other morning, Caden and I just stayed home and played.  He loves playing with Lego's right now.  As we were finished this fire truck, Caden looked at me and said, "Mommy, when we put the next one together, can we not talk to each other?"  Silly guy...he talks more than I do.

 

Annabelle had her first dentist appointment week before last.  She was pretty unsure.  She insisted that she sit in my lap. 

 

Caden did great.  He was getting his teeth cleaned in a different room, while I was with Annabelle.  But here he is about to get x-rays. 

 

I made the kids these cute patriotic outfits.  I forgot to snap a picture of them on Saturday, when we went to a friend's BBQ.  And then I planned on getting a picture before church the day before Memorial Day.  But Annabelle ended up coming down with Croup the night before, so no church for us that day.  I'll have to try to get pictures of them in these outfits soon. 



May Fun with Friends: Birthday Parties and a Trip to the Zoo

We had a busy month of May.  We had a birthday party 4 out of the 5 Saturdays last month.  The kids love them.  They pretend to have birthday parties at home all the time...I mean who doesn't love playing at fun places and then eating pizza and cake!

As I've mentioned on here before, our kids LOVE our neighbors.  They ask to knock on Marty's door almost daily.  We went to a combo b-day party for Marty (3) and Merley (1) a few weeks ago.  Here are the kids surrounding Marty with the cake.

 

We fed the ducks at Marty's party. 

 

There was a group of ducklings in the pond. 

 

Another of our friends had a joint party the next week.  Luna turned 4, and Belle turned 2.  They had a Frozen themed party.  Annabelle was so excited.  Usually she has no interest in face painting, but when she realized that she could get "Elsa" on her face, she immediately got in line to get her face painted.

 

Caden actually wanted to be painted, too.

 

Caden's friend from school, Lily, had her party at Chuck E Cheese's.  Caden's favorite game was basketball!

 

The week before last, we went to the zoo with a group of friends.  It was great weather.  We had fun, but it was a little overcrowded with swarms of fieldtrip groups.  Here are a few pictures of the kids with their friends.  Left to right: Annabelle, Ella Grace, Selah Grace, Asher, and Caden.

 

Caden rode the train.

We got a pretty good look at the baby chimp; although, the picture didn't turn out great.