As Seth and I were returning from
our trip to Alaska, I confided in him that I always have such big plans for the summer, but we never have the time, energy or resources to do them all. So we talked about what we wanted to do, and we came up with a brilliant strategy to combine a few: Lagoon, camping and a hike.
The afternoon of Wednesday, July 19, we pulled out with our trailer in tow. (By the way, the new truck is a dream. It pulls the trailer like nobody's business and has plenty of legroom for all of us.) We ate tuna salad in the truck, got stuck in construction traffic, and finally ended up at Fort Buenaventura State Park in Ogden.
Miriam (and her fat lamby (that's it's name)) stuffed down her shirt.
Rebekah riding in the back of the truck.
Analee and Seth.
Rebekah kindly holding up Winnie's head since it was rolling around while she slept.
The park was wonderful. It had nice camping spots, a playground, a pond, a river, walking paths, canoes to rent, shady areas and fire pits. It's a dry campground, which means we had no hookups and could only run the generator (and the AC) until 10 p.m. Oh, yeah ... and there's a train yard a mere 200 feet away.
The first night there, I think no fewer than 3,000 trains passed by, all with horns a-screaming. And we had opened up all the windows to try and keep the trailer cool at night. I didn't get a lot of sleep (1) because of the noise and (2) because I worried the noise was keeping everybody else up. Turns out, I shouldn't have wasted time and energy fretting about everyone else.
We spent some time Thursday morning checking out the park and wading in the river.
Analee running along the trail.
Seth at the river while Analee and Miriam head that way.
Rebekah, Miriam, Winnie, Seth and Analee wading.
Then we drove to Lagoon and spent the day having fun.
Rebekah and Analee enjoying lunch in the air conditioned Subway. (Lunch comes early when the park doesn't open until 11 a.m.)
Full-mouthed Miriam and super-cool Seth.
Analee on the Paratrooper. Very fun ride, but it takes 15 minutes to load and unload.
Miriam (the leftmost one) watching us on the Paratrooper.
Miriam, Rebekah and Analee at the front of the zoo train.
Winnie, Seth and Andrea following behind.
We treated the ourselves to Dippin' Dots. Winnie chose the rainbow flavor.
Winnie and Miriam on the planes.
The family after our final (and perhaps favorite) ride: Rattlesnake Rapids.
Seth and I were excited to go on Cannibal, Lagoon's newest ride and one we hadn't been on before. It did not disappoint. In fact, it was so awesome that as soon as we exited the ride we ran clear around and rode it again. (And I learned that sometimes I can black out on rides.) We also left the kids with the stroller long enough to ride Wicked.
Rebekah was daring enough to try one ride that goes upside down: Colossus. Seth carefully watched her face while on the loop-the-loops and saw the exact moment when she quit feeling apprehensive and started having fun.
Analee and Rebekah split off from the younger girls a couple of times (both with a parent present) to ride some of the bigger rides: Jet Star II, Flying Aces, Rollercoaster, Spider, Turn of the Century.
Miriam decided to trust us and go on a few rides that were outside her comfort zone: Spider, Bombora, Bat, Tidal Wave, Log Flume, Hydroluge. The only two she regretted were the Log Flume (as they plummeted, Seth accidentally squished her) and Spider (she screamed, "Mommy! Mommy!" almost the whole time).
Winnie enjoyed everything she went on except Dracula's Castle ("It was the scariest ride," she reported). It was her first time going on Rattlesnake Rapids, and she loved it despite being freezing after she got off.
Somehow we picked an awesome day to be there. It was hot but not crazy-hot, and there were a heck of a lot fewer people than we've seen there before. Maybe because it was a Thursday?
We had a late dinner in the trailer that evening and endured another eventful night at the campground (fewer trains, but stifling temperatures followed by a tremendous thunderstorm).
The next day we spent time swimming in the river before eating lunch at our campsite. We caught minnows and a leach, saw frogs and water striders, and made our backsides very dirty by sitting on the algae-covered rocks.
Kids and a father in the river.
Seth's shirt is a force to be reckoned with.
Climbing out.
Then we drove south to take the kids to Timanogos Cave. The last time Seth and I were there was on our honeymoon nearly 14 years ago. We got to hike the steep 1.5-mile trail to the mouth in hot afternoon sun, but it was worth it to see all the cave's wonders.
Winnie, Analee, Miriam, Seth and Rebekah on the trail.
Seth, Miriam, Analee, Rebekah, Andrea and Winnie by the entrance to the cave.
Seth pointing out the cave popcorn to Winnie. We were a half hour early for our tour time, but since we were the only ones there, a ranger took our family through on a private tour.
The fault line. We couldn't believe how literal of a line it is.
Kids and ranger headed through the cave.
Despite the heat and steepness, the kids were champs. And even though she didn't complain once, I noticed how tired Winnie was within a quarter mile of the bottom and carried her the rest of the way.
We drove from the visitors' center to my aunt's house in South Jordan to pick up a cover for the well on the family's property in Tetonia, then we ate dinner at Chick-fil-A before heading back to camp for our last night, which proved the least eventful of the three.
Our check-out time was noon the next day, so we hung around camp and played on the playground, went for walks and canoed in the pond before hooking the trailer back up and hauling it home.
Seth pushing Winnie on the swings.
Analee, Winnie and Rebekah chasing geese. We were later told not to do that because they're considered wildlife.
Rebekah, Miriam and Seth in one canoe.
Winnie taking a turn paddling.
Miriam, Bekah, Analee and Winnie side by side.
