Vacation Update

Other than dealing with Anna and her fears, we've been having a wonderful time out in Utah. We sadly said goodbye to Dan, Melinda, and Emily on Wednesday. Anna spent the next day saying, "Mem-ly?" in a concerned voice. The 3 girls were just so cute playing together. They are all so close in age, and I can see them when they're a little older getting into all sorts of mischief together!

Before Dan and his family left, we were able to spend the day sight-seeing and having fun together on Tuesday. First we drove up Big Cottonwood Canyon, which was beautiful--still lots of snow at the ski resorts up there! We had a picnic lunch on the way back down.

Then it was off to Antelope Island, in the Great Salt Lake. We drove to the day use area, where you can go right up to the edge of the lake. This was not such a popular choice, especially with Emily and Anna. Emily did NOT like being in the backpack, and she voiced this dislike very clearly and consistently the entire time we were out there. Anna didn't like . . . well, who really knows. The sand? The smell? The barrenness? She was a grump too, so we had quite the chorus of woe following us around, LOL.

Back here at Aunt Claire and Uncle Jim's house, the boys have been having a bit of a sports camp. First, Bob found some lacrosse sticks at WalMart, so he bought 3 sets of them (6 total). The boys have really improved their lacrosse techniques over the past week!

Next, Aunt Claire and Uncle Jim brought out the 5-in-1 big bag o' lawn games, of which badminton and horseshoes have proved the most popular. Side note--I am miserable at badminton. I took that as my gym required class in college, and it is about the only class where I seriously feared I would not make an A. I escaped with an A-, but I am very thrilled that my boys will not have that source of stress at college, LOL. They are doing quite well at serving the little birdie, which was always my bugaboo.

Then yesterday we went fishing up in the mountains a little south of here. It's a beautiful lake, and it was so relaxing. Only Uncle Jim actually caught a fish, but that didn't seem to matter. The boys were having such a good time that I loaded the girls' carseats into Aunt Claire's car so we could come back, while the "menfolk" stayed on even longer. All the boys came away with vastly improved casting techniques.

Today it was miniature golfing. This was another men-only outing, with Bob, the boys, Uncle Jim, and Grandpa. Great fun was had by all.

The only fly in the ointment has been some mysterious stomach bug that's going around. Grace and Emily were sick over the weekend and through Tuesday. Then Dan and Melinda got sick as well. Grandma and Grandpa were the next to go down, but with everyone except Grandma, it's been over in a day or 2. She has been sick for a few days now, and nothing really is staying down. We're all praying she'll be able to fight this bug off so she doesn't get dehydrated. They're supposed to start driving back to Ohio next Wednesday, and I think it will take that long for her to regain her strength back, with how sick she's been.

We will be taking off from here on Monday, on to Yellowstone. I'll try to post again before we leave!