So this last weekend was the 4th of July- hooray! Uncle John, Aunt Kell, Brycen and Kels were all here in town- double hooray!! Rob decided to plan a fun weekend away for the group of us up at Daniel's Summit where we snowmobile sometimes in the winter. We rented adjoining cabins and Rob brought 4-wheelers for each of us. We took off on the 4-wheelers just before 2PM, each with a little munchkin in our lap. Rob has snowmobiled there multiple times and assured us he knew the lay of the land... and here's where it gets fun! Aunt Kelly's rig broke down about 100 meters into the trek-boo! Don't worry- all was not lost! We rolled it back down hill and had it towed back up to the cabin. We figured out that it was the starter and it would need to be started by hand should it stall again and we were back on our way- hooray! We got about 3 miles into the trail when we came upon an awesome shallow little river to cross. We spent the next 15 minutes splashing through it and taking photos. The boys had an absolute blast! Crue couldn't get enough- so fun!!! We hopped back on the trail and continued on for another hour and a half. Crue eventually fell asleep in my arms and never seemed to mind the bumpy terrain. I guess he was really tired- poor little guy. Randomly the sky darkened and we found ourselves in this yucky little rainstorm. Aunt Kell thought maybe it was a good time to head back, but nooooo- Rob said the trail looped around to the lodge and we should continue... and so we did. Not much further up the trail we ran into snow on the trail- 4 feet of it! Kell was the guinea pig and took her 4-wheeler up first. After some minor maneuvering she paved a decent enough trail that we could all follow. The little guys played in the snow while they waited for us to get the rest of the quads up the hill... and then we proceeded on our way again. At this point we're probably coming up on 4 hours. "Fun" is definitely starting to fade at this point:) Though we remained on a trail it started to become more and more treacherous. The late spring snow and water had dug ruts so deep that we had to take the kids off the quads multiple times to safely make it through. With no real "home" in site we continued to follow the leader in the rather futile hope that he actually knew where he was going. At about 5 hours we found that we no longer had a trail to follow- uh oh. What now? We can't go back the way we came- for one, the thought of backtracking over that scary terrain made Kell and I want to curl up in the fetal position and cry... and secondly there would be no possible way of making it back before darkness enveloped the lot of us. At this point I'm getting concerned and mad and sad and tired and whatever else adjective you can come up with to describe this situation. Rob still believes he can get us home, we're calling the lodge wherever we can get reception to try and get directions, Crue has fallen asleep again and things are feeling a little bleak. Eventually we opted to pave our own way through the brush- bumpy, but I felt like we were actually getting somewhere... or maybe not:) While we were heading it the right general direction- that lodge seemed like it would never appear over the next hill... and I was right... it never did. After over 6 hours on the 4-wheelers, with Crueser crying for the last hour of it we all decided to head straight for the now visible highway and find someone to rescue us. We all kinda breathed a sigh a relief once we were next to the passing motorists. Phew! It was over! Or was it? To add insult to injury we became a scrumptious dinner to the millions of mosquitoes that decided to congregate at the exact location we exited the field. Really?! You've got to e kidding me! We made the boys dance and run around like wild animals while we not-so-patiently waited for our hero to come from the lodge to pick us up. The munchkins loved the dancing and didn't seem the least bit alarmed that they were quite possibly being eaten alive. "Lance," I believe his name was, came storming in like a knight in shining armor- scooped us all up in his shiny van and delivered our bitten, mud splattered, sore bodies to the lodge just 3 miles up the road. A cabin never looked so good! We had a truly fantastic dinner (or maybe we were just so thankful to see food), jumped in the swimming pool to clean off, took baths and spent the last little bit of the evening in John and Kell's cabin before all passing out in our beds. Just a couple hours into our slumber poor Crue woke up with his terrible growing pains for which there seemed no remedy. After over 30 minutes of crying Rob took him in the car to Heber (30 minutes up the road) got him some medicine and brought him back sound asleep. Everyone slept the remainder of the night away- phew! We woke up bright eyed and bushy tailed, had an awesome breakfast, packed up and headed out on the 4-wheelers again! "What?!" you may be asking yourselves. Yep, we did it again. This time however, Kelly and I called the shots. After Rob tried to get us to try a "new" trail that was clearly marked "No ATVs or Off-road Vehicles" to which we all scoffed- we headed back to the original trail. We took the quads back to the little river and played in it for about an hour- which we ALL seemed to love. We tried a small trip up another trail and turned around when we thought we had gone far enough- look at us learning our lesson:) We headed back to the lodge- had another yummy meal and took the 4-wheelers out for one more quick jaunt and then called it a day.
While 6+ hours on a 4-wheeler was miserable at times and my left hand has yet to regain its strength and sensation- I am so grateful that I have a husband who comes up with these fun things to do, because heaven knows I'm not creative enough to put these things in motion. Thanks Rob!
To finish the 4th we headed home, set off loads of fireworks with the neighbors (this is the first year aerial fireworks are legal- woo-hoo!) and Rob drove loads of us up to the top of the hill on the golf cart to watch the fireworks across the valley. It really turned out to be a great 4th!
Canyon- you were AMAZING the entire day on the 4-wheeler! You never complained- not once! You are our little mountain man! You're getting better and better at swimming. This week you jumped in and swam at least 5-6 strokes to Lindsay and of course I found myself tearing up at the sight. We're so proud of you! You're turning into the quite the little fish! Now that you've realized that you love to be under water with your "gobbles" on (I refuse to correct you- I think it's so cute) it's near impossible to get you out, let alone get you to listen to Lindsay. We're so excited that you've finally developed a love of the water. That scared little boy is now a thing of the past!! Though it's not something or should I say someone you talk about anymore- I forgot to tell you about your imaginary friend- and I think he deserves an honorable mention. Randomly for about a week or so you started talking about your little friend. When we asked you what his name was you replied "Forrester Wong" very matter of factly. How did you even come up with such a name? Apparently he reads the newspaper and sits behind one of our leather chairs. Okay kiddo. Whatever you say. You're too funny! You have a new song you learned at preschool and I love it times a million!! "I have a little turtle. His name is Tiny Tim. I put him in the bathtub to see if he could swim. He drank up all the water. He ate up all the soap. And now he's stuck in bed with a bubble in his throat. Bubble-bubble-bubble. Bubble-bubble-bubble. Bubble-bubble-bubble... and POP!" So adorable!!
Crue-cumber! You couldn't get enough of the water on the 4-wheelers! I couldn't even get all the way across without you saying "one more time mommy!" You giggled and squealed the whole time we were there and it was by far the highlight of the trip!! Moving on... have I already mentioned how particular you are about your clothes?! Aaahhhh! It's making me crazy! Not only do you change your clothes multiple times a day, but you have a handful of apparently "very precious" t-shirts that you refuse to wear anything else but! Heaven forbid I try and offer you something other than the "chosen ones." You have your "dinosaur" shirt... it's size 12-18 months! May I remind you that you are now 26 months and while you're definitely smaller than your brother was at this age you're not that small. It's currently a belly shirt, but it's your absolute favorite so I'm considering cutting out the dinosaur part and sewing it onto a larger t-shirt- I'm not sure whether or not you'll go for it. You also have your "Pablo" shirt -ya know, the adorable penguin from The Backyardigans. It used to be one of my favorites, but then Uncle Wes let you have markers while you were wearing it and I have never been able to get the little stains out so now when you wear it you just look a little scroungy;) Then there's your "California" shirt(s) which I somehow convinced you came from Aunt Kelly's which makes them cool in your eyes and so you'll wear them. I recently introduced a Mickey Mouse shirt into the mix which you immediately took too and boy was I grateful to have another option! How do I get you to grow out of this?! You have recently become a fan of big boy undies and while you seem to have no desire to use the potty you love wearing undies over your diaper! The picture must be facing forward so you can look at it which leaves you wearing your underwear backwards over your diaper. Could you be any sillier?! You have also discovered a love of band aids. You usually ask for them to cover an owie, but lately it seems like you're using them more and more for decoration. How have I let things get this way?! Our nightly singing routine has evolved over the last week. It used to be that you wanted me to sing Rock-a-bye-baby followed by the ABC's. Now it's "Rock-a-baby" as you call it, then ABC's, Justin Beiber's "Baby-Baby," and we finish things off with "Jai Ho." It's quite the nightly concert we hold, but I'd be happy to do it 'til you're both in high school if you'd let me:)
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