Category: Family Fun (Page 20 of 25)

Here in Utah it’s the 24th of July–or better yet, it’s Pioneer day!. Well, I guess it’s Pioneer day (as well as the 24th of July) in other areas, too, but maybe they don’t celebrate it there.

We had a fantastic ward breakfast this morning; sponsored by the Elders. It’s usually a great and fun event, but this year it was ramped up a bit by including a primary activity. After the breakfast, the primary kids were all invited to walk in the “pioneer parade”. By parade, I mean walk around the track that surrounds the 1/2 acre or so that is the front yard of the neighbor’s house (no, this one was not at my house). They actually have a little bike trail built in. Along the way, they had to go through “winter quarters” (which was a little sign that said Winter Quarters and there were some blocks of ice on the ground), and then cross the “Sweetwater river” (which was a little kiddie pool filled with water). But if they didn’t feel like walking through the “river”, or if they had a handcart or something like that, they could just go around. Eventually, they reached the Salt Lake Valley and there was a sign that said “This is the place”, and they all got a cute handcart shaped sugar cookie. I don’t think the real pioneers were greeted with sugar cookies when they arrived, but that would have been nice for them, wouldn’t it? Hello, Brigham Young! We understand you’ve had a long walk and lost some of your travelers along the way to disease and Indian attacks. You are tired and sick and have no supplies, and this dreadful desert with nothing but scrub oak and a bunch of tumbleweeds is your new home. Have a cookie!
Some of the kids dresses up in pioneer clothing, and my kids and Robin’s kids (with a little help from Robin) even made a “handcart” from the bike trailer/jogger and some cardboard boxes. It turned out very very cute, and John enjoyed riding on it and waving, just like in a real parade! I thought it was funny that a lot of the boys didn’t want to participate in the parade, saying that it was just for little kids. They would rather play basketball. I made a comment to one of the other parents that it was too bad those boys didn’t make the trek to the Salt Lake Valley. He said, “Yep, they joined the militia back in Nauvoo and played basketball instead of crossing the plains.”
The grand finale of the event was when the Lone Peak Fire Fighters showed up with a huge truck, and sprayed all the kids with water. Those hoses really put out a LOT OF WATER! It’s so much more impressive seeing one in action close up, rather than on the news. They watered the kids and whoever was in the path of the water until the grass was so wet and splashy. They won’t have to water their lawn for a few days! There was not a dry kid in sight. It was so much fun! (look here for more pictures)
Tonight we have a family barbecue. We are making devilled eggs (Megan’s specialty), baked beans, and chocolate chip cookies. The rain clouds are moving in, however, and I hope it doesn’t rain on us. No, actually, I just hope it doesn’t rain in Spanish Fork, and I hope it rains and rains and rains here, at my house, from now until Thursday afternoon. What? A girl can hope, can’t she?

Happy Pioneer Day!

Oh, and did anyone else by any chance hear the Gold’s Gym Radio commercial? The one with “Arnold Schwarzeneger?” The one where he sings, ‘Pioneer children walked to Gold’s Gym, Gold’s Gym, Gold’s Gym, GOLD’S GYm’? I’m still laughing about it!

Well, the guests are here, and we’re having fun. There are cousins for John, Jenna and Cole to play with. The other girls? Not so much, but they are doing fine.

Last week I won 8 passes to the Harry Potter Premier for Monday night. (Which was no small feat, by the way, as I had to win TWO sets of four tickets. Then Ryan graciously drove down to the radio station to pick them up for me.) Perfect! I could take Cole, his cousins, my sister-in-law, Megan, a friend, me and Ryan. Since it’s a pretty popular movie (duh), we were going to try to make it there 2 hours early to make sure we could get a seat. There’s a silly thing about these movie premiers–they give out more tickets than they actually have seats, since they want a full theater.

In order to be downtown by 5, I had to ask everyone to make their own sandwiches while I went to American Fork to turn in the kids’ artwork for the Steel Days Art contest at 3. After standing out in the hot sun filling out forms and attaching entry forms to 8 pieces of artwork, I hurried home to pack up the lunches and go and get the babysitter. She was originally scheduled for 4:30, but I called and asked if I could get her at 4, so we could leave a bit earlier. While I was gone, I asked Cole to help John use the potty. About 10 minutes later, I came back with the babysitter. Megan’s friend was here, and everyone was just kind of mulling around. Cole was in the bathroom with John, who was still crying and didn’t want to use the potty. Oh. He’s already stinky, that’s why. Which means I have to change him, while simultaneously telling the kids to please go out to the car and remove the car seats so that we can all fit in there. After getting John taken care of, I give some instructions to the babysitter, tell the kids to go and get in the car, and gather up our food and snacks and water bottles. Giving out last shout for “EVERYBODY GET IN THE CAR!” I go out and make sure everyone has a water bottle. I did not, however, ask if everyone had shoes. Silly me.

So, we made the drive to the gateway and I was so impressed with our time. We got a couple of “where are you, now?” calls from Ryan’s brother, who was already up there and had picked up his tickets. Then I got a call from Ryan (on his brother’s phone) asking where we were. “Almost there,” I said, still proud of us for actually getting 7 people there by 5:00. “Well, I’ve already gotten my ticket, but you’d better hurry because they say the tickets are almost gone,” he told me. Like telling me to hurry is going to do any good. Does he think I can fly there? I’m doing my best.

So we pulled into the underground parking and told the kids to all get ready so we could make a dash for it once we got there. “I’ve got to find my shoes,” says Cole. We all told him to look on the floor, and just make sure he had his shoes so we could run once we found a parking spot. “I can’t find them!” he says, getting a little bit upset. Well, they have to be there, right? Who gets into the car without their shoes?! Apparently Cole does. We found a spot, grabbed our stuff, and hustled (shoes or no shoes) to the movie theater. It was about 5:10, I think. No tickets. Ryan is there telling us that had we made it there 8 – 10 minutes earlier, we might have gotten tickets. The employee told us to stick around, they would see if there was any way they could get us in, but the tickets were all gone.

I’m ashamed to admit, but I got really snappy and irritated about then when Ryan started asking me when did we leave, and his brother called on my cell again. When he noticed that Cole didn’t have any shoes and started asking him about that, Cole started to cry. He thought that the reason we didn’t make it in time was because of his shoes. That really wasn’t the problem, just an added bonus to make the story better. As we waited, I cooled off and apologized to Ryan for snapping at him, and made sure Cole understood that we weren’t mad about the shoes. We played cards and ate our sandwiches, and Ryan took Cole shopping to find some new shoes. Just in case they wouldn’t let him in to the theater without them–you know, those “no shirt, no shoes, etc” rules?–I guess it’s a good thing I didn’t take him to find new shoes, since there’s no way I would have paid those kind of Gateway prices and he would continue to be shoeless. They came back with new size 8 vans. Size EIGHT! I have been buying him size 6. hmmmm.

At 6:45, they told us that there were absolutely NO extra seats, and none of us were going to get in. We gave Ryan’s one ticket to a lady who was there alone and SO wanted to see the movie, since it wouldn’t make any sense for just one of use to go see it. Then we tried to figure out what to do. The kids had been so good, and I had promised them a movie. The next showing of any movie we would have wanted to see didn’t start for another hour, and frankly we were tired of sitting on the floor in the lobby of the movie theater.

We decided to go to the Planetarium. Entrance is free, and there were some cool things to see before the IMAX movie. Since I didn’t want to sit through an IMAX movie (after all I’d been through, do I just want to get sick from a stupid movie? I don’t think so), and my sister-in-law didn’t really want to see it, either, we just paid for the kids to go. Then we walked down and did some window shopping, ending up in the Barnes and Noble reading to pass the 45 minutes.

Although it wasn’t a total disaster of an evening, I still feel as if I let everyone down. I promised them a cool movie premier, and couldn’t deliver. I dragged them all the way downtown in the 100 degree heat just to sit for two hours in the lobby of a crowded theater. How much fun is that?

Shall I lavish you with tales of our annual kid’s bike parade or just show you the pictures. Ok, we’ll cut to the chase and say it was fun, and here are the pictures to prove it.

There were lots of kids on lots of bikes and other wheeled vehicles.

Then all the kids dumped their bikes by our house, and we served up some ice cream.

There were even rides in a pony drawn carriage cart.

So, enjoy your 4th of July where ever you are.  Happy Independence day!

Ways that Lagoon and Disneyland are similar:

1-They both cost too much money. And the food costs too much money, too.

2-Both have rides.

3-There are lots of people dressed in totally inappropriate clothing.  ‘Nough said about that.

That’s about it.

Ways that Lagoon and Disneyland are NOT similar

1-Disneyland has “themes” and “characters” and there is a story to each ride. The rides also have theme music. Lagoon has none of that.

2-Disneyland has rides that parents and kids can ride together. And there are rides that I can ride without losing my lunch. At Lagoon, I stand around waiting for my little people to go on the kiddie rides again and again, while Ryan aka the fun parent, takes the big kids around and rides all the rides which would make mom sick. This year I didn’t take any chances. I seriously only rode on rides that would NOT make me ill, as it’s just no fun sitting around waiting to not feel sick after riding a ride with too much circular motion (last year it was the flying aces. Yes, I’m a total wimp, I know.). So, my ride choices were limited to: Dracula’s Castle (what a sad, sad excuse for a haunted house ride. Remember when it used to be kind of scary? Now, they don’t even care. As we were going through, a Lagoon employee was just sitting there at the side of the ride.), the Merry-go-round (but only once, please), Rattlesnake rapids (the best ride in the park), the skyride about 5 times, the train, and….is that all I rode? Wow. After a show when we all met up together, Jenna decided she wanted to go with dad so she could ride the bat. Then it was just me and John. Riding the kiddie rides. Soon there will be no one left to hang with mom. I guess that will be the day I bring a book and sit by the pool all day while the kids go off with their dad. That might be nice, actually!

3-Disneyland employees act like they are happy to be there. At Lagoon, quite a few of the employees have names like Vladamir and Stroika, and NOBODY looks really happy to be there.  We discussed this, and Ryan is of the opinion that they import cheap labor from Russia, but I don’t think so.  There was one lady (Linda), who was running the little kid bumper cars.  She checked each child for a seat belt, then turned or pulled each car so it wasn’t pointed directly at another car.  Then she turned the steering wheel so that it would start out straight.  Then she yelled “turn your wheel, Turn your wheel!” at the little kids who were getting stuck.  Isn’t running into other cars the whole point of the ride?  I think she was taking her job a little too seriously.  But at least she was doing her job.  Remember the days when there were actually cute guys who worked at Lagoon?  And we would go on the terrorride about 6 times in a row just to see “cute Lagoon guy”? Well, he doesn’t work there anymore.
4-at Disneyland, one day is never enough. One day at Lagoon is plenty for me, thanks.

5-Disneyland has parade, fireworks and other street side entertainment.  Lagoon used to have a band.  I wonder why they don’t do that anymore.

6-People come from all over the country to experience Disneyland.  People come from all over Northern Utah to go to Lagoon.

We did have a great time. Aside from a couple of “misunderstandings”. Like when I told Ryan I’d meet him at Rattlesnake Rapids, and then he got there first because we stopped to look in the little pioneer cabins and the church and schoolhouse. I didn’t even know those were there! I thought he would walk right by us, see the stroller parked out in the sidewalk and know we were in those little cabins. But he went the other way, got there way before us, and wondered why we weren’t anywhere in line. Another time Ryan made fun of me because I wanted to go and see the Broadway review, and I fired off some comment like, “I can only ride 5 flippin rides in this park, and i will go and see the Broadway show if I WANT to!” Megan had to tell me to use nice words. Ugh.

I did have a brilliant thought when I included flip flops for everyone, though. Before we rode the Rattlesnake Rapids (a ride which gets everyone very wet), we all changed to flip flops, then when we were done, we changed back to our tennis shoes. Ryan didn’t want to bring his sandals, so we brought a nice dry pair of socks for him. It’s not so bad walking about in sopping wet clothes if your feet at least are not making that squish sound with every step.

So, it was a fun day. The kids had a blast, and we all enjoyed our day.