Spring Break Staycation

The day after our family history tour in Delta, we began our staycation. The boys counted down the days. From eight. Emil would wake up every morning and tell me the number of days left. Math homework; check. The kids all packed their bags (and then I re-packed Emil's and Colin's bags) and our first stop was the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point. Bridget wanted to read everything and look at all the displays. I've only ever brought kids under six years old to that museum (we get a pass to Thanksgiving Point almost every year), so it was weird to be with someone who wasn't running. Not so weird to be there with two boys who were running.

After the Dinosaur Museum, we went to the big gardens at Thanksgiving Point. It happened to be the first day of the Tulip Festival, which is one of my favorite things. I cannot think of a time that Brian has been to the gardens with us. WHAT?! How can that BE? But it's true. Because it was the Tulip Festival, they had a scavenger hunt for facts about tulips. That hunt ended up making me feel kind of bad. Did you know that 300 years ago (or something) one tulip bulb was worth a TON of butter? And there we were looking at millions of them in one place. And it was just another day.

They had food trucks parked near the water falls, which was perfect since all of us were starving. Brian, Bridget and I got some Korean food at Cup Bop and the boys got waffles at the Bruge's truck. (Bruge's has a truck now!) We sat at the top of the amphitheater and ate and some of us rolled to the bottom between bites. 

There we are. In love and on vacation. :) I had to crop out a bum from this photo. It should be noted that I started feeling a headache come on right about this time. Foreshadowing.

The kids in the Secret Garden. There was a line of people waiting to get photos of their kiddies on this bench, or I would have tried harder to get Emil to stop being weird. Yes, he's in winter boots and Bridget is wearing flip flops. Right after Thanksgiving Point we went to Target and bought Emil shoes. His feet are growing right now. They never stop.

I love Camperdown Elms. We slaved over that scavenger hunt for hours and the kids were rewarded with a tootsie roll. A small one. Not cool, Thanksgiving Point. Once Emil had his seasonally appropriate shoes, we went to Little America in Salt Lake. (Bridget asked me during the week before we left, "When are we going to Tiny America?") We had a lovely room. I looked out the window for a minute and when I turned around, the contents of both the boys' suitcases were on the floor. Ha!

Bridget and Colin ready for the pool and relaxing. Bridget's feet are filthy. This is how I found out.

We took the kids to the pool, which was pretty full and mostly cold. I took the boys to the bathroom (separately) and spent most of my time in the hot tub with Colin. And other kids. (Public pools with kids are kind of the worst, aren't they.) Bridget had a great time, thanks to Brian doing her bidding and then staying there to really swim after I'd taken her complaining brothers back to our room. :) By the time everyone got back from the pool, I had a full-blown migraine. Brian took the kids to get dinner and go for a little train ride to Temple Square. As a family. Without Mom. :( I puked and puked and puked. At one point I thought I was going to die in a hotel room alone. But I didn't. The next morning we went to a fancy breakfast in the hotel.

There's my Sweetheart Lovie. The kids took their place mat art very seriously.

After breakfast it was another train ride to the Clark Planetarium. We wandered around and looked at the cool stuff while we waited for the movie, which was happening in the dome theater. Anyone? I kind of feared for my life when I saw that the screen was surrounding us and I was still shaky from the night before. Luckily Brian and I were able to take a nap during the odd movie. We were home in time to play with friends and do laundry. Success!

The kids are still talking about how much fun they had at the hotel and the museums. Cheers to living close to cool stuff!

P.S. We recently drove by a food truck round-up and Bridget noticed Cup Bop. "Mom! Remember Cup Bop?!" Yes. Yes, I do. It's still too soon to talk about it.