What Happens in Cottonwood Heights... Stays in Cottonwood Heights

We had the pleasure of hosting the youngest of the Turley cousins for a week! Morgan and Miran turned out to be excellent house guests and even quite helpful kids to have around. I decided that since they needed a place to hang out for a week while their parents were at home working in Vegas, that I would make the week into a fun packed vacation for them and stay-cation for my kids. We definitely lived up to that plan and packed in the fun.

First on the list was a restful Sunday filled with church and legos, and a great walk to the ravine near our house to run around and throw rocks in the creek. It was my first adventure out of the house with all of the kids.

 

The next day, I still had to go to work, but we started the day with swimming lessons and then the kids got to be lazy and hang out with my great babysitter and get their fix of the backyard and video gaming.

Tuesday, we headed to swimming lessons again and then went straight to see "Croods" at the summer movie clubhouse. Then we headed home for a picnic of Chik-fil-a was some friends. After a couple hours of rest we headed to the pool, where Morgan took advantage of being the only 10 year old in the group and the fact that his age made him able to jump off the diving platforms. He probably jumped about 15 times while we were there. 

Wednesday, we met up with the Willardsen boys (and Caryn) and checked out Red Butte Gardens. It was a beautiful day, and fun to run around on the trails and then spend most of our time by the pond feeding the ducks and trying not to fall in. There was plenty of racing around and trying to find things to climb. After the Gardens we headed to the pool again for more diving and plenty of time of the slides. The day ended with Pack Meeting for Gavin and him receiving plenty of awards.

The day ended with Pack Meeting for Gavin and him receiving plenty of awards.

Thursday more great friends joined in to help me take this crew around and after more swimming lessons, we went to the Discovery Children's Museum with Anne. It was great to have Katy and Skyler around to help keep an eye on everyone.

The big finale for our week was meant to be an overnight at the Spruces Campground in Big Cottonwood Canyon. We got everything ready in an hour after getting home from the museum and headed up the canyon. We were in two cars, since Caleb and Finn didn't plan to spend the night, and there were some dark clouds that had been lurking around for a few hours, producing nothing, but wind.

We got to the campground and Miran and I drove around until we found a picturesque stop. Then we all start to lay out the tent and get set up. Almost immediately rain drops started to fall... after 15 minutes it stopped and we got the tent all the way up and the camp chairs unpacked as the Willardsens arrive to join the fun. That was when the real rain started. We all go under a large pine tree and stayed dry for awhile, until the lightning and thunder started... we rushed everyone into the cars, and decided to leave Caleb and the truck to wait out the rain and take down the tent. By this time there was a nice river running directly under the tent and into the camp site. 

Needless to say, we ended up at home safely, and threw our food on the grill and had a nice BBQ followed by a giant slumber party on the family room floor with a movie. There were no smores, but the night was still a success, even if it took 2 days to dry out the tent.

The last day before Schatzy arrived to put up her kids, we did some house cleaning in the morning with my wonderful amount of child labor and then the kids relaxed until we went to the zoo for our final afternoon. With ice cream and a stop at the gift shop, our last big outing was a success.

My kids were so lonely after the weekend ended, luckily we got together with our cousins in town for a couple shorter visits to keep up our cousin fix. We missed the Turleys all week though.