School's Out! Part 1

June 1 - The LAST day of school!  Can you tell how excited these kiddos are?  I have to say, I was pretty excited, too!  I LOVE summer!  It is so fun to have all the kids home and do fun things and have the weather be nice and just PLAY and have no real schedule.  The night before the last day of school, Darren and I got talking and decided we wanted to do something really fun to celebrate that school was out, so we ended up taking a short little get-a-way to Salt Lake and surprised the kids.  They love fun surprise adventures like that and sometimes it is a little less stress when you just decide to go at the last minute.  It is totally crazy, but it comes so fast that you don't have as much time to stress over it.  At least I don't.  Anyway, when Logan got home from school, we loaded the kids into the car and started driving!  They had a million guesses, but we didn't tell them.  It made for a long drive with the "how much longer?" and all the guessing.  Of course, they were guessing things like Disneyland and stuff, so I was a little worried they might be disappointed, but they weren't.  As a matter of fact, when we surprised them with Disney, there were tears, but this time, it was all happiness! 

Actually, there were a couple tears at first.  Or at least some whining.  By the time we got down there, it was about dinner time, so we pulled into Applebee's.  That was my surprise treat to myself!  We don't have one here and there was one right by the hotel, so we decided to eat there.  I was thrilled.  The kids were a little less pleased.  They wanted the surprise!  They weren't interested in eating dinner!  We ate a yummy dinner and then got ready for the REAL surprise! 

 Avery and her spaghetti face!  

This was the little guy's first real road trip.  He celebrated it by having his first massive blowout.  Of course, it was at the restaurant, so that was great to clean up....  He was a great little traveler though.  And SO darn cute!
 
 We have driven by this hotel a lot of times and always wanted to try it, but we usually don't really have a reason to pay for a hotel in Salt Lake since we have so much family there.  But, we decided that we would do it for something fun and different and when we pulled up to the hotel the kids FREAKED!  They were so excited about a hotel and when they saw the water slide, they were even MORE excited!  Such a fun surprise! 
 
This was the inside.  Not only did they have the big waterslide that went outside but they had a little kid play area that my girls loved since they weren't tall enough for the big slide.  They were in heaven! 

All checked into the hotel!

And ready to go SWIM!!!  Love how Rylee always poses... 

Poor Bronson didn't get to get in on all the fun, so he chilled poolside with mama. 

The kids swam for a LONG time!  They had SO much fun!  Avery kept coming over to tell me all about the fun things there were to do. 

Miss Rylee striking a pose...

Or maybe a couple poses... 

Bronson hanging out... 

Logan ready for the BIG slide!  The girls were a bit bummed they weren't tall enough but Logan was so excited to go.  I was a little surprised (and REALLY glad) that he was so excited.  Sometimes we have to make Logan try this kind of stuff because he gets a bit nervous.  He always ends up loving it, but he has some anxiety about new things that seem a little scary.  We were so proud of him and he ended up going OVER and OVER again!

Avery and Daddy

The kids swam for about 2 hours, and little Avery needed a break for a little bit.

Ry is getting to be a great little swimmer! 

Mr Bronson fell asleep like this by the pool.  He is such a good baby! 

Mama and Avery just hanging out by the pool.  She hung out on my lap for awhile since the big kids just wanted to keep swimming.  I love my girl! 

Rylee is a bit of a dare devil and was so bummed she couldn't go down the BIG slide but she did this little one OVER and OVER again!  She loved it! 

Her break didn't last too long.  She couldn't stand to see everyone else having so much fun and ended up back in the water. 

I didn't get many pics of Logan swimming because he was so busy going down the slide so I took one before we headed back to our room. 

We headed back and got the kids all bathed and into PJs.  I have a bit of an obsession with having matching outfits for my girls and they ended up switching their PJs.  It made us all laugh! 

Since we had eaten so early that night and swam SO long, the kids were starving so Daddy headed out to find a treat.  While he was gone, the kids snuggled up to watch a movie on the ipad. I think it was Despicable Me or Monsters Vs Aliens. They were so cute watching the movie all together. 

All my cute kiddos!  Daddy ended up being gone for a LONG time!  He couldn't find a place and got a bit lost in the "hood" of Salt Lake....  And then he finally found a place and they took FOREVER to get our shakes and ice cream and by the time he got back, it was kind of a melted mess and almost 10 o'clock.  Oh well.  Just another fun adventure! 

We ended up with the wrong room and only had a king bed and a pullout, but they all fit on the pullout ok.  It was a big of a squeeze though...   It was kind of a rough night's sleep at the hotel.  The kids could NOT go to sleep!  They were bugged by any noise we made or light and they kept bugging each other and talking.  I don't think they fell asleep until 11:30.  It reminded me of why I don't like hotels with kids!  And why I booked the suite room for our trip to Disney! 

Love these kids and had so much fun surprising them, even if they wouldn't go to sleep!  There were still a few more fun surprises to come... 

surprise "stay-cation", part 1

In March, we went on a quick "stay-cation" and took the kids for a surprise weekend in Salt Lake. We were hoping to go to Disneyland in March, but things just didn't work out for that to happen. We were really in need of some time away, so we planned a little fun weekend in Salt Lake and instead of staying with family like we usually do, we splurged and got a hotel. It was a lot of fun, even if it wasn't Disneyland.
We decided to surprise the kids and not tell them what we were doing. I tried to have the car as loaded as possible the night before we left so they wouldn't know what was going on, but they noticed the luggage in the car when we left and decided we must be having a sleep-over at Grandma's house. They were so excited by that, we could have saved a lot of money and just done that for a trip! We just let them think that was what we were doing. They all fell asleep while we were driving and when they woke up, we were already past Grandma Boman's house and so they decided we must be going to Grandma Pat's. Logan was very confused when we got off the freeway before Grandma's house. He really wanted to know where we were going, and he was a little upset that there was no sleepover at Grandma's! Darren said, "How about if we go see Tinkerbell and Lightning McQueen?" Logan said, "Ah dad. The only way you can see them is at Disneyland or at Disney on Ice." We were close to the arena at that point and Darren said, "What do you think is going on there?" Logan said that that is where the Jazz play and then I asked him when else we had been there and he said "Disney on Ice!" Then he put it all together and got SO excited that we were going to see Disney on Ice and Lightning McQueen! I had a Cars shirt for him to wear and I brought Ry's Tinkerbell costume, but she just wanted her Princess shirt. She is so funny! Dress-ups are her favorite thing, unless I suggest she wear them and then she wants nothing to do with it!
Before the show, there was a special Princess Pre-show. The flyer said you could meet Tiana, so I thought Ry would be able to go up and talk to her. That wasn't how it worked, so I was worried she would be disappointed, but she was really excited! She got to wave to Cinderella and Tiana and there were also displays of other Princess dresses that she loved. I'm glad we got there early enough for her to enjoy it! Here she is with Snow White's dress.
She was SO excited to see Cinderella!
Me and my girls with the Belle dress! Our favorite!!!
Ry and the Belle dress
Waving to a REAL Princess!
Avery having her first Princess experience!
Rylee and Princess Tiana
Thumbs up for the Princesses
My Princess with Cinderella

Ry loves Ariel! She is really into Ariel lately and wants Darren to be Eric all time and Logan to be Sebastian. She loved this dress and seeing Sebastian and Flounder!
The girls with Tiana's dress

Once we were done with all the Princess fun, it was time for the main show! This Disney on Ice featured Cars, Little Mermaid, Lion King and Tinkerbell. Back in November, when I took Rylee to Princesses on Ice, Logan was so upset he didn't get to go. He kept telling me that Disney on Ice was for families and whenever he would see commercials for it, he would say "See Mom! There are boys there. Its for everyone, not just girls!" So when this Disney on Ice had Cars, I knew he would love it!
Cute girls - Avery was HUNGRY at this point and ready for a nap!
This was Logan's face when the cars came out. I love how excited this boy gets about things.

The cars were awesome and drove around on the ice for awhile. Logan LOVED it. He kept waiting for them to come back out during the rest of the show and was pretty disappointed when they never did.
It was hard for him to turn away for even a minute! He was in heaven!
Avery checking out the Disney on Ice action
Rylee loved the show, too.
Rylee was so excited when Ariel came out!
This picture just made me laugh!
Rylee really loved the Little Mermaid part, except she was a little worried about Ursula!
Classic Logan thumb sucking picture. Will this ever stop? Sometimes I wish it would and other times, I am glad that he still does it because it makes me feel like he is still little.
My cute kiddies at intermission. It is impossible for them to all look at the camera and smile.
Avery
Logan
Rylee
Girls

Boys
After intermission, it was ALL Tinkerbell. It got a little bit long for me, probably because I haven't seen that whole movie and didn't know the story. The kids liked it though.
Both kids squeezed on Dad's lap at the end. Why did we pay for 4 seats?
I love these guys!

After Disney on Ice, the surprises continued! We wouldn't tell them where we were going and they still wanted a sleepover at Grandma's and were getting ornery by the time we found a restaurant. Logan was being so funny! They had lots of Ute signs downtown and he kept saying "All these Ute signs are giving me a headache. Can we get out of here?" and "Boo Utes!" and "Why don't they have Jazz signs? I hate the Utes!" We kept going the wrong way and ending up on one way streets and it took us awhile to finally settle on Macaroni Grill for dinner. It was delicious, but the kids were a bit wild and we were glad to get out of there! We had a little trouble with the Valet service, but finally got on our way to the Little America hotel. I don't know if the kids were excited about the hotel, or still upset we weren't at Grandma's. Then they heard about the pool, and they were so excited to go swimming!
Avery had her 1st swim and LOVED it! Isn't she so cute in her swim suit? Gotta love those chubby thighs!


Logan and Rylee swimming with Daddy. They were having fun, but it doesn't look like it in this picture.
Here is Avery trying out the water. It was the BEST pool! It was SO warm - It was like bathwater. Avery loved it and stayed in for almost an hour. I didn't know if she would like it for long, but she did great.
She was a little unsure at first, but she got used to it pretty fast.


Daddy and his girls
Avery loving her swim with daddy
Kisses in the pool
The other kids loved this pool too because it was indoor, and went outdoors as well. They could float back and forth through this little tunnel and go in and out without getting out of the pool. It also had a great view and was warm, so even I would swim. I hate cold pools!
Avery looking so cute after her 1st swim!
The best part of a busy day, and especially going swimming, is the kids sleep great afterwards! We didn't get back to our room to go to bed until close to 10 and then still had baths, so it was a late night. The kids are usually hard to get to bed in a hotel, but they were so tired, it didn't take long! Here they are sleeping - They look like angels in their sleep, but I know better!
Logan so sweet with his thumb, blankie and Buffalo under the his blankie.
Ry is our crazy sleeper! It was so funny to watch her change positions over and over as she was falling alseep. Whenever we go in to check on her a night, she is in a crazy position. It was quite entertaining to watch the process and see how she ends up like that. She almost fell off the bed a few times. What a fun day...and still more to come!