Refreshing Respite

Rather than do a detailed recap of our mini-break, I will do a lovely bullet-point of highlights instead.

• We finally left at 2:00pm on Thursday after a long morning of soccer practice (I'm assistant coach and played in flip-flops!), blogging, house cleaning and packing. Sheesh.

• It was only an hour drive to get there. (We're not sure how we survived the 6 hour drive to Las Vegas and then another 6 hour drive to California last fall. We're driving wusses.)
• It was raining when we got to Park City, thus crushing the kids' hopes of swimming.

• We did some major back-to-school shopping at the outlet mall and finished the job by visiting 3 stores! (Old Navy, Children's Place, and Bass) Landon acted as the "clothes statue" as we shopped and he held the stuff we were getting for Whitney, too funny.
• We ate subpar pizza for dinner, but tasty chocolate dessert, then went back to the hotel to swim (the weather had cleared up).

• We got treats from Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory for dessert and loved them. Whitney pressed her face to the window of the store and said, "This is my dream!"
• We watched Animal Planet in bed and I read my magazine from Stefanie and then Sarah's Quilt.

• Both kids would flop down on the bed and say, "Ahh, this is the life."
• Randy snored so badly that night that I tossed and turned (@#$%!), I couldn't keep my earplugs in my ears for some reason. (I got a lot of reading done though.)
• We got McDonald's for breakfast ($23!!) and then drove an hour and a half to Logan where I dropped Randy and the kids off at a friend's house and then went to Tasha's house.

• Tasha, Stella, Evie (and later Dave) had Cafe Rio lunch together at their house, then I got the tour (beautiful), chatted with Tasha, took pictures of Stella then went back to get Randy and the kids.

• It poured rain on the highway and caused massive slowing (plus it was Friday afternoon rush hour) so it took 2.5 hours to get back to Park City (ugh!!).
• We went swimming at the hotel again even though it was overcast and breezy. We ended up having the pool to ourselves and sat in the hot tub while it rained (pretty cool). Our kids officially know how to swim and were able to negotiate the deep end without assistance, phew!
  

• Our fun day of outdoor activities got rained out (what in the world, they're having a severe drought so what's up with this timing?) so we drove back to American Fork and went to the movies to see Stardust (fabulous, but not for little kids).
• We returned home and it was unpacking and laundry for me, computer work for Randy, and neighbor-kids to play with for the kids. Can you say burst bubble?

So there you have it. It was enjoyable, memorable and not too hot. I suppose I'm happier about the overcast weather and rain than I would have been if it had been beasty hot. We're going to drive up on a Saturday to do the things we missed this time (aerial show at the Olympic park and chairlift ride.) Click here for the rest of the photos.