A month in Utah: weekend 2, part 1 - PARK CITY

I seriously think I am going to have to do 3 posts for this one weekend!
We did try to keep the week-days as chill as possible, knowing what we had planned for the weekends, both energy-wise, and financially.  We couldn't just play EVERY SINGLE DAY for a MONTH.  (Well, maybe we tried.)  We filled the weekdays with playing in the backyard, heading to the pool, and hanging out.  Weekend 2 was something we really planned for.  We wanted to take the kids to Park City to do the Mountain Resort.  The tickets and hotel were outrageously expensive, so we really tried to make the most of it.  I know Melissa is still saying bad words about me under her breath over how much I tried to do in a day.   I know she would have liked to hang out and relax more.  But we were only there 24 hours and wanted to make the most of it.  My kids will go forever, so we've developed a habit as a family of just going until we drop.

We stayed at the Marriott Mountainside that is incorporated into the Park City Mountain Resort.  The room alone was a palace, let alone the hotel, and the resort.  It's a true ski village, but summers there are just as fun.  There's an alpine slide, alpine coaster (this was new to me - so cool!), bungee trampolines, rock walls, a giant paradise of a swimming pool, and of course, the gorgeous Utah mountains.

Jess, Nick, and Sloan came up too.  

We tried so hard to get Sloan in a picture, but it just didn't happen.  

Ready for Alpine sliding!

 Seriously, this alpine coaster thing is pure genius. I think it's my favorite ride I've ever been on.  You have your own "coaster" and have control over it, but they tell you to go full speed for maximum safety.  So, we did!  It's so cool because it takes you on a slow ride up the mountain as it pulls your coaster up to the release point.  It is so beautiful and quiet.  Harriet and I went together and just listened to all the nature sounds.  We were totally alone.  Then, after it drops you off, you CRUISE through the trees at lightning speed.  It's one of those rides that isn't so crazy that you feel sick or scared, but is fast enough that you just smile and laugh the whole way.  The line was crazy long, so we only did it twice, but we could have just done that one ride all day.

I love the wide 6 person chair lifts!  We all got to go together.

You can see the coaster tracks through the trees there.  

 So pretty.  I do love mountains in the summer time.  It was like the Sound of Music up there.  

Winter is okay too, as long as there is lots of sunshine and I'm not freezing.

Harriet wanted so badly to be able to do a flip on this thing.  She tried forever and never made it.  We headed back to the room about 10 minutes before it closed.  Then, after getting to the room, she decided that if she tried ONE MORE TIME, she could do it.  So, we raced downstairs and back out to the plaza, just minutes before they closed up.  That little firecracker gave it all she had and flipped over!  I could feel Melissa rolling her eyes from the pool that we were STILL not in our suits and it was like 10pm.  Sorry Lis!

We finally did make it to the luxurious pool and swam until like midnight and headed back to the room.  I had bought the old "Annie" movie for the little girls to watch.  Funny enough, it turned out to be Sloan's favorite thing.  He couldn't get enough of the singing and dancing and gymnastics.  

Who knows what time it was by the time we bathed 5 kids and got to bed.  I was looking forward to a super lazy morning and making a big breakfast.  Mom had stayed in Salt Lake with poor Shadow puppy (thanks, Mom!) and so I did get up super early to drive down the canyon and pick her up so she could join us for our lazy fun morning.  That was actually kind of nice - being in the canyon by myself so early in the morning.  But, I found out very late in the game that checkout was 10:00AM!!!!  Really, I am still flabbergasted by that.  I have stayed in a million Marriotts and checkout is never before 11 or noon and we always get late checkout up until about 2pm.  They would not budge!  How in the world would we have a lazy morning and be out of there by 10?  How would any guest be out of there by 10 on a Saturday morning?   It was so ridiculous, but they were super rigid.  I finally begged and pleaded my way to 10:30.  Thanks a lot!  Really? For what we paid for that room?  So, we hurried everyone, made breakfast, cleaned up the place and left for the outlets.  

The outlet shopping went something like this:  Kate and Hattie found a million cute things they wanted for school.  Sean and Grace, not so much.  We all spent a while in Carter's looking for cute things for Jess's new baby, but Sloan thought as much of it as to, um, go poop in the corner of the store, on the floor!  I'm serious, that kid is a story a minute.  Then, we did find an adorable little toy store for the kids to spend their money.  Grace and Hattie had been saving their money all spring/summer to shop on our weekends in Utah.  Grace and Sean bought these awesome bow and arrow toys, and Harriet got some new bath toys and a craft to do.  Kate came away with a new doll.  

I think Grace looks so awesome using her archery skills in her Sunday dress.  

"A princess never places her weapons on the table." 

Thanks, Park City!  And, thanks Mom, for all the help, and Aunt Lis for putting up with me (admit it, you had fun!  No, we really did have quite an awesome time.  Just wish we had more time up there to enjoy it.)

A month in Utah: week 2 - SO. MUCH. FAMILY.

The Monday after Lagoon, we had a family reunion of sorts.  Our cousin, Derek, and his wife and kids came to visit from Denver.  I hadn't seen him since my wedding day, 17 years ago, and I hadn't seen my other cousins since Jessica's wedding.  We gathered everyone we could.  We were only missing Amanda (Derek's sister, who lives in Denver,) and Abbey, who couldn't make it to Salt Lake in time for the reunion.  We had Uncle Randy, my Dad, Mom, Uncle Louis and Aunt Cece, Grandma Pearlie, pretty much every Mitchell we could get our hands on.  It was kind of wild.

Melissa hosted a really fantastic BBQ.  Unfortunately, it was the hottest, most humid day of the whole summer, so being outside wasn't super fun until the sun went down a lot.  I have been to so many painful Mitchell parties over the decades, but this one was surprisingly very pleasant and extremely fun.  Everyone had a great time.  Kudos to Melissa - she knows what she's doing there.

We had a little "program" as Grandma Pearlie likes to call it.  Grandma begs for a program at every family gathering since I was born.  Sean played the drums downstairs, and then Grace and Harriet took their concert outside.  Grace played her electric guitar, and Harriet played my mom's guitar from when she was the same age.  It was incredible that this guitar has survived all the moves, banging around in closets, and kids playing with it as a toy for years.  My mom took it in for new strings before we got there and the guys at the guitar shop couldn't believe it.  They knew exactly what it was, a Harmony guitar from JC Penney from about 1960, complete with original case and twisted rope shoulder strap!  They said it was in excellent condition and sent it home, tuned with new strings.  It was really cool to see my kids play it.  (dang it, most of my videos from that night are too long to load here.  but, this is a little snippet of Hattie playing Mo-Deb's guitar!)

We had brought Grace's electric guitar up from ABQ, but didn't have room for the amp, so we asked my uncle Randy if we could borrow some of his equipment.  He is a collector of vintage stuff and plays guitar too.  He was so funny, he came and picked up Grace on his way home from work and took her back to his house to try out all his stuff and see her play.  They decided on this old Fender amp from the 60's.  It sounded great.  They plugged it in outside for her and she started to shred her Ozzy Osbourne song on it.  About a minute into the song, she started shaking her hand and saying "ow, that hurts!"  I thought she was having a hard time playing or was nervous and trying to fake that her hand hurt.  But, she insisted that it did.  Finally, it dawned on Randy that the old electric plug on the amp had probably been plugged in backwards (no grounds on those old plugs) and the current was building up and going through the guitar's metal strings and shocking Grace.  It was crazy!  After he turned the plugs around, she could play just fine.  

We tried to take some good cousin photos.  I feel so bad Abbey and Amanda weren't in these.  We all look super decent!  I think it's so funny to see the way the genetics have played out.  We are all about the same height after all that and, if some of us didn't bleach our hair, it would all be the same color too.  Abbey came the next weekend, and I didn't even get pictures of us together!  Epic failure.

Lauren, Jennifer, Jessica, Melissa, Emily, Derek, Me

Trying to get a picture with Sloan in it, is just about impossible - this is the best we could do.  But, from left to right, there are Derek's kids (Savannah and Milan), Jennifer's (Tristan and Kennady), Lauren's (Mitchell and Kimber), Sean, Grace, Kate, Harriet, and Sloan.  (Melissa's, Jessica's, and my kids by that time were just one family and sort themselves by favorite cousin, not by sibling.)

This little Savannah is about the cutest little girl I've ever met (my own kids excluded, of course.) 

Even though this is blurry, had to throw it in.  

Shadow was a part of everything and everyone loved her.

Dads and kids played 'til way past bedtime.  Since the sun NEVER goes down in Salt Lake, we were already used to staying up until midnight every single night.  

Jennifer, Melissa, Derek's wife, Andrea, and Lauren

It was really so great to be with so many of my family.  No matter what happens in life, blood is still thicker than water, and you are who you are, partly because of these people.  It's great to see everyone all grown up and all successful and happy in their own ways.   

Well, after the Mitchell blow-out, we did some more Sloan tending and got ready for another epic weekend of fun.  I guess mean Aunt Shell needed to come to town to prove that, yes, Sloan WILL eat lunch, and WILL take a nap.  No one could get him to do it. Melissa had been tending him all summer.  I did have a bit of beginner's luck, but he ate a whole peanut butter sandwich and went downstairs for a nap just like a pro.  I don't know why, but they are always cuter when they are asleep!  Sloan loved napping on Harriet's bed.

More, and more, and more family!  We took a break from the Mitchells and dug up some Chapmans. Brian and Wendy's family met us for dinner at our favorite haunt:  RED IGUANA.  Well, actually, we went to Red Iguana 2, since the original location is near impossible to get a table.  Still it's the same atmosphere - in a shady neighborhood in Salt Lake, literally next to the railroad tracks.  But, that mole is to die for.  Getting a picture of a Chapman cousin is like getting a picture of a unicorn.  It really hardly happens, ever.  So, I snapped this pic of the girls while we were waiting.  The train going by shook the whole restaurant and was very loud.  

Next up, Park City!

A month in Utah: weekend 1 - LAGOON with GRANDPA!

My dad has been wanting to take all of the grandkids to Disneyland.  That's probably one of the best memories that we all have from growing up - when we went to Disneyland when we were little.  But, with all the different ages and interests among the cousins, it would be a really hard trip to make, not to mention, insanely expensive for all of us to go.  So, when he found out we were coming for the summer, he got really excited about taking all the grandkids to LAGOON!

My kids had been to Lagoon once before, so they knew how much fun it was going to be.  Lagoon is so much nicer than it was 20 years ago.  You can actually have a pretty grand time there.  Poor Grandpa though, he had no idea what he was in for with my girls.  They like to bring the park down on the biggest rides and close up when the last employee is sweeping the walk.  Melissa's family prefer to keep it a little more calm and collected.  I know we wore her out completely.  Mom came too and helped us herd everyone and even had a little fun herself.  I felt like a kid, being able to go to Lagoon with both of my parents and have that much fun.  We laughed harder than I have laughed in a long time.

Much to Melissa's chagrin, we got there early, when it was still hot.  But, that's perfect for the water rides, right?  We started off with the log flume, which was a long line for a little splash.  Mo-Deb, who never gets on rides, even went on it!  

But then, we upped the ante on the river run.  Holy smokes.  I cannot think about that ride without smiling - we got all 9 of us in one boat - Melissa and Randy and their kids, my girls and me, and Mom and Dad.  There is nothing funnier than seeing your mom and dad in their 60's getting soaked on a water ride and trying to get each other wet.  We laughed and squealed and got blissfully soaking wet in the hot sun.  Mom, who is always worried about what her hair looks like, got completely dumped on with water.  It really was the best.  I'm so glad we all went on that ride!  Grace and Hattie, of course, went again.  It would be hours before our underwear finally dried out.

could not be wetter!

We did a few of the other rides together, like the train, the swings,  and some of the smaller things like bumper cars:

train ride

Little bumper cars:  Grace was too tall for these and said it was cool if the little kids went without her. Then, she totally surprised us by bursting into tears that she didn't get to go, so we walked to the other end of the park and did the big ones, which Kate was too small for, but we sneaked her in.

Somewhere in the middle, we split up so that Melissa's kids could keep it simple on the little rides and the girls could go on the BIG ones.  Grace loves herself a roller coaster.  She'd had "Wicked" on her mind for weeks.  She convinced Grandpa to go with her, and Harriet and me too.  Wicked is just insane.  There is no other way to describe it.  You could truly die on that thing just by opening your eyes.  I'm pretty sure my dad wasn't in the best health to ride something like that, but he did it anyway.  He looked pretty white when we were done, but wouldn't let the girls know that he didn't have the time of his life, so he totally convinced them that it was the best ever.  Harriet loved it.  Grace could have ridden it all day.   

The Wicked line was super long though for a second run, so, we tried for Colossus next.  Now, Colossus was built in like the 80's, before the laws of physics were perfected in roller coasters.  It looks less crazy than Wicked, but it's sharp turns and jerky G-forces will pretty much do you in.  Grandpa enthusiastically got in the front car with Grace.  I thought he was such a good sport to make her think that there was nothing else he'd rather do.  When we got off - I really thought I might have to call 911 for him.  Poor guy!  But, he let the girls think that he had the time of his life.  Harriet hated Colossus and cried for a while after we got off.  So, that was enough of the crazy coasters.

(If it looks like Grandpa is about ready to pass out, that's because he is.)

So, the last time we were at Lagoon, Harriet had seen this giant Hello Kitty and tried to win it playing darts.  She was inconsolable when she found out that the games are pretty rigged and she was never getting that big prize.  So, when the kids asked to play games again, I was kind of reluctant.  But, they headed to the skee-ball booth and I couldn't resist.  I LOVE skee-ball and I'm usually pretty good too!  I totally nailed the first game and won a cute little rainbow dog for Hattie.  Awesome! But, crap - there were 3 other kids standing there needing a prize.  My second and third games were terrible and I couldn't come up with more prizes.  

In comes Grandpa, like a hero, and heads to the milk bottles.  (Why don't I have a picture of this?!) He starts throwing baseballs at them like he's a little league pitcher.  He totally knocked them over in a couple of throws and won a prize!  I couldn't believe it.  Those things are next to impossible to tip over.  He wouldn't give up and kept trying for a 3rd.  This time though, it was much harder to get them down.  The guys in the booth were kind and gave him lots of chances to get it and he finally won the 3rd prize.  He would have gone for the 4th, but Kate hated the prizes in that booth, so thankfully, we could move on.  Kate won her prize at the ducky pond and we were set!  I couldn't believe we had 4 prizes in hand.

It might not have been Disneyland, but I think we had more fun in an afternoon at Lagoon than we would have had in 3 days at Disney together.  Thanks, Grandpa, for the most awesome fun day.  We all loved it!  And you.