Park City

The second leg of our trip began on the last day of our camping trip. Michelle and David were kind enough to load ALL of our camping gear into their truck and bring it home for us. My parents already had our "Utah" luggage in their car, so we traveled to Utah with a box of road snacks, and ice chest of veggies and dip, dry foods for Utah, pillows, a DVD player with every imaginable movie, and 3 very happy children that didn't have to sit by each other in the car. We pulled out of the campground at 9:00 after a wonderful long weekend, and we were off.

OK so the first 5 hours were great, but ended up being long. We weren't really in a hurry, and planned it that way, we wanted to make the trip enjoyable, not get mad, and just kinda go with the flow. WE SUCCEEDED. We stopped 5 times basically in 5 hours. That's ok, we spent our stops, going to the bathroom, getting an ice cream, buying more water, shopping for a new outfit in Kohls, and finally dinner at McDonald's in Beaver, UT.

By then Josh and I were anxious to get there. The kids had been wonderful, not even one single argument. I know that's hard to believe, BUT IT IS THE TRUTH. We were so proud of them. Once we ate it was about 6:00 and we said there were no more stops. Kruz only had an hour nap earlier, so we thought he would fall asleep, but to no avail. He only had one meltdown on the trip when Kobi picked Kung Fu Panda as her movie choice and he didn't like it. But we made it through.

NO Stops...we did it. Up Heber Canyon and into Park City. We lost an hour driving, and made it at 9:45. My dad met us out front to get us parked and up to the rooms.

We were excited to be in Park City. Jennifer and Bryn's family were able to be there last year, and this year was our turn, and Nicole's family turn. Unfortunately her family couldn't make it, and we were able to spend an extra day. We got extra lucky, my parents had been gone for so long, we, all the families, were all missing them, and we feel fortunate that we got to spend one on one time with them for so many days.

Our room was wonderful, my kids were tired, and we bathed them (remember we had been camping for 4 days) and got them to bed fast. We only chatted for a few minutes, and got to bed soon after.

Monday
Our days were PACKED with things to do. The most unfortunate one, was this morning. My parents and I headed into Ogden for my dad's Aunt Elaine's funeral. She is my Grandma Kreipl's sister. We are close with their family, and have some wonderful memories with them. It was a sad occasion, and really a reality check at what will happen all too soon as my own grandparents are getting older. It was wonderful to see so many people that really I have not seen in many years. My grandparents did fly in for the funeral so it was a great opportunity to see them.

Josh picked me up after he had lunch with his Aunt Lee and the girls, and we all went into SLC to walk around the grounds at Temple Square. We were back into Park City at about 5:30 and went out to dinner at the cheap, yummy Mexican restaurant. Josh, my dad and the kids went swimming, and mom and I watched. They had a great time. We got the kids in bed, and Josh and I were able to walk down Main Street and get some ice cream. We were tired and came back for bed.

Tuesday
Josh and my dad golfed this morning and mom and I took the kids down Main Street for a little bit to ride the Trolley. They loved that. We met the boys back up in the room and Josh and I took the kids to the Outlets to meet a friend that Josh grew up with. I had met her once a few years ago when we were in Utah, but we didn't spend much time with her then. She brought her 2 boys and we got lunch and let the kids play on the toys as we talked. My parents met us there at 1:00 and I switched places with my dad. He went home with Josh and my mom and I were off to Rod Works and Tai Pan. Wahoo. It was so much fun. We weren't really on a time schedule, and we weren't worried about kids we just wondered around as much as we wanted to. We got lots accomplished, and were back up the mountain at 5:30. Right at time for dinner. My kids were beat. So tired, but we certainly couldn't pass up another night of swimming. Early to bed for us all.

Wednesday
Man I love the black out shades in hotel rooms. We slept in until 8:30. All of us. It was great. We went down to Main Street again. We have been trying to get in to the Quicksilver Store, but it is always closed, just as it was this morning. So we went to the base of Park City instead. Alpine Slides here we come. The kids were so excited. None of us had ever done this before so we were in for a treat. We just did one ride each. Kylee by herself, Kobi with Josh, and Kruzie with me. We took the big ski chair lift up, and that brought back a TON of memories, and then we made it to the top. We raced down and had a blast. We all enjoyed it. We went back to the room for lunch and then over to the Canyons. We drove by the condo that my parents owned for so many years, and showed the girls where we were able to stay every winter when we came to ski, and where Kylee had her 1st birthday (during the Olympics). We then walked through the Farmer's Market they were having, and took a ride up to the resort in the Gondola. The kids were loving all these adventures. It was warm this day, so we didn't stay out too long, but went back into Park City to shop the outlets. We found enough things there before heading back to the Mexican restaurant for dinner. Tired kids + tired parents = early bed.

Thursday
We had decided last night that we were NOT going to get up and leave early today like originally planned. Josh and my dad took the kids out for one last swim, I stayed in the room and packed bags, food and loaded the car. We had lunch, went down to the Quicksilver Store, (It was finally open) and were convinced to go to the outlet store in Provo. We said good-by to my parents at about 1:15. What a great trip. We shopped at the outlets until 3:30. We filled up gas, went to the bathroom, and were on the freeway at 4:04. Yes...we drove straight to Beaver. Nice start to our trip. We snacked along the way, and got dinner there again. Wendy's this time. No more stops....at least very few. Kruz fell asleep and we made it all the way to Page. We stopped for bathrooms and gas. Everyone fell asleep. We made it to Flagstaff. Only Kobi went to the bathroom, and then we got home. We did hit road work coming out of Flag, and we were VERY tired by then. It took a A LOT of work to stay awake, but at 1:30, 2:30 Utah time we pulled into our driveway. Unloaded the necessary items, and headed to bed. A VERY SUCCESSFUL trip, and one to be remembered. Thank you Mom and Dad. We had a great time.