Sunny St George, Part 1

Since I have been working on vacation posts, I thought I would also add our latest little vacation. Darren's parents bought a home in St George a couple years ago. We haven't really taken advantage of it too often, but the January cold had us wanting a break from our Cache Valley winter! So, we headed off for sunny St George! I have to say that I HATE the month of January! I feel like it is such a let down after all the excitement of the holidays and there isn't much to be excited about. Plus it is COLD! And this year there wasn't much snow to play in for the kids - Just COLD! I think this break was something we all needed!


We took off for St George on Thursday afternoon (Jan 27). Darren had his early day at work, so we left right after Logan got home from school. The kids did pretty good for the first part of the drive, so we just kept going all the way to Nephi where we stopped for dinner at Wendy's. Then, we drove the rest of the way. Avery didn't do so well with this part. We got new double screen DVD players for the car and she likes them for a little bit (as long as it is ELMO), but then she wasn't happy. She cried for a good part of the ride. It is so hard!!! My other 2 kids have always been such good travelers that I don't really know what to do with Avery - She really hates the car! She finally gave up and fell asleep around Cedar City and we finally made it to St George about 10:30. Grandma and Grandpa were excited to see us and the kids were so wound up when we got there, it took awhile to get them to bed! Oh well...its vacation, right?


Friday, (Jan 28) we slept in a bit and had breakfast with Grandma and Grandpa and then played a couple games and hung out. About noon, we headed up to the little park by Grandma and Grandpa's house to enjoy the sunshine. I think the temperatures were in the 60s! The kids were in heaven!!!
I think this is the first time Avery has been really big enough to play on the playground and they had one the perfect size for her! She had so much fun climbing and going down the slide. She is not scared of anything and a little too brave for her own good sometimes.

Avery doing the slide all by herself! Yeah!!!

Avery also loved swinging. She was a little funny about it at first, I think because it almost tipped her out...

Ry spent most of her time swinging. She was loving it and was getting so good at pumping all by herself! What happened to my baby???

Logan loved climbing everything! He also wanted to explore the tennis and basketball courts and was dying to play on them, but we didn't have time and never got back there to do it. Sorry, buddy! Maybe next time!

Is that a happy face or what?

I think Miss Avery was ready for a nap - She just about fell asleep in the swing!

Our good friends, the Whites, made the trip up from Vegas to meet us for lunch. It was so nice of them to drive to see us! We met them at Chuck-A-Rama. Our kids had never eaten there before and now Logan is obsessed with going to another Chuck-A-Rama or buffet. He found out they are building one by our house, and he is so excited! We had a fun lunch with the Whites. I don't know how it happened, but there are no pictures of them or their kids... Kind of sad!

After lunch, Jen White and I did some serious shopping with Avery at Tai Pan. The boys took the other kids to Sandy's parents house in Toquerville where they had an awesome backyard for the kids to play in. I sent the camera with Darren and he did a good job taking pictures of our kids, but I was hoping he would get some of our kids with the White's. Oh well! They had so much and also witnessed some kid totally wiping out while trying to jump his bike and knocking out his front teeth and probably breaking a few bones. He had to go in an ambulance! I think it was one of the trip highlights for Darren... These are a few more pics of the kids playing in Toquerville. So pretty and SUNNY!!!

The next morning (Saturday, January 29) we got up a little late and a full day of fun planned with Grandma and Grandpa. I got Avery's hair into cute little piggies! She looks so big!!!

Grandma and Grandpa were excited to take Logan to the Johnson Farm where there are a bunch of real dino footprints. Logan thought it was really cool. It was just not much to see besides the footprints. We kind of thought they would have more exhibits or something. Since Logan is our future paleontologist he loved it! The rest of us weren't quite as excited.

Logan checking out a big footprint

Avery chilling in her stroller

Rylee pulling Grandpa along

This wall is the biggest slab of footprint fossils in the world...or something cool like that

Our little dino!

Rylee pulling Logan along now. I think she could have been through the whole thing and done in under 5 minutes. She wasn't really into stopping and looking at anything.

Cute girlies

Rylee showing us her best dino pose

They didn't have many exhibits, but they did have a gift shop, of course. The kids were probably more excited for that than they were for the footprints! Logan was looking at everything and I looked over and saw Rylee arranging all the dinos into a big line. Typical Rylee!

Our fam when we finally got the kids out of the gift shop

Rylee picked this little stuffed Pteranadon. Kind of funny for her but she loved him!

Logan picked this Magic Volcano that errupted, and then turned into a little dinosaur toy. He loves that kind of science experiment kind of stuff!

Our next stop was Jumping Jacks, which is one of those places with tons of inflatable toys for the kids to play in. They loved it and we were all exhausted by the time we were done. We started Avery out in the little baby land section, and at first she thought that was great fun. She was loving running around and bouncing.

They had a little slide and Avery wanted to go down again and again. She figured out how to wedge herself up against the side to make herself go a little slower and she loved it. As soon as she got to the bottom, she would say "mo, mo" and do the sign for more until we got her back up to the top.

I don't think Logan stopped the entire time we were there! He would just run from one thing to the next. He liked to do his "star" when he came down. He was pretty proud of it for some reason.

Rylee had lots of fun, too. At first, she was a little unsure and didn't want to do the big ones, but she got comfortable with them pretty fast.

Daddy paid for a pass, too so he could take the kids. I think he might have been sorry about that! He was exhausted!!! Here he is taking both girls - What a SuperDaddy to carry them both to the top! Once Avery got a taste of the big slides, she wanted nothing to do with the baby playlands - She wanted the BIG slides and she wanted to go over and over! Daddy didn't get a break!

Avery trying out a little bounce house. She had it all to herself, but she didn't last long. She wanted to slide!

Our caged little monkey!

Rylee climbing to the top of the slide

Avery running for the slide. I love to watch her toddle around. It is just so cute! It was even more funny to watch her here with all the bigger kids running around and her trying to keep up! She knew just where she was going, too - The BIG slide...again!

Rylee on the BIg Slide

Daddy decided to try Avery BY HERSELF! I was a little freaked out! That slide was HUGE!!! The picture didn't turn out, but the video is hilarious. Her face was terrified, but, she LOVED it and couldn't wait to go again. She kept saying "mo, mo" and doing the more sign. She sounds like the little seagulls from Nemo when they say "mine, mine" over and over and she doesn't stop until she gets what she wants!

Daddy and Logan - I know this picture is so blurry, but I love the look on Logan's face.

Avery after going down by herself again. And then she attempted to climb the huge set of stairs on her own, too. That didn't work out.

Such a brave, big girl!

Darren's mom held Avery for awhile so Darren could go down with the other kids. She didn't like it. She wanted to go again!

The kids had the biggest grins when they came to the bottom of the slide each time. They were SO happy and having so much fun! I tried and tried to get good pictures of them, but I didn't really succeed. I think I need a faster camera... {hint, hint...} This was one of the best I got of Logan.

Avery's happy face

Rylee's happy face

Grandma even got in on all the fun and took Avery down the slide. Too bad that my awesome picture doesn't have their faces in it. I'm pretty sure they would be funny!

Ry and her ROSY cheeks! She played hard and her red face showed it!

They talked me into taking a turn, too. Me and Avery had fun going down the big slide!

After Jumpin' Jacks we went to a late lunch/early dinner at a sports grill so we could watch the BYU game. That was the one they LOST to New Mexico. It was a pretty crazy game. Then, we headed back to Grandma and Grandpa's so we could change and head to THE POOL! I'm pretty sure the kids thought this was the whole reason for the trip and they were so excited! We had lots of fun and swam for almost 2 hours and had the whole pool to ourselves!

Ry ready to swim!!!

Swimming with the fam - Avery fell asleep on the way home from dinner, and she was OUT and really in need of a nap so we left her sleeping with Grandpa for a little while while we swam and Grandma went back and got her a little later so she could join us.

Logan thought this game was fun - to jump between Mommy and Daddy

Yeah! Our Sleeping Beauty woke up! She wasn't too happy at first, but she warmed up after a little bit.

Just keep swimming, just keep swimming, just keep swimming, swimming....

Ry doing some tricks with Daddy

Logan showing off his muscles!

Our Muscle Men!

Daddy and the kiddos - They love swimming with their daddy!

Avery really wasn't too happy to be in the pool at first. Can you blame her? We woke her up and put her in a swimsuit and stuck her in the water.

Another trick with Daddy!

It didn't take long for Avery to decide the pool was really fun. She was splashing and laughing and even tried to blow some bubbles. Daddy also tried that trick where he blew in her face and then dunked her - She didn't like that one! But, she was loving the water and soon she was even jumping in from the side.

Avery drying off before we headed home

We had a great time! It was a much needed break and we were able to do some relaxing, enjoy some sun and hit the pool! It was a short trip, but it was great to just get away and spend some time together and see Grandma and Grandpa - I have a few more pictures to add, but I think I will make them another post....