But, anyway. Bring on the pictures! We arrived Saturday afternoon and immediately got started playing. Here, Lacey is putting together the first craft of the trip--a little journal. It didn't ever actually get put together, but she had fun doing it anyway. Actually, her favorite part was the red string. She played with that for several days.
On Sunday morning, we attended church in Eden. It was a lovely ward, and, of course, I got to fill in at the piano. Amy wasn't having any more of it after just 2 hours, though, so we left so she could take a nap. That afternoon we spent at Grandmother's house (as Lacey called it) and played games and just enjoyed being together.
Lacey's getting better at taking pictures.
Lacey playing with her cousin, some alphabet game.
On Monday we went on an adventure to a nature reserve in Ogden. It was really neat to see the animals. Most of the animals there had been saved from some bad situation or other, many of them unable to survive on their own. As we walked in to the visitor's center (it's a fairly long walk from where you park your car to where you pay for entrance), we got to look at a bunch of bird houses that seemed like they had been made for a competition. Lacey got excited about all of them, pointing and saying "Mommy, look at that one!"
This one gave everyone a laugh.
Boy, does she like to pose for the camera.
We paused at this sign and everyone pretended to wonder which way we should go. Problem is, all of the signs point in the same direction. I think we'll go left.
We walked around for quite a while, looking at animals and ponds and bugs. By the time we were done, everyone (not just the kids) was tired and hungry and thirsty. these three sat next to each other at the table and were instructed to "look hot, tired, and hungry." I don't think that there was much acting going on, but they did know how to play it up.
And then they stood up. Lacey is the tallest of the three, and the youngest.
But not THAT tall.
Finally, the food came! That's what I'm talkin' about!
After the nature center, it was definitely time for a dip in the pool. Lacey and Amy spent their time in the baby pool, and loved it. Lacey just wasn't interested in the big pool, and really thought that it was scary, so I'm glad that there was the little pool.
The big pool was equipped with a water slide that most of the kids (Lacey not included) enjoyed. Lacey would have gone down it, I think, but the water sprayed out the sides in a big X, and it was scary to her, so she opted out. BUT Phil got to stand at the bottom and catch kids on the way out.
And Lacey stayed in the little pool and attacked her cousins with pool noodles.
And later we found our way to a really neat park, that I'm pretty sure Phil enjoyed as much as Lacey did.
Amy was getting tired--as you can see by the way she snuggled her head on top of Daddy's.
The family tree.
And Lacey's at that stage when she has to have a band aid for every little boo boo. I think that these were spider bites (shudder), and at one point, she insisted on having a band aid on her other foot for something (I don't remember what). It was a little pathetic, but cute.
And we go decorate jars into lanterns while we waited for dinner to be ready. They consist of 3 layers over the jar 1)glue 2)colored tissue paper 3)glue. Very simple, clever, and fun.
And at some point, the game of the moment for the smallest ones became Attack Cousin Cyrus. He was such a good sport about it, which I'm sure of because I've been attacked by Amy's claws before, and it's not fun.
Wednesday we spend just hanging around at the resort, which was perfect for that day. We played lawn games in the morning (and by we I mean everyone but me, Phil, and Amy, because we spent that time sleeping--I was tired). Now I kind of want to get a badminton set...though we don't currently have a good space to use it in.
On Thursday we went to the Tree House Museum in Ogden. It was really cool and tons of fun. It's also a nonprofit museum, so the prices were reasonable. You can see from the pictures that there was lots to do and everyone had lots of fun.
Phil was a little disappointed that I didn't get the entire arch in the picture. But in my defense, I was absolutely exhausted by this point in the week, and I had taken allergy medicine which made it worse. In other worse, I was not working at 100%.
I was hoping that Amy would knock something down here so that I could get a picture of a giant rampaging baby. But she just sat there and looked cute.
But when we put her on the giant chess board, she went right after the pieces.
On Friday, we left the girls with Grandmother and went to Lagoon for the day. It was tons tons tons of fun--the first time that Phil and I have had a day together without babies since Lacey was born. We don't have any pictures of it, so you'll just have to take my word for it. When we got home, Lacey had fallen asleep under the table. Evidently she wouldn't go to bed (which was completely expected), had been so tired that she had a breakdown and cried herself to sleep. So I moved the table, put her special blanket over her, and got her pillow so that she could just stay there. And she did.
The next day we packed up and went home. We had so much fun, I don't think anyone really wanted to leave...but at the same time I think we were all so exhausted that we were glad to be home to our own beds. Let's do this again sometime!
