September's Excursions

During our Family Commuting Period (staying at my aunt's house near Salt Lake City) we took some time to do a few fun things in that area, mostly on Sunday afternoons.

1. Church History Museum

Really, we hung out at the children's exhibit, which is where we always hang out.  This has been a favorite place for our kids for two years now.  We've been several times and they still love it.

2. Promontory Point

We've wanted to go to Promontory Point since we first arrived in Utah, but it's in a remote spot and we never made the time to make it happen.  It worked out well that we were 30 minutes closer while at my aunt's house, so that it was only an hour and 45 minutes to get there.

Promontory Point is where the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific Railroads joined on May 10th, 1869.  A Golden Spike ceremony was held there at the time, and we enjoyed watching a reenactment of the driving of the last spike.  I loved hearing some of the stories associated with the joining of the railroads.  I thought the most interesting part was that the ceremony was originally scheduled to take place two days earlier, but Thomas Durant, VP of the Union Pacific RR was abducted by disgruntled employees because they hadn't been paid.  They knew they would never get paid if they let Durant attend the ceremony as planned, so they held him hostage in Piedmont, WY until all of the wages were paid.

We all enjoyed the reenactment, except Luke, who cried when the crowd cheered.  The locomotives were really cool, and the kids did all of the work to earn Junior Ranger badges.

I've been trying to remember why Jack was so upset when I took these pictures.
I think we'd promised him a treat when we got in the car to go home, and he was
mad that he had to take a picture instead of getting his treat right away..?

 Note to self: next time we go to Promontory Point, allow enough time to go to the Spiral Jetty, which is about 15 miles past the Golden Spike Visitor's Center.  We didn't get to go this time because we were on a deadline to get back to the house in time to watch FSU's opening game of the season.  :-)


3. This Is the Place Monument

This marks the spot where Brigham Young first viewed the Salt Lake Valley in 1847 after leading the Latter-Day Saint pioneers from Illinois.  At the time he exclaimed either "This is the place" or "This is the right place," depending on who you ask.  Anyway, there are some cool monuments here and Ben and I loved reading the plaques and learning more about the history of the area.

Eliza, in front of a Pony Express monument.

The Mormon Battalion monument is behind us.

I thought it was neat that this monument doesn't depict just pioneers, it also honors early
European explorers, Native American guides, and others who made it possible for the
LDS Pioneers to travel to Utah.

4. Ensign Peak

Brigham Young climbed to this peak 2 days after arriving in the Salt Lake Valley.  From here, he and other Church leaders made plans for the city of Salt Lake.  The hike is pretty short and easy, so even though the kids whined and complained as they do whenever we go hiking, at least the whining and complaining wasn't dragged out over a long amount of time.  The view from the top was pretty cool, too, so that helped.

Family Commuting Period

We ended up at my aunt's house outside of Salt Lake City for a whole month while we looked for a place to rent.  It was longer than we thought it would be - we didn't think finding a house near the kids' school would be that hard - and we are so very thankful that my aunt let us stay at her house for so long.

This is how the kids slept every night.  There was a couch that one or two of them
could have slept on, but they all preferred to stay together in this area.

Cleaning up.

My aunt's house is 35 minutes from the kids' school and Ben's work, so instead of driving back and forth 4 times a day (#1 - taking Cat to school and Ben to work around 8:15, #2 - taking Jack to Kindergarten at 12:15, #3 - picking Jack and Cat up at school at 3:15, #4 - picking Ben up from work after 5:00) we would only go once or twice a day and spend a lot of time hanging around in Provo/Orem.  This meant spending our days at playgrounds, the library, and some friends' houses.  The big kids handled this very well, and got used to doing homework on a picnic table at a park or at the library, spending lots of time playing outside (yeah for beautiful end-of-summer weather!!), and eating out of a cooler.  Luke did okay with eating - I nursed him in so many places I'm sure I don't remember them all - but sleeping didn't go so well.  His naps were shorter and inconsistent.  Sometimes he slept outside on a blanket, sometimes he'd sleep in my arms, and on a good day we'd go to a friends' house and let the big kids play while Luke slept in an actual bed.

Reading at the park.
Colors courtesy of the psychedelic camera on my phone.

Eliza got to sit in the driver's seat of a cool all-terrain
Jeep after we got the oil changed in the car one afternoon.

Tandem Swing.

The kids got to watch movies in the car sometimes, too, during the drive back
and forth or while I nursed Luke or while we waited to pick somebody up.

Outside of the Provo Library:

I remember one afternoon Luke was fussy and sleepy and I was sure he would fall
right asleep if he could just lie down.  So I pulled into the parking lot at Target and let
Eliza watch a movie (so that she'd be happy and quiet) and put Luke down on a pallet
on the floor of the car, hoping we'd all get a little quiet time.

He decided he wasn't so sleepy after all.  :-)

On Friday afternoons, the kids' school gets out 2 hours early, so one day I took

the kids to the new splash pad at Pioneer Park in Provo to let them play for a while

before we picked up Ben.  It was a hit!

It was interesting to try to live a normal life with normal routines, but without our usual home base.  I admit that it had its perks - a lot more time outside, and a lot less cleaning because we weren't at the house as much.  But after living as gypsies for almost 2 months, this experience further intensified my appreciation for Home, and it made the move into our current house that much more gratifying.

Everyday Stuff - July/August 2013 Edition

The best part about going to other people's houses is
finding fun things to play with. (Phoenix, AZ)

(Luke's porta-crib at Mema & Papa's house in Tallahassee, FL)
Eliza: I'm upside down!  I like to hang like this.
Me: You're so funny.
Eliza: Thank you.

I started making a little more of an effort with Cat's hair
when we were in Tallahassee.

Story time with Mema.

Just taking a break from all that painting at Grammy's house.
(Columbia, SC)

Jack, did you find the popsicles?

Remember what I said about finding other people's toys to play with?
It's true even if the other person is your one-year-old cousin.
(Greensboro, NC)

Towel Turban

Harris Teeter is Jack's favorite grocery store.
Sample the toe-nay-dos?  Okay!

Uncle Ben shared his cake with Eliza.  Thanks Uncle Ben!

Story time at the library.

Maybe Whit will enjoy his walker until he's 5?

:-)

On top of the world.

Cat & Whit

Baby Eliza
(Tallahassee, FL)

Baby Jack

Cute Crazy-Haired Girl