family vacay 2012

 this year we decided on park city, utah for our family vacation.

which also meant....

road trip!!!!

 when we got to our cute little historic mining house... it was perfect in a grey gardens type of way.

it was actually very nice on the inside, but on the outside... it looked like it may have been part of the town ghost tour.

once we got squared away with the rental company and they cleaned the dead bugs and dropped off some fans...

we were happy.

it was very close to main street, so it had a perfect location. it also had a great kitchen so we were able to make most of the meals at home.

 

our first adventure was a trip to the olympic park.

it was awesome!

we were able to see some of the athletes training. they did their ski tricks and then landed in a huge pool, snow gear and all. it was very exciting to watch.

we found a groupon and were able to each pick 2 adventures in which to participate.

we all chose the adventure rope course so we headed there first.

they put us thru a little training and emphasized that this was not a beginner course. we scoffed a little... they must not know the adventuresome welters.

we got all geared, helmeted, roped up and headed over.

Paul and S went first.

 they were amazing. so brave and never wavered with each new segment. i was so impressed with their bravery... so much  that i realized i really did NOT want to do it.

i sucked it up and started with L. as i completed the first segment, 35 feet in the air, and approached the second segment... a 20 foot log.... 

that's it. just a log....

 a sweat broke out and panic rushed over my body... i heard myself say the dreaded words.. 

i want to quit.

as much as i wanted to complete the course.. i just couldn't. L was eager to quit with me.

i felt disappointed in myself but was ok with the decision. i know i could have done it if my life were on the line. but it wasn't and there was no way i was walking across that log.

again, so proud of S for never even thinking of giving up! love that girl and her determination!!

 

 we then went over to the zip lines and alpine slide. i was really nervous about doing the zip line the first time, but there was no way i was going to chicken out on that too. so we marched right up, entrusted our lives to the people strapping us in, and....

wheeeeeee!!!!!!

it was really fun and felt like we were flying.

we loved the alpine slide too.

i'm anxious to test my bravery the next time we come across an adventure rope course... just maybe an official beginner course :)

 

here are some random shots from around the cute town....

the girls loved this fence made out of skis.

i loved the bright colors of the houses.... 

 

i really loved lounging around in the mornings, drinking coffee in bed, reading... finishing up the hunger games series.

 

our second big adventure was to the canyons resort. it was raining that day, so we made a stop at the outlet stores and scored big at the colombia store sale. paul and the girls all have really nice rain jackets now, to the tune of $9 each. unfortunately they did not have a great deal on little boy jackets, so we just rolled up the sleeves of an old one that the girls had.... unfortunately again, we realized it was actually a windbreaker and not a rain jacket.... he was soaked all the way thru :(

we took the big gondola ride up the rainy, foggy mountain. it was kinda pricey, but it included the ziplines for ages 10 and above. plus it was a covered gondola... so we decided it was a go since there wasn't much else to do with 5 kids in the rain.

it turned out to be a great decision. we each got to do the zip line 2x. we were pretty much the only ones up there at that point, so we got lots of attention, including an extra push on the back when i voiced a little concern about zip lining in the rain.

we spent some time in the lodge, eating lunch, hanging out... waiting for the rain to clear up. we decided to head back down the mountain, but as we got back to the bottom the kids wanted to ride up again. so up we went.  when we got back to the top, the rain had actually cleared and we went on a beautiful hike. baby R was having a great time exploring the trails, it was good for him to stretch his little legs too.

 

visibility was low....

 when we finally arrived at the bottom, we were happy to find out that the kids could enjoy a game of goofy golf for free while we enjoyed a nice cold beverage.

 

we got a kick out of the way the goofy golf games went down....

big S was the first to return her club to the table. she laughed and quickly ran thru each hole, knocked her ball in the pond a few times... she somehow got some other kids to retrieve the ball from the water for her, dropped off the club to us and changed her focus to rolling down the hill.

L was right behind her. she played awhile with baby R, putted a few rounds and then was allured to rolling down the hill with her sister.

little S walked around, gave it a try a few times, but eventually was found rhythmically hitting her club against the wall in the same spot for a few minutes and then joined the girls for a little spin fest.

baby R was very excited by this new sport at first. he was eager to try putting the ball into the holes... but he instinctively could not pass up the temptation of turning the heavy metal club into a "hi-ya" stick and it was quickly confiscated.

 D was very concerned about following the rules. she wanted to know how exactly the game was to be played. she chose one hole, a very difficult one, and stayed there, focused, until she had mastered the technique. she practiced her swing exactly how paul instructed her, hitting the ball thru a small hole in a rock and then it continued thru the path to fall directly in the hole. she finally retreated after making several hole-in-ones... about 20 minutes after the other kids had gone.

eventually, i even gave in to the alluring huge hill. L and i had a running race, flying down the mountain. we were all pretty dizzy by the time we left.

on the 4th of july, we walked down to main street and enjoyed the small town parade. it was kinda hot and crowded so we snuck out a little early. we went over to the park city resort and got lunch and snow cones.

 on the last day, we got in a little over our heads and rented bikes. the uphill challenges got to be too much for the 3 kids that were actually pedaling their own bikes. it was a breeze going downhill and the paths were beautiful, but again, maybe not for beginners. paul ended up blancing D's bike on top of the bike trailer and D rode home inside the trailer with R.

at least paul and i got killer work outs... and S and L did have to finish, they made it thru and it really was a challenge for them... but they did it!

we had our last dinner at pizza and noodle.. it was pretty good. we got ice cream, hiked around the town a little more and then went home and packed our bags. we loaded everything in the car the night before.

we got up early, found a great bagel place and hit the road. we took a more scenic route home and really enjoyed it. we stopped in moab for lunch. there were several cute restaurants, stores and ice cream places :) oh and beautiful rock formations too :)

we made it home just in time for nattie's bday party that night.

driving back into the heat was not quite the welcome i wanted tho...

trying to figure out how i can escape this heat a little longer......