Fourth of July Fireworks

We were so tired from our traveling, that we slept in too long on the 4th to make it to any parades.  The kids were kind of disappointed, but we really needed the sleep!  We spent the day being lazy, and then ended up at the Clearfield fireworks.  They sure put on a great show.  We ended up really close, almost too close, and got a lovely dose of smoke and ash.  Violet liked the first couple of fireworks, then she got really grumpy and did not want to be there, so I had to walk farther away with her to get away from the smoke.  I finally figured out how to time the pictures just right to get the fireworks in the shot.

Staycation Day 3 - Planetarium and Discovery Gateway

July 3 - Our last day, we checked out of our hotel, then went to the Clark Planetarium.  Our passes included admission to both and IMAX film and a show in the Dome theater.  In the morning we went and saw the IMAX film, something about dragons.  Violet was not too impressed, and just wanted to walk around.  She and I ended up leaving halfway through the movie.  Before and after the movie, we visited some of the exhibits at the Planetarium.

See Jorgen and the big plate of berries?  The lady running breakfast at the hotel brought that out for us, and Jorgen ate a TON of blackberries.  They were pretty good.  However, he threw them all up when we got back to our room.  We thought it was just too many berries, but then he complained of a sick tummy all day.  Later in the week, each kid took a turn being sick.  Such fun.

Then we went to lunch at Tucano's Brazilian Grill.  Everyone found something they liked there, so it was a success.  No pictures, cause I was either eating or holding a grumpy baby.

After lunch we went to Discovery Gateway.  I realized that Bethany is growing out of children's museums.  She was bored a lot of the time we were there.  The other kids had a lot of fun though.

Ball activity - a favorite for everyone

Marimbas and construction

Violet LOVED this little piano and it was just her size!

Do you see bored Bethany?

Grocery store

Climbing wall and farm area

Water play

Toddler area

The huge fans were going because the air conditioning couldn't keep up with the 100+ temperatures, and the building was really hot.  The fans didn't really help much unless you were right in front of them.

Helicopter and tubes

Various building blocks and gizmos

After we were done at Discovery Gateway, we decided to go cool off with ice cream at Ben and Jerry's.  Only it isn't Ben and Jerry's anymore, it has another name, but it still sells ice cream.  Then we went back to the Planetarium to see a movie about Black Holes in the Dome Theater.  It was pretty cool.  Jorgen and Violet both fell asleep during this movie.  We were all worn out, so we called it a day and drove home.

Staycation Day 2 - Leonardo and Natural History Museum

July 2 - Day 2 started at the Leonardo museum in Downtown SLC.  We wanted to see the "101 Inventions that Changed the World" exhibit.  It was pretty cool!  The first part you go in, you sit down and watch dozens of screens highlighting different aspects of each invention.  You are completely surrounded by movie screens, even on the floor.  The older kids and adults could have stayed here for awhile, learning about each invention.  The younger kids got bored and wanted to move on.  The boys' favorite part was the Legos, of course.

In other parts of the museum, the kids got to try out a weather camera, paint or draw on the computer, create 2D or 3D animations, and many other cool things.  This was a really fun museum.

Violet needed a nap.

So did Jorgen.  He had a hard time taking turns.

We had lunch at the food court at the new City Creek shopping center.  We decided we (Dan and I) should go back there sans kids sometime for a date, because it was nice, but the kids were not interested.

After lunch we drove up to the Natural History Museum of Utah, on the U of U campus.  This is a HUGE museum!  You could easily spend all day here, and not see everything.  They recommended that we start on the roof and work our way down, so that's what we did.

Violet loved the stuffed beaver (below)!  She didn't like the stuffed wolf at all, though.

About half-way through the museum, the fire alarm went off, so we all had to go outside.  I think we were on either the 3rd or 4th floor (out of 5).  We were on a balcony of some kind, and it was really hot.  Luckily, the alarm turned off and we could go back in after a few minutes.  I guess it was a false alarm.  Unfortunately, the air conditioning never came back on, so it got really hot really fast in there.  We kept going, until the staff decided at 4:30 to close early, due to the lack of air conditioning.  We were tired anyway, so it was fine.

Violet is playing peek-a-boo because it was so sunny when we left.

Originally, we were going to go next to Red Butte Gardens for the evening, but we decided it was too hot and we wanted to swim.  So we went back to the hotel and cooled off in the pool.  I took a few pictures, then joined them, until Violet got tired of swimming, then we hung out on the deck and ate snacks.  Afterwards, we ordered room service for dinner, something we never do, so the kids thought it was fun to eat in the room.  That way the kids could change from swimsuits to PJs instead of clothes.

Staycation Day 1 - Thanksgiving Point

Dan's employer was doing a software upgrade that required all their employees to take a whole week off.  It happened to coincide with the kids' first week out of school, so we decided to have a little "staycation" in Salt Lake.  We used the points earned on Dan's credit card to get the hotel rooms for free, and we got the Salt Lake Connect Pass for 3 days.  The pass lets you in to 13 different attractions in the valley for a reduced cost.  Since we had record breaking heat that week also, we ended up doing mainly the indoor things on the pass, but we figured if we did at least 4 things we would break even, and we ended up doing 6 different things on the pass.  I think if you want to do all 13 you have to buy the whole-year pass, or be a lot faster at each place than we were.

We left Sunday night (June 30) and checked in to our hotel.  The kids had fun with the giant checkers game in the lobby, while Dan tried to get 2 rooms next to each other, which we had requested but they messed up.  At first they had us across the hall from each other.  So it took some time to get that straightened out.  We ended up with 2 rooms, one had a king size bed and a crib, the other had 2 doubles.  It worked out great, and the kids slept a lot better than I thought they would.

(Sorry for all the collages - I took a lot of pictures!)

The only thing that would calm Violet down enough to fall asleep was to watch videos on Dan's phone - I think it was Veggie Tales Silly Songs with Larry.

Monday morning, July 1, we woke up and had breakfast at the hotel, then got in the car and drove to Thanksgiving Point.  We started with the Dinosaur Museum.

The "Tinkering" Room:

Main Dinosaur Museum:

For Grandma and Grandpa Nay - can you find the dinosaur eggs from Mongolia?

Children's Discovery Garden:

Main Gardens at Thanksgiving Point.  It was soooooo HOT!  Above 100 degrees.  We were the only ones dumb enough to be there in the heat.  Notice the empty gardens.  We didn't stay very long here, it was too hot.

Getting ice cream to cool off.

That evening in the Farm Country area, they had "Family Night on the Farm."  We got to go on a scavenger hunt, make gliders, and color patriotic pictures.  Violet loved the animals, especially the goats, geese, and chickens.  It was still really hot, but we survived and had fun with the activities.

Pony rides