Utah Trip June 2020 - Week 2

On Friday I thought I was taking the kids to an epic splash pad I'd seen friends post about. Unfortunately the splash pad wasn't open, and it was too hot to play on the playground.

 Fortunately another parent there recommended one he knew was open that wasn't too faraway.

My friend Rebecca came over that evening. She helped Allison get watermelon seeds out with a toothpick for her distance learning.

Allison's pure delight at playing catch with "a sequined narwhal" just brings me so much joy!

On Saturday we chilled at the apartment and finished up some distance learning.

When the weather improved we went back to the Wild West Jordan playground. It was a refreshing day, much cooler and cloudier than the 90's we'd had all week. I was considerably more tolerant of heat this trip than usual. Typically I don't like being in hot Utah when I could be having perfect summer weather in Seattle, but I was happy to deal with the heat knowing how much more we could do in Utah than we could at home.

On Sunday morning Allison played on the apartment playground just before a massive downpour hit. The rain was fun to listen to. Later we went over and finished up some of Allison's distance learning at Mike's house. Here's she's practicing beading.

Another assignment was to have her shadow drawn with sidewalk chalk. Emma helped her out with that.

Here she is making lemonade with Uncle Mike. He's got an awesome juicer!

We took a few family pictures then drove up to Layton to stay with Oscar's parents. They'd been quarantining in order to safely participate in our niece Paige's baby blessing that morning.

Monday was a pretty chill day doing distance learning, but it was so much better than being at my parents' apartment. Marcus and Martha have a big fenced in yard the kids could walk out and play in whenever they wanted to, and there are far more rooms and toys in their house, which gave Allison much more to do whenever I needed to work one on one with Tyler. It was such a relief to be up there.

Here they are playing the freeze game with daddy. After a week in the 90's we brought out some winter clothes mom had purchased for them because it was cold! Monday was only a high of 48!

That night Oscar asked Allison if he should be frozen when he came in to cuddle her and she replied "No daddy. I want to love you just the way you are." So sweet!

Tyler lost another tooth while we were in Utah, which Martha delightedly photographed.

The next day we did some distance learning then met up with mom, dad, and Mike's family at Lagoon.

I took the kids on a few kids' rides while we waited for the others.

It was a ridiculously long wait for helicopters! Mike and family wanted to go on Cannibal, but the kids had already been waiting 20 minutes for the helicopters so I told them to get in line and said Tyler and I would join them after. We barely made it!

Mom and dad took Allison on a few things then met back up with us briefly before they all had to leave for Mike's softball game.

I took the kids on a few more rides before heading out, including the Ladybug Bop which Allison had been terrified on the first time. She loved it by then.

Here's Allison playing pretend (which was actually part of her distance learning assignment) and Oscar and I going for a nice walk in Layton.

 Later Allison got her first hair cut by Auntie Julia. There's a picture of Julia's daughter Jane on Martha's wall, and after Allison's hair cut she pointed to the picture and said "I look like that girl!" Tyler got a trim too.

Later I took the kids to Castle Park Playground in Kaysville.

On Thursday I asked Allison if she wanted her princess coloring book or her dinosaur coloring book. She said she wanted her princess coloring book so she could draw beautiful dinosaurs, and that's exactly what she did!

That afternoon lots of cousins come over for water play and backyard camping.

Tyler was my builder/inventor boy and loving it! He was getting all kinds of sensory stimulation that day.

This was interspersed with plenty of snack eating and TV watching.

We heated some steak and hotdogs around the fire for dinner. 

And of course there were smores too. 

 Tyler and Baby Clark sweetness!

Oscar wanted to see how many cousins he could get to dance and follow him around the yard. He pulled out the song "Hi Ho to the Dungeons We Go" and blasted it on the speaker. It was super cute!

We had a yummy waffle breakfast the next morning before the kids went back for more water play.

The kids kept telling me they were done with water, so I'd change them out of their wet swimsuits and into dry clothes. Then of course they'd get wet again. We went through so many outfits that day!

Here's Tyler's masterpiece in the castle. These pieces were leftover from camping.

Uncle Matthew tried to work remotely from the couch while the kids lounged. They also played with some big bubbles and had a little more water play before all the cousins headed home.