The end of July I didn't get to spend time with Maren and family because of our ward youth conference. They spent some time with the Madsen's and went swimming at the Provo Recreation Center where Susie had some kind of reaction to the sun screen she had put on.
Monday August 3rd I was supposed to take my grandsons fishing and camping but the weather did not cooperate as it rained hard most of the morning. Around noon we decided that camping was out and that we needed an alternative activity so we decided to go to the Museum of Natural Curiosity.
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| Grandma Susie, Josh, Maren, and Tess in the visual effects room |
Cole was a little worried. I think he thought we were going back to the Bean Museum of Natural History which he did not like so when he finally realized that this was a different place he was relieved.
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| Cole pulling the rope on the water spout |
The museum has three floors. The top floor is the ropes course that you have to pay extra to try. The middle floor has a variety of exhibits and the basement floor has more environmental related things plus a slide, trampoline and small ropes course. Outside they had a garden maze, a fish pond, a cave and a small splash pad. We walked around and fed the fish.
We went outside to have a little snack and discovered that there was a zip line. There was a long line to ride on the zip line and Cole tried to cut in the front. He was very upset when Maren made him return to the back of the line. Turns out it was a combination of that and thinking that we wouldn't be able to go on the ropes course in the basement that set him off. He finally calmed down and had a good time riding the zip line.
We returned back inside and made our way to the basement where the kids had a great time climbing the ropes, sliding on the slide, and falling through the trampoline maze. They played for quire awhile and we felt that we had gotten our money's worth by the time they were ready to go.
While Monday was rainy and cool Tuesday was hot and a bit muggy. Maren had to stay around their rental all morning while the plumber came and unclogged the upstairs toilet. Evidently this is a recurring problem with this home. [reminds me of someone else's upstairs toilet]. That afternoon we walked over to Days Market to get some shave ice, except Cole who wanted a $0.35 Dr. Shasta.
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| Spencer and Josh wait for their order while Cole enjoys his Dr. Shasta |
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| Miss Tess enjoying her pink lemonade Shave ice while Maren checks messages |
Wednesday we accomplished one of the items on Maren's bucket list by going to Ripples Drive Inn for lunch. Ripples is an old drive in on canyon road, about 4 blocks from our house. (setting for the famous BYU movie, "The Phone Call") They have irregular hours so you just hope they are open when you go there.
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| Tess, Susie, and Cole waiting for out meal at Ripples |
Because we couldn't go camping on Monday we moved our trip to Thursday. After lunch we loaded up the car and headed for the Strawberry Narrows at Strawberry reservoir.
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| Josh, Spencer, and Cole on the Strawberry Narrows trial with their crawdad poles |
We hiked into Badger Point where we set up our poles with fried chicken to catch crawdads and used my fishing pole to try and catch trout.
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| Spencer fishing while Cole throws rocks |
We had pretty good luck catching crawdads. Josh caught the most, Cole caught the biggest, and Spencer learned to cast a lure with my fishing pole.
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| Josh and Spencer show off their biggest catch |
After fishing we headed back to the car to drive to the Aspen Grove campground. When we turned off the highway to the reservoir the sign said the Aspen Grove campground was open but when we got there they said it was closed so we had to drive down Daniels Canyon to Lodgepole campground where we found an excellent spot for the evening.
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| Spencer building the fire so we could roast our hot dogs and marshmallows |
At the camp we unpacked the car and set up our tent. Then Spencer worked on some of his Second Class scout requirements by laying and building a fire and starting our camp stove.
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| Our campsite. Next the the restroom and our own water spiggot. Note the tent in the background |
We enjoyed hot dogs and chips for dinner followed a bit later by Smores and hot chocolate.
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| Josh really liked the chocolate filled marshmallows. It was like a double smore |
Then we told stories and sang some songs and it was finally time for bed. It took over an hour to get the boys to stop yaking and go to sleep so I finally got to bed sometime after 10 pm. Susie stayed home with Tess while Maren went to the airport to get Lance.
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| Josh cutting kindling for our morning fire |
I woke up about 7 to the sound of light rainfall. True to form when the Madsen's go camping it was raining. I hurried and made the fire for breakfast and we fired up the stove and made more hot chocolate to have with our Pop Tarts that we toasted over the fire. We packed up and were on our way home by 9 am. It was a fun camping trip.
We got home and threw the boys in the shower and they were ready to go to the Madsen's by the time Maren and Lance returned from Salt Lake City. Friday and Saturday were spent in Highland with the Madsen's as they prepared for and participated in Dane Madsen's wedding. We did get to take Maren and Lance to the Bangkok Thai for dinner on Friday night.
Early Sunday morning they were packed and on their way home. The nearly three weeks they were here sure passed quickly. Hopefully we'll see them all again at Christmas time.
