Cherry Hill

New Summer Adventure #5

Since I last went to Cherry Hill (many MANY years ago), it really has changed. The first thing I loved was the abundance of grassy shady areas with chairs for families and their bags to park. This green space is the center "island" for a pretty big lazy river, that passes under old time bridges and in front of fake western store fronts, etc. My kids were content with that scene for at least a couple of hours, and Peter and I took shifts with Sean on the green space. I immediately regretted that I brought NOTHING to read, and no fake old time bookshop in sight. It was a shame.



You don't have to pay for a tube, you just have to keep your eye out for someone to be done with theirs. It never felt like we had to wait too long. :o)



Ben decided to snuggle in the towel on my lap for a minute. He is silly about pictures! Always hard to get a good one, but still they capture the moment.



Sometimes I'm mean and take pictures of my kids when they are in the middle of a cry. This is Ben when he still wanted to be in the river. But then I busted out the strawberry milks and all was forgiven.



Zach was not a fan of the canyon ride, the whole water in the face thing. So since he went on it with Peter the first time, I could NOT talk him into going again with me. I tried all the tricks in my book, still I ended up riding that alone while the boys were patient snacking and waiting for me.

I had shown the boys the 360 degree pictures on the Cherry Hill website, and they were stoked about the pirate ship near the toddler-deep splash pad area. But guess what? No climbing on the pirate ship. Lame!

We swapped out our wet towels with some dry ones in the car and headed over to these slides:



They were a hit with the kiddos. Peter and I each got to go down at least a few times with each child. Good times. The turns were pretty zippy, and try as I may I almost always goofed up on my leaning and nearly tipped over at the end every time!



Zach's impressions of the blue slides. (Not a lot of water in the face here, see?)



Cherry Hill is great for a lot of things, especially so for families with kids just a little bit older than my own. I love that there is an RV park and campground right there, so it makes for a good family reunion set up. For the price, if you live nearby and think you would come often, I think it would actually be worth paying for the season pass. I had coupons such that one of us was free and the others were at a discount, and it was still a $35 day.

As we were leaving, and here is the lamest part of the whole thing... I finally decided to ask someone to snap our picture at the mini golf and blue slide exit near where we parked. Soggy towels and swimsuits and all. So the nice lady took two pictures, and said, "do you want to check them?" Me: "no, I'm sure they're great!" Then two seconds later in the midst of loading the kids, I check and NO pictures of our family group. Bah! I just wanted one because we likely won't be making Cherry Hill an every year event. What do you do? Unload everyone? And find another poor bystander to help us out? Ah, well. We were pretty beat and happily headed home to the tunes of the kids telling us they were STARVING. Poor things.

Cami, Adventures 3, 4, 5, and sort of 6.

Ok, so since school has started, I suppose I should finish up with my Summer Adventures Challenge posts. I'm trying to remember what I've said so far--just the Living Sea Aquarium and Museum of Ancient Life. SO, on to the next ones:

#3: Thanksgiving Point Gardens and Children's Garden

We went to the Thanksgiving Point Gardens many a time. Actually, just twice to the actual gardens, during which I forgot my camera. I'll hunt down some pictures from my sisters. It is quite expansive, and we just chose a few of our favorite gardens to show the kids. They each had a map and had a great time finding their way to the next garden. The Secret Garden was a hit, since you come in through a door hidden in a tunnel, and there was a fountain. But the kids loved it all and were great sports with the long walk. They always do love the big waterfall.

I found some pictures. Here they are:



But the Children's Garden we pretty much did instead of a pool this year because of the great Noah's Ark splash pad. Very fun. But every time we went it seemed we found more to this little garden. There is the hedge maze, and the bear cave, and the pond with fish you can feed, and a lighthouse you can climb up into, and we found on Tuesdays and Thursdays there are even little craft classes my kids loved. They must do little shows on the "bug stage," but never when we're around, so the kids just go up on the stage and have fun.



Those are the obvious parts of the garden. But turns out, there is a whole action area type place that is more of a nature path with lots of fun things. We wound around the whole path with all the cousins and played some natural wood xylophones, built with natural blocks, climbed up and around woodsy areas, and looked at the big gardens from lookout points. It was very fun. Now if only they'd just open the gates between the big gardens and the children's ones, it would be perfect.



So much for the gardens.

#4: Thanksgiving Point Farm Country

NEXT, the other day Jake and I took the kids to the Thanksgiving Point Farm Country. Our mistake was going on a Tuesday night, when it's $2 to get in. Since we have a pass, that didn't matter, but all in all, the farm is never that busy. It was like a little petting zoo, with some other exhibits about milk and farms and shipping produce that the kids loved. It was small enough to not get overwhelmed, but big enough that we felt like it was really worth coming. The kids really liked all the animals, and we even watched a pony try to eat a girl's skirt! (The sign told everyone the pony was a biter!) Everyone also gets a ticket to go on a pony ride, which was when we wished we'd come another day, since we waited a good 25 minutes for our ride. But CRAZY to behold, my scaredy cat Jeffy got on the biggest horse and did a great job riding without supervision. Ethan was ok if I was next to him the whole time, and was even alright when I stepped back to take some pictures. Hoorah! Janey, however, HATED it. She cried the whole time, poor girl. I don't know why Jake didn't just take her off the pony, but there you go.



#5: Seven Peaks Water Park

We've been meaning to go all summer, but the kids aren't SO great at water, and we wanted to go with other people, and no one ever really wanted to. So, today was my bro-in-law's birthday, and I thought I'd call them to see if they had any plans. They didn't so we did a spontaneous trip to the water park in Provo. Jake and I have been a million times since we used to have a pass when we lived in Provo, but the kids have never been. It was only $6 after 6 p.m., and since we were only going to stay a couple hours anyway, it was the right way to go.

Well. It was certainly an adventure. Jefferson really had good intentions of going down some slides. Jake finally got him to go down a biggerish kids slide and he hated it. He doesn't love being splashed. But the really little kids slides he was so wimpy on, we finally gave up on slides with him. I put Janey down a couple, and I'm not sure she loved it either. Ethan refuses to step into water that is not beach entry, so we finally left all the fun kids areas behind and took up residence at the wave pool.

Little did we know they turned off the waves just after we left the first time, so they never DID see any. Lame. However, it may have been better, because Jane is not an easy girl to control in the water. Without the waves, it was just a giant beach-entry pool. We only went to the pool a few times this year because Jane plunges in and screams if you hold her, and it's just too hard to do. But this was PERFECT. I was able to keep pretty good track of both boys and Janey, and even just sat down in the water while I watched Janey go back and forth in the water, jumping up to save her from drowning each time she slipped. She was in total heaven.

Jake did a few slides with Lili and Jeff (big Jeff, not Jeffy), but after a while, it was pretty cold outside (it was past 7), and we were enjoying the warm water. As people leave, they often give you their tubes (that you have to pay for, so we didn't), and someone gave us one and the kids had a BLAST with everything you can do with a tube without actually FLOATING in it. They just pushed it around, got in the holes and pretended it was a boat, etc. Jane and I got in and let the boys push us back and forth for a while too, and that was fun.

And the rest of the time we spent watching the big kids (Jake, Lili, and Jeff) go off the rope swing, and convincing Jefferson to put his head under water at the risk of losing his DS if he didn't. (That was the deal from the beginning of getting his DS for going under water 10 times.) He always forgets that it's pretty easy to do, and I'm wishing we gave him more opportunities to practice this summer.

SO, it was worth it for $6 each. Until the kids are bigger, I wouldn't pay more. But it was a really fun end-of-summer fun pool time. The pizza and brownies (that everyone else had) afterward looked way fun too.

BONUS: American Fork Canyon.

This is sad. We were supposed to go up many times. The kids have been begging. And perhaps there are still hikes and campouts in the future this Fall. However, since a kid was taken from his tent and eaten by a bear last year, people have been more cautious, and we'd all like to be in trailers and whatnot. Also, many a sister is pregnant or just had a child, so maybe that's an adventure for next year.

BUT, we did go. We went to visit my parents on a Sunday, and they told us to just load up and follow them up the canyon. They had parked their T@B up there for the week, and just went up and down the canyon as they pleased and slept up there. So we packed up and went.

I didn't realize how far up their parking spot was--it was probably a 40 minute drive up the windy roads (and Ethan does NOT do well with windy roads), but it was SUCH a lovely drive, and my kids had never actually been in a real live canyon before. This canyon is as much home to me as any other place in the world, and it was really great to see the kids be so excited about all the trees, the cliffs, the river, the lake we passed, and everything great about the mountains of Utah.

When we got to the campground, the kids roasted marshmallows and made s'more-ish type treats with brownies. THAT was a big hit, even though it was pretty tough keeping Janey out of the fire. Mind you, we didn't know we were coming, so Jane and I were in Sunday dresses, and hers got completely filthy. Good times.

Then we took a walk around the hilly roads of the campground and the kids explored their guts out in the woods around the campground. It was a big hit. The kids were mad when we had to go home. I wish we'd spent more time, and I'm sure we'll go up there plenty when the leaves change, but it still counts that we went up there in the summer, so hooray!!

I stole these pics from Matt:



And THAT my friends, is the end of my Summer Adventures. This year was easy, because everything we did was new. Next year we'll actually have to hunt down some new stuff! What will we find?

Also, we are planning to go to Moab sometime soon. Even if it's not summer, perhaps I'll post a link. :)

(I've been working on this post for DAYS and it took me about 1.5 hours to get the pictures for this post. Seriously. Insane.)

Maple Canyon and Mount Pleasant

New Summer Adventure #4

This was not on my original list of plans, but I'm counting it. Because it was new. Because it is summer. Because it was a great adventure. I may just better count it as a substitute for Cherry Hill, because for the second year in a row, we just can NOT seem to make it there as a family. A perfect hot afternoon may still present itself though, so we'll see.

Also included in this adventure was a drive down Moroni's main street, and a visit to Mount Pleasant. Wonderful, wonderful stuff, and I'm going to share.

All the way to Nephi, as Zach watched the mountains east of us pass by, he began to get frustrated. "Mom, you keep driving AROUND the mountain. We need to go TO it." :o)



Maple Canyon is west of Fountain Green, which appeared to be known for not much but turkey farms. The neighboring canyon is nothing short of a rock-climber's paradise. There are steep, climbable rock faces on every side. Many of them are gold-colored and have what look like nubbly hand and foot holds all over them, it even appeared that they just might be ready to fall apart. Solid they were, though, and perfect for climbing up or repelling down.



I barely remembered to snap this picture as I was leaving.

We went up on a Friday night, and were neighbor campers with our good friends. I never took a walk around the campground, but it seemed not large, and still pretty empty. By nightfall, though, lots of people were showing up and in the morning too. And they were almost all of the same people you would see showing up at any given climbing gym. I did notice a couple of trail heads, but never went exploring.



Take a good look at Sean's hair. I just trimmed it, a VERY little bit though. I'm the only one that gets to hold the scissors until he is one year old. :o)



In the morning, the young women from our ward were coming to have a day of climbing and repelling, which my husband and the other dad were helping with. Teresa and I and the kids hung out until lunch, then we hurried and packed up to go kill time at her parents' house in Mount Pleasant. I have to pat myself on the back here, because I packed up and loaded our entire camp by myself in about a half hour. It helped that Teresa's kids are about the same age as my own so they entertained each other. Neither of us had room in our vehicles for the huge bag of trash. We left that behind for the fellas. :o)

Some things I loved about the drive to Mount Pleasant:
*You're on a back road and it just feels like you could drive as fast as you pleased and you'd never get caught.
*Sometimes you'd see a home, where they have lots of recycled trash art for sale. Tin can windmills and the like.
*The fence posts were NOT from Home Depot. Most of them looked like giant twigs.
*Two places caught my eye in downtown Moroni. The Moroni Opera House. (I've gotta wonder if it's ever used for what it was intended anymore...) The Next Chapter book and gift shop. (I should have stopped in for a peek)
*Then from Moroni to Mount Pleasant you're just passing sprawling fields and farms and my mind loves the slowing-down feeling that just plain happens when you drive somewhere like this. Ahhhh... I should use a memory like that to help me fall asleep at night.

Teresa's parents have some horse property so after a quick pit stop at their house we drove to the field. My kids loved feeding the horses barley, and with my help Ben even dared have them eat it right out of his hand. Ben also got a little ride (walk) around with the horse (an older girl was also on with him). He was so relaxed and just loved it--I'm happy that I got a good video of that. Zach got only got to sit on one of the horses, because they were a little touchy and lots of kids were interested.



I know. Mostly a picture of a horse's tail end. But what do you do?

Then came my favorite part. At the end of the property was a pond, some big trees, and a rope swing; I decided to drive down the gravel road where there was some shade and I could feed Sean in the car. The kids had a running start but I passed them and got to see their happy running faces as they tried to keep up and beat their friends. Don't ask me why I relished this, it was just magical.

Then more moments that I just wanted to bottle up, as I fed Sean in the car. I rolled the windows down so the perfect 75-ish degree air could blow through. In whatever direction you looked you could see only see one or two buildings. My view was perfect for watching the kids play at the pond, my boys contentedly throwing rocks and twigs in. Teresa's dad helped those that wanted to with the rope swing.



Teresa's oldest, who is nine, and his friend made a sudden discovery and came running over to show all of the other kids. They had caught a frog and needed a container for it. Teresa produced a tupperware, probably wondering if that frog would be her new family pet. :o) Eventually things were winding down and we had to head for home. I just left feeling like the day could very well be one of the prize jewels in my kids treasure box of childhood memories.

Deer Valley Music Festival

New Summer Adventure #3

First just let me get something off of my chest. It was my long-held hope that the Utah Symphony performance we would be going to up there would be in mid-August featuring Elvis Costello. It was embarrassingly hard for me to let go of this when it became clear it couldn't happen. I have not really thought of Elvis Costello since my high school days; in fact, I can only put my finger on one or two songs anymore. To hear what a concert with him and a symphony would be like? I couldn't wait to see for myself! Long story short, I shed my tears as I let go of this mini-dream, that in days past would have been an easy and exciting get-away. Now I have a family, a growing family, and other people's needs and plans to consider. And that's OK.

Tchaikovsky's 1812 overture performance was an excellent plan B. It worked out perfectly to combine this concert with our overnight stay in Park City. Since we got a package deal of concert + lodging, it didn't make sense to leave our 3-month-old with a sitter 30 minutes away. I was a little anxious about bringing a baby to the concert. And the signals were mixed about whether it was allowed. Over the phone I was told it was fine, online it looked like it wasn't...? Being an outdoor venue, I wasn't overly stressed about it. I crossed my fingers and figured that if they were stinkers about it, we would go find something else to do. I understand WHY they have policies like that and I am ultra aware when I take my baby out; there are others looking for (and paying for) some cultural refinement as well.

I'm making this too long. We checked in, Peter asked about the tickets, they told us they were at will call. Five minutes before the performance, we arrived (which was a Park City traffic miracle with the arts festival also going on). At will call they did not have our tickets. We called the hotel. Oh! They have them! And they will bring them right up! (grrrr...) It was fun to feel so "on time" for a minute though. :o)

The good news is that I printed out some 1812 Overture history from Wikipedia and crammed it in the diaper bag, so we had something to read while we waited and listened to what we were missing. A half hour later we called the hotel again to see when we could expect them. To my surprise, the phone was answered by the same guy I had spoken to earlier who had just brought them up! He hadn't even looked for us in the box office area, just took them to the window. At one point I took a picture of Peter and Sean on a bench, and it was probably then, when my back was turned that he dropped them off.

In we went. We had general admission lawn seats so we were way up on the hillside. The amphitheatre setting, you're basically at the bottom of the main ski lift, with the mountains all over, is really impressive. Having the rows and rows of condo units looking over us took away from it a little bit, I thought. Surely if I owned one of those condos I would feel differently. :o)

It was a perfectly lovely evening, just the three of us and our big levi blanket. Most of the show was this harpist, and though we couldn't really see, I think her harp is painted blue. Some of her stuff was really great, she electrified her harp for part of it and really rocked out, some was a little weird. We were surprised that she actually DID finish her performance with a bizarre love song about the garbage man. I so rarely go to professional performances of any kind, though, so I was relaxed and enjoying myself. She shared with us her "congratulations" birthday song that was still in my head the next morning. Smart for a performer to have one of those, so they don't have to pay the late MJ any royalties for the traditional "Happy Birthday."

During intermission we got some hot chocolates and a pretzel, all for under ten dollars. I almost bought their huge chocolate chip cookie ice cream sandwich, I should have. Now that I'm thinking of that again, maybe I'll just make my own tonight. I make them smaller, so I can have three. :o)

The cool thing I had heard about the 1812 at Deer Valley is the cannons that they actually fire off at the end. It was grand and LOUD. Thankfully, we were completely on the opposite side of where they were, and they didn't scare Sean. He was a very good boy and I only had to stand up and walk him around once during the coarse of the night. The overture was about 20 minutes long. I think everything was done just before 10:00, and then we learned why people parked so far away and walked up the parking lot. We parked as close as we could to the entrance and it took us almost 30 minutes to get out onto the main roads.

Were I to go again, I think I would choose a concert with more symphony, because that was the part I enjoyed most. I would also bring in some goodies. You can bring any food in, people were hauling coolers. We saw everything from KFC to watermelons.

Living Planet Aquarium

OK, this was bad. Not the aquarium's fault at all though. If I were to pin the blame on any one person, it would my own self. I'm the one driving the jeep and deciding when and where to stop it and let everyone out, after all. :o) This outing was squeezed between some other events. I was in the area and needed to have something fun for the kids for a couple of hours and this seemed to be the best option, since otherwise we would have been roasting at a public park. So I parked the jeep and we all got out.

Eight dollars for me (ouch, for how small the place is!) and six dollars for my five-year-old. Two and under are free. Though I've little experience with aquariums, it is clear that this one is a work in progress. Still, I thought they had some neat things to offer.

LOVED the jellyfish area. I could stare at those for a long time and Zach thought the fish themselves were changing colors, though really it was probably a cool light bulb nearby. I just loved looking into those dark waters and watching those beautiful glowing things.

LIKED the octopus. The thing was all suctioned to the side of glass, and it was kindof ew, gross, wow, weird, amazing, gonna gag, all at the same time.

LIKED the 100-yr-old lobster. I wondered a little if the poor guy is just ready to be done already. Very big, the biggest lobster I've ever seen.

HATED that fifteen minutes upon arriving, things went sour at the stingray petting area. For the kids sake, I reached my two fingers in to touch the slimy back of the passing sting ray. Ben enjoyed watching them only and standing up on the rock step he was right at level to peek in at them. Then one began oozing its way up the side and showed its slimy pink alarming face to Ben. He let out a yelp/scream/cry as he backed away. I felt so bad for him, it scared me too! Then things turned into full-on crying, which woke up Sean. Then the rest of the time felt lame and rushed and involved my fussy infant and a freaked out preschooler.

LIKED that I had a moment to re-group a little in the sunken pirate ship -- an area with some wood puzzles and where they host birthday parties if you like.

LOVED the shark tank. Remembering the good times when I kayaked over leopard sharks not long ago. This was Zach's favorite part and no one felt too scared when we were looking at things safely on the other side of the glass.

LIKED the huge starfish. My kids had never seen anything like it, and I hadn't since being on the Oregon coast eight years ago.

LOVED the south america exhibit. My children enjoyed the buttons on the wall that made different frog sounds and I liked the mini crocodilian creatures. This spotted stingray was small and almost cute.



LIKED the Utah waters section. We saw four different types of trout, which wasn't too thrilling to be honest. But what do you expect when you go see an aquarium in the middle of the desert? At this part my kids really liked the boat turned play area, where they could sit in a driver's seat and watch a movie that made them feel they were really on a ride.



This is a different boat, just a cute little picture spot where I didn't get a very cute little picture. But both kids are looking at the camera, and that's very good.

HATED that they make you exit right past the gift shop. It just wasn't my day to add that icing on the cake.

I think we'll go back. Someday, when they're bigger and better. The aquarium, my kids, or both. :o)

Treehouse Childrens Museum

New Summer Adventure #1

Man, it was hard to get out the door for this one -- for reasons I can't remember -- but I'm so glad to be, in my new mother-of-three status, feeling ready for at least a bit of adventuring.



Sean's first impressions. Ha!

Technically, this was not my first time at this museum. I went when it was more like a little hole in the wall a few blocks away from where it now stands. I'd been looking forward to visiting the new location, and though I did go in early June, it was one of my off days. So I went again, and this time, I have lots of good to say. I have determined that the worst place to try and get pictures of kids looking at the camera is in a childrens' museum. Still I tried. :o)

Stuff we liked:

**Parking is nice and close, and there seemed to be plenty. This museum is right by the Ogden temple, in the up and coming nice downtown part of Ogden.
**You pay for your child when they begin walking, which I think is perfect. It bugs when a childrens' museum charges for a one-year-old who is just going to be chillin' in the stroller the whole time.
**They have a cheaper toddler time, which is I believe from 10-noon on Mondays. This includes some extra goofy story time which we caught when we went in June. Part of this story time included a 65-ish woman at the keyboard with songs like "If You're Happy and You Know It," and I imagined that she had been doing it and loving it for years and years. I think she even accompanied the story time with dramatic music when appropriate. And that, to me, is some serious piano talent.
**This museum has a huge tree in the middle of the building, you can go up the tunnel/stairs to the upper floors. They have a slick rock slide for going part of the way down, but this is currently cardboarded off for some reason.

Stuff we didn't like:

**Much of the parking, I think it may just be the parking closest to the entrance, is for only two hours. So they expect you to drag your kids out of the museum to move your car and then come back in? That sounds fun.
**No strollers allowed on the museum floor, which yes is probably the status quo at places like these. Luckily, this time I came prepared with the Bjorn. Still, after the three hours we were there, I was exhausted.


Exhibits:

**One of the first places we stopped in was made up of little houses representing different countries. My kids liked Africa. There was a straw-roofed house to take apart and put back together. And Ben thorougly enjoyed the flatbed safari truck. He was very sad that he couldn't take it with us to the next exhibit.

This little showcase, about the size of a shoebox, was a part of the Japan house. I stared at it for a long time, all the tiny detailed pieces were neat.
The Great Britain house had a tea party set up, as well as lots of books and information on Beatrix Potter. Wish I could have stayed and browsed but my boys were SO moving on. :o)
**Upstairs there was a very cool exhibit coming soon of "Be the Hero of your Own Story." I loved this area, even though it wasn't quite done. Huge books, complete with classic titles on the spines, made up the desks and partitions, they were stacked for the stage. I wish I'd have gotten a picture but my camera was dying.
**Ongoing activities at the art garden. They had these cute little pre-teens there to greet the children and get them started (accompanying grownup still had to be there too). We made these yankee doodle caps, that you staple together, complete with a feather on back. Ten minutes later I was wishing I would have just stapled them to my diaper bag, since I was the one carrying them most of the time. :o)
**OH, the music area. We spent a good amount of time here. I am finding that it is nigh impossible to get a good picture of my Ben without a flashed over-exposed face. He just moves too quick, always a blur.

Ben's favorite were these drums.

Yankee Doodle Zach liked the wall-mounted marimbas.
**The "castle" area is SO much fun! They have some turret tower scenery, treasure chests filled with dress ups for kids of all sizes, a curtained stage for life-size acting out, as well as a little puppet theatre to the side.

Since my boys really like Robin Hood right now, they loved these castle building pieces, complete with horses and knights to liven things up.

Here is the stage. I think it was at this point where my Sean was getting fussy and I gave up trying to get any decent pictures with my dying camera.
**I love these huge floor maps so much.

There is one of Utah and one of the U.S.A. The kids can press a button to hear trivia questions, and they stand on the state or county that is being referred to. Too mature an activity for my boys now, but perfect for older kids who visit the museum.

A funny thing about this day was that I was going to meet my sister-in-law there, she also with a newborn (and her own three older kids, AND two she babysits). We did meet. As we were passing each other while chasing kids across a lobby area. :o) So my visions of chatting with a friend while my kids were entertained were not fulfilled. Ah well, I think we'll go back again sometime and I think she will too.

Bottom line... I think this is a winner place to visit. I want to say that the feel there is a type of old-fashioned imagination-building that should never be extinguished. Lots of emphasis on telling stories, on creating a place to pretend in for awhile. I loved it.

Summer Adventures Challenge: Living Sea Aquarium and Museum of Ancient Life

by Cami

Ok, so I've decided to NOT post the Thanksgiving Point Gardens until I have more fun pictures. We'll be going all summer since we got a pass, so I'll leave that til later.

I WILL however, try to catch up on the other places we have been that I haven't posted about. First one:

THE LIVING SEA AQUARIUM

So, it was small. You have to understand, "my" aquarium is the National Aquarium in Baltimore. So it was hard to just kind of drive around some little back roads in Salt Lake until we came upon what looks to be an old grocery store turned aquarium.

Having said that, it was cheap to get in, and JUST the right size for my family. Sure, I had a great time in the Baltimore aquarium, but would my little baby and my boys who tend to run off? It's just right for a quick afternoon with the cousins. And it was cheap enough that I felt pretty good about donating some dollars to get some penguins.

There are other bonuses. I never lost my kids--even wandering Janey. So I could sort of relax and let the kids wander where they might. There were LOTS of hands-on exhibits, and Jeffy, yes, my sensory dysfunctional child, reached right on in and TOUCHED a sting ray. More than once. And these were no ordinary sting rays. When you put your hand in or above the water, they will JUMP OUT AT YOU, to give you easier access, I guess. Very friendly sting rays my son touched. And then he moved on to the star fish and other smaller sea creatures. Very big step for my boy.

We went to a live animal show, which I was really quite worried about. Janey doesn't sit still and Ethan is terrified of any living non-human thing. So, I tried to position us in such a way that Ethan would not freak out, but so I could stand up with Janey. It's true, Ethan sort of screamed and moved 3 rows back every time they brought out something new. Birds, snakes, tarantulas, etc. But we made it through and he might have thought it was a little cool. Jeffy surprised us all again by actually TOUCHING the snake afterward. Seriously.

They also had a great little walk-through exhibit about Utah's natural habitat and whatnot, and though I'm pretty sure none of it actually soaked into my boys' brains, they enjoyed playing on the boat!

And then, of course, there are other cool exhibits (GIANT OCTOPUS!), fun little reefs to crawl around in, an aquarium you can look at from both sides so as to pretend you are IN it, and puzzles to do. So, it is kid friendly, and very fun. It was a good experience over all, and it's always fun to be with the clan.



So, I'd for sure do it again, and I'm sure the kids would too, without getting too bored. It's a keeper.


MUSEUM OF ANCIENT LIFE

This is part of Thanksgiving Point, and since we bought a pass for ALL the properties, we can go to this anytime we want. It's the only thing that is truly open all year, so it really makes it worth it. I was worried, at first, that it was a one-time kind of place, but I am happy to say I was completely wrong. We could go here every couple weeks all year and be just fine.

First of all, it is the LARGEST dinosaur museum in the entire world. ENTIRE WORLD people. And it is literally 5 minutes from my house. I figured, when I heard that, that the other museums just must be pretty small, but no, they could be big and still be trumped by this awesome museum. It was practically a maze. There were so many exhibits, I feel like we barely scratched the surface.

How do I explain it? There are lots of dinosaurs. They are all over. Some of them you can stand under the feet on one floor, then walk up the next and be under the head. There are hallways made to look like the dark of space with stars (which Ethan refused to go in), and actual rooms where you can watch them work on the bones, and excavation tools you can look at, and fossils you can touch, and all sorts of scientificy things.


Then there are toys and puzzles and computers. There are rubbings. There are build-a-dino velcro walls and models. There are mosaics you can draw part of.

But most of all, there is . . . The sand and water room.

That's right, there is a room with a giant tub of sand with a constant stream of water coming from several different fountains. It is a sort of ellipse which you can stand around, or crawl under and go to the middle (which has a raised floor for shorter folk). Kids are building dams. Kids are making rivers. Kids (mine) are burying as many dinosaur figurines in as much sand as they possibly can. It is a Build Destroy Build sort of game that went on for probably 30 minutes before I dragged them away. Janey splashed a bit as well. And the provided smocks make it so the kids don't get TOO wet.


After we were washed off, I wandered around to get out and went the wrong way, because we didn't go out the door Jeffy had seen from the outside, so we snuck back in the exit and found the room full of sand. This, the kids went into barefoot, grabbed a few paintbrushes, and began to dig up life-sized dinosaurs. I was tired by then and made them come out after only a few bones. (Janey was sick and tired of the whole place by then.) But I got them out with promises that we could come back as many times as we wanted, and that made them happy.


There is also an IMAX 3D movie, but I am afraid that may be too much for the kids right now. I think maybe Jake will just take Jeffy sometime. But that also costs extra. But there were also other "free" exhibits that the kids really want to check out, so there is plenty to do that we haven't done.

So, all in all, these outings (which are things I NEVER would have done sans husband in the past, and which I braved ALL on my very own), have been so great and fun. I definitely recommend both to any locals or visitors to the area. If you come, give me a call, I can get you in to TP half price!

Phewf! I'm a contributor!

I'm Cami. I just moved from Maryland back to Utah where I grew up. This is our first summer here, so EVERYTHING is new. I've already completed some of these challenges, but here is my list. I'm doing Road Trip:

1. Thanksgiving Point Gardens
2. Museum of Ancient Life
3. Living Sea Aquarium
4. Hogal Zoo OR 7 Peaks Resort
5. American Fork Canyon (Do I dare to do Timpanogos Cave with my kids? Probably not this year.)

BONUS: Zion's National Park--this is bonus because I'm not sure we'll get there this summer with all the moving going on, but I'm sure going to try! It may be a fall adventure.

Now, I'm already done with 3 of these places, and there are more to add, I'm sure. So maybe I'll do a giant adventures challenge post with slideshows pretty soon.

Does anyone have any more suggestions for where else we should visit this summer? I can't be TOO ambitious, so let's stick to within one hour of Lehi, shall we?

Lake Blanche, UT

I really love backpacking. When Peter and I married, we did a couple of backpacking trips. Then when Zach came along, (naive as we were) we even entertained the idea of toting him along into the great back-country wilderness. With one of us hefting all of the gear and the other keeping baby happy... it would be a great time. Or would it? The truth is that I don't know, because we've never tried. Packing for anything overnight with a child, even in a hotel, seemed like work enough!

This year, for our anniversary, we decided to save a little money (thank you, rising cost of EVERYTHING!) and do one night backpacking and the second in a hotel. As we looked at our options locally, I was totally playing the tough girl. Like this: Well, hun. I can probably handle the long hike, but what about your ankle? It's true, and I was secretly hoping he would choose the easiest one. :o) Well, we're still 21-at-heart, or nuts, or SOMEthing. Because even after my dad described the hike to Lake Blanche as having "a couple of tough grinds," we felt overly confident and good to go.

It was about 6:30 at the trailhead, which you'll find at the stairs switchbacks up Big Cottonwood Canyon. I think it is officially called Mill B Fork. With our headlamps, mountain house meals, water filter, and itty-bitty camping stove tucked away, we were on our way. I should have paid more attention when we looked at the topo map on the computer where it gives you a graph of the incline. The first part was moderately easy and I was thinking, 'yeah! this is my kind of hike!' Then came the grind. And let me tell you, my dad's words kept repeating themselves in my head for that final S-L-O-W stretch. AND the blisters developing on my heels were not helping.

We reached the lake, which we had completely to ourselves on a Thursday night, just in time to see the sun setting. Lovely, lovely. The lake itself isn't much, but the view of Sundial Peak was fantastic. It is still spring at this elevation and we had a lovely field of wildflowers to walk through on our way to a little waterfall where we could filter water. I have given up trying to get the pictures we took to go with this post, since they were taken with hubby's phone. But here is a picture someone else took of Sundial Peak...



The distance of this hike was 2.78 miles, and the elevation gain was 2700 feet. In the end, I was really glad Peter stuck to his guns on doing this instead of two full days of lounging. Yes, it was tough. But I get a bit of a thrill and satisfaction when I push my limits. (remember that one time I ran a marathon? :o) And it feels oh-so-nice to completely get "away from the things of man... away from the things of man." (I'll make you brownies from scratch if you can name that movie!)

Golden Spike National Historic Site, UT

This was a place I had always wanted to go and see, most especially with the SERIOUS railway enthusiast that is my first-born. He thought this was the coolest, and is already talking about going back with Dad.

We went on a Friday. I had tried to find as much information as I could on their web site, which was pretty informative. However, they gave no specific information about the engine demonstrations, because they can change without notice, so I was pretty clueless going out there. I did learn that one of their annual events, the Railroaders Festival happens every year on the second Saturday in August -- the day after our visit. But we had a birthday party to attend, so I didn't change our plans. And while we were there, I didn't ask about the festival because I didn't want to know (or have anyone hear...) what we were missing out on. :o)

The drive is every bit of 30 miles west of Brigham City. We are talking in the middle of nowhere, people. It's good that I enjoy road trips; it was kinda fun to watch the landscape unfold, looking for any sort of a facility in site. I had to laugh when we finally saw the engines from a distance and Zach in his giddy voice was saying, "I'm going to stop feeling so excited!!" This is the view he was talking about:



We arrived at 11:30 and I had packed picnic lunch so we went in to look at the offerings. I paid my seven dollars and glanced at the schedule they had written in chalk behind the counter. One of the trains arrives (from where, I have no idea!) at 10:00, the other at 10:30, so my heart sank thinking we had missed that and wouldn't be able to see them move at all. At 12:00 they had a "steam demonstration" so we hurried and watched the 20 minute video, then got our lunches to sit out at the benches where the locomotives were. Um, zero shade. But thankfully a comfortable amount of wind so the sun didn't feel too hot. They had picnic tables in other spots and there may have been some trees there.



The replicas they have made really are impressive. You can get up close to them but no touchy. First they demonstrated the 119. Zach was sitting next to me and Ben was standing in front of us when they blew the whistle before it started moving. I myself probably jumped a couple of inches, it will be funny to watch the video I was trying to make. Poor Ben about fell over. After that, Zach was nervously playing with my hair and covering his ears for much of the time. They also demonstrated the Jupiter by backing it up a couple hundred yards and then bringing it back. Nothing fancy, but it was fun to sit and enjoy our lunch while we watched. When the engines are parked, they have stairs and a platform on one side of them so you can get a good look into the cabs. The engineers are there to answer questions and we learned some new things. The 119's sandbox has a picture of Johnny Appleseed painted on one side and Daniel Boone on the other. I also didn't know that one of the trains used coal and the other wood for fuel, because of what was most available from their respective side of the country.



Oh yes, we also got to ride on this speeder. I thought it was such a treat, and it made the coolest old-fashioned putting sound. The driver told me that it is run with an engine that actually has to be turned off, and then restarted to turn the other way to return us. (No reverse gear) I'm sure that, had Peter been there, he would have caught the term for such an engine!

The remainder of our time was spent in the gift shop, where Zach decided whether or not he wanted to spend his money on things or not. He had about $11 and thought about the small wooden trains they had. What he really wanted were the HO scale Bachmann model trains, each were $75. In the bathroom before we left he was trying so hard not to cry about it. I really was so proud of him because I think he is getting a sense of how it is hard to save for the things we want most -- though I wish he had much smaller goals. He just knows the model trains are the most fun for him to watch and as close to the real thing as you get.

All told, it was a worthwhile day. I thought we would do the Big Fill, which is a 1.5 mile walking trail to see unfinished trestles, I think. They had a display of the trestle with model trains that was interesting enough for Zach. I was told the path was do-able with a stroller, but it was best that we passed, because the kids were so tired and it was a sunny day. (No shade there, either)

I hope that this visit gave Zach a better appreciation for the history behind these trains. He kept asking, 'but mom, why are they just parked there?' I tried to explain that it is simply so people can come learn about this important event that happened a very long time ago. I think the timing with this outing was good too, because we had just happened to recently have borrowed Peanuts Building of the Transcontinental Railroad video from the library. Other fun related books are Coolies and Iron Horses.