Since both Seth and the girls had the entire week of Thanksgiving off, we decided to make the most of it by going on a family trip to Utah.
We left the morning of Monday, November 20 and stopped for lunch before heading to the Draper aquarium.
Kids in the car. Rebekah's holy socks on the top of Miriam's seat, Analee also in the back, Miriam and Winnie watching a movie on Seth's laptop.
Rebekah reading her fortune from her cookie.
Analee eating honey walnut shrimp.
Analee, Winnie, Seth and Rebekah walking across the rope bridge. Miriam opted to watch.
Miriam, Winnie, Analee and Rebekah posing on a poisonous dart frog statue.
Winnie looking for frogs in a tank.
Seth pointing out frogs to Winnie.
Analee looking at fish.
Seth sizing Winnie up against a penguin.
Watching the penguins swim and waddle around.
Closeup penguin viewing.
Miriam checking out an otter.
Analee, Rebekah, Andrea, Winnie and Miriam posing in the shark jaw.
Four girls in the underwater viewing bubble.
Miriam and Analee posing on a sea turtle statue.
Walking through the shark tunnel.
Rebekah watching sea life.
Looking at sharks and turtles.
After dinner at the hotel room and a dip in the pool, we went to sleep.
The next day brought continental breakfast and trip to Lehi to check out all that Thanksgiving Point had to offer with a break midday for lunch.
Our first stop: Farm Country.
Analee, Seth and Winnie petting a horse.
Winnie on a pony. She dubbed it "Snowflake."
Miriam on a pony. She named hers "Jumpy."
Analee on a pony. She chose not to name it.
Rebekah on the same pony. She also chose not to name it.
Analee and Winnie going on a wagon ride.
Rebekah on the wagon ride.
Miriam, Seth and Andrea (check Seth's sunglasses) on a wagon ride.
Petting a small donkey.
Our second stop: The Museum of Ancient Life.
Rebekah, Miriam, Analee, Winnie and Seth watching the paleontologist work on a Utahraptor.
Miriam using dinosaur parts to make a seahorse.
Checking out skulls.
Winnie suspended from the erosion table while she plays.
Miriam, Analee, Seth and Rebekah making dams.
Seth, Winnie, Miriam and Analee posing by the ancient shark model.
Analee and Miriam using brushes to look for fossils in the quarry.
Our third stop: The Museum of Natural Curiosity.
Winnie, Miriam, Rebekah and Analee playing in the Discovery Garden.
Rebekah on the zip line.
Analee on the teeter totter.
Winnie in the hall of mirrors.
Analee's marquee.
Analee, Seth and Winnie getting blown by tornado-strength wind.
Winnie and Andrea getting blown around.
Winnie playing in the water. All the kids ended up soaked, which is why we waited to do this until the end.
We went back to the hotel for dinner again, followed by sleep, followed by more continental breakfast the next morning.
Our last day in Utah, we took a final dip in the pool, checked out of the hotel, spent an hour at the Provo D.I. (holy goodness, it's the best D.I. in the world and twice as big as any other I've ever seen). Then we visited President and Sister Christensen, Seth's mission president, at their home (Rebekah and Analee played card games, Miriam and Winnie watched Studio C on my phone) before getting lunch. Our last bit of sightseeing included the Monte L. Bean Museum and a trip to the BYU Creamery.
Getting to touch samples of aquatic life at the museum.
Checking out the stuffed hippo.
It was a ridiculously warm 70 degrees outside, so we opted to eat our ice cream en plein air.
Analee and Rebekah with their ice cream.
The trip was a fun precursor to Thanksgiving festivities, which will follow in the next blog post.
