While The Girls Were Away

While the girls were at EFY, Bill, my sister, and I came up with a few fun Utah things to do with Mauri and Hannah.  (It was, after all, Mauri's only "vacation" all summer.)

One of our exciting ideas was to hike Mt. Timpanogos.  As we were waiting to meet up, we stopped by the local Iceberg drive-thru for some serious shake action.

Can I just say, those were the biggest darn shakes I've ever seen.  

I tried lime since it sounded so refreshing, 

and since it's one of my all-time favorite flavors,

and since I've never seen a lime shake on a menu before (Iceberg has about a million choices).  

By the time I was nearing the last half of that bright green, artificially-flavored lime ice cream mix, I wanted to never have a lime shake again.  In my life.

And wouldn't you know... Mt. Timpanogos was closed.  (Yes, a mountain can be closed.  FYI.)  For scheduled maintenance.  Just our luck.  So we decided to drive to Cascade Springs a little further up the canyon.  Actually, a lot further.  On a slow, winding road.  After eating way too much ice cream.  But we made it, and found the easy hike and beautiful scenery very rewarding.

It actually was lucky that Mt. Timpanogos was closed, since we discovered, on this kinder, gentler hike, that Mauri and Hannah had been jumping off Grandma's fence the day before, and both sustained minor ankle and knee injuries.  Mauri could hardly walk (and she had a swelling knee to prove it), so Billy-the-hero carried her most the way.

We took tons of pictures by this interesting burnt tree stump.  I liked the silly picture best.  (I'm not sure my mom has ever taken a silly pic before...  she's such a good sport.)  

After the hike and the long drive back down the mountain, we headed to my brother and sister-in-law's new house in Herriman, where we visited a nearby fountain park to play and have dinner.

It's always fun to reconnect with cousins... who maybe aren't completely sure who you are (living far away has it's drawbacks).

Bright and early (VERY early) the next morning, Bill and Mauri headed out to go fishing with Grandpa G., Uncle Matt, and Christian.  (Hannah was invited but, knowing herself oh-so-well, said, "I think I would get bored.  I'd rather go shopping."  That's a girl after my own heart.)

They survived rain, wind and hail (we're used to it, we're from Colorado, remember?), and still had a great time.

Another day we hit the zoo.  Hogle Zoo.  I don't know why I thought it would be great fun to get the cousins together at the zoo.  (Don't kids love the zoo?  But there were an awful lot of cousins that didn't think that it sounded so fun.  I was feeling the pressure, since it was my big idea.)  I thought we could visit the zoo, then head over to the This Is The Place park, remembering that my kids loved that adventure in years long past.  Mauri and Hannah were all for it.

The zoo was {OK}.  The animals were less than active, and there wasn't a bear to be seen.  It was hot.  Angela, my sister-in-law, purchased a drink for her parched children, and they wouldn't give her a lid OR a straw.  (Yeah, just give a 3-year-old a cup full of orange drink and see how long it lasts.)  The bird show people were less than accommodating.  The train engineer sped through the back lots of the zoo faster than a speeding bullet.

Oh yes, I remember Hogle Zoo now.

But oh, the family time.  That makes it worth it.

I hadn't even seen my cute nephew Justin before this trip to UT.  He is such an angel baby.  (Does that ever last?  My fingers are crossed for you, Ange.)

And Britta came to hang out with us too.  It was great to see so much of her this visit.

Around 2pm we finally made it through the zoo, and hadn't stopped for lunch.  Everyone was famished, and wanted to know where we should eat our picnic lunch.  Again, the pressure of a decision was a tad overwhelming.  Okay, if it's up to me (it was my idea, after all)...  Hmmm.

We ate...
on the grass
under a tree
by the maintenance area
towards the front
of the This Is The Place park.

What a fitting ending to our zoo expedition.  Not quite as good as we imagined.
(Although the lunch - and company - was good.)
Those maintenance people kept giving us funny looks as they drove by.


We'll have to reminisce with Brigham Young another day as, after lunch, we were more than ready to head back to Grandma's.

There it is.  Utah vacation in a nutshell.  (Okay, there was a little shopping, too.)