Park City - Spring 2017

Shortly after Tim and I were married we had our first adventure at the Marriott Mountainside in Park City.  Since then we have been back multiple times - alone, with kids, with extended family, to celebrate our anniversary, and just to enjoy all of the amenities.  Other than Mexico, it is one of our favorite places.  Luke and Ruby think that the resort itself is "Park City" and were thrilled to hear that we would be spending last weekend there.  We headed up Thursday night - late - and actually got snowed on.  Good thing we didn't have any outdoor plans other than the hot tubs.

 

The kids woke up Friday morning and immediately wanted to put on their swimming suits.  They each got a new swimming suit for Easter and I thought it would be fun to bring those.  Unfortunately, the suits were both too big and I didn't think to bring a spare.  The front desk had sewing kids with safety pins so we were able to do some quick alterations that luckily stayed on while they were swimming.

One of their favorite places is The Mine where they have lots of kid activities.  Friday morning was finger painting which was a total hit.  They both went all in and had the best time creating their masterpieces.    

By 10:00 a.m. we "finally" made it to the pool and hot tubs.  We had the best time hopping from the pool to the hot tub and playing plenty of mermaid games.  

We finally coaxed the kids out of the pool and headed out for some new adventures at the Swaner Ecco Center.  We really didn't even know what we were going to see but the kids were excited to see the bugs.  It ended up being a really fun place to spend a few hours.  The outdoor walkways were beautiful and we even saw a large crane flying back to her nest.  It was not at all crowded to it was perfect to let the kids wander and explore.

The beekeeping exhibit was fascinating, 

I think we are about ready to invest in some hives.

We stopped by the gift shop and the sales girl offered us some chocolate covered crickets.  I was shocked that both kids happily took and ate one.  Ruby and I also ate one that was BBQ flavored. Tim was kind of grossed out but I was thrilled to see my babies be so adventurous. 

After leaving the ecco center we headed to main street to ride the trolley and explore the shops.

Somehow Luke talked us into ice cream...

Friday night we went back to the hot tubs for a little soak and then the kids were up and excited to swim on Saturday morning.  It was a little windy and colder so we spent most of our time in the hot tubs.  Tim was only able to convince Ruby to go to the big pool long enough for some cannonballs.

Ruby kept wanting me to pretend that I was a little girl.  She would then tell me that she was going to Mexico and I needed to stay home with my grandma and grandpa.  She would swim away and then come back periodically to make sure I was being a good girl.  It was hysterical.

Saturday afternoon we met Tim's parents and they took Luke and Ruby to their house for a sleep over.  Tim and went out to lunch then spent some time sitting by a river chatting.  We stopped at a few stores and did a little shopping, but eventually we were both very content to just go back to our room and hang out and relax.  Baja Cantina has always been one of my favorite places to eat and Tim and I have been there every year since we met to celebrate my birthday.  After a lot of relaxing, we finally convinced ourselves to get moving and we wandered downstairs and across the plaza for dinner.  Dinner was great and it was the perfect ending to a fantastic weekend. 

Easter 2017

We spent most of Easter weekend celebrating Luke's birthday so it was Saturday afternoon before I realized that my kids had not dyed Easter eggs.  To be more accurate, I realized that they had NEVER dyed Easter eggs.  For the past few years I told myself that they were too young and wouldn't be interested...maybe...but this year I knew they would definitely love it.  When I looked in the fridge and only found 8 eggs, I realized that I clearly hadn't planned ahead.  We decided to start with those and see how far we got.  The process of coloring eggs with two toddlers ended up being pretty intensive so it turned out that 8 were plenty.  Luke and Ruby loved the idea of writing on the eggs with crayons, and were fascinated watching how the dye worked.  They hated the smell of the vinegar, but decided it was worth it for the brightly colored eggs.  We had a few mishaps and several cracked eggs, but the kids were so proud of their finished eggs.

This is her "vinegar is disgusting" face.  

As we were headed to bed Saturday night, Luke was so excited about thoughts of the Easter Bunny and what surprises they might get.  We took some time to talk about the real reason for Easter and I was happy to hear them tell us about Jesus and how and why he died.  Hopefully the true meaning behind Easter sinks in a little between bunnies and baskets.

Sunday morning Luke woke up so excited to see if the Easter Bunny had taken our eggs to hide.  He was so anxious to peek and thrilled when we finally let them go outside in search of hidden eggs.  We added a few plastic eggs to the ones the kids had colored and it was plenty for our little hunt. 

Discovering their baskets.

When they found the Easter baskets, Luke immediately noticed that there was one for him and Ruby as well as Tim, but not one for me.  It was so sweet to see his concern for me.  He dug in his basket and gave me a few of his eggs and then asked Tim if he would share his basket with me.  I didn't necessarily like him worrying about me, but I was happy to see how aware he was of others.

Their idea of posing for pictures.

Not surprisingly, the kids ideas for posing were very different than mine.  I kept telling them that I just wanted one nice shot without any goofy faces.  Luckily we got a few to show their Easter best.

With their morning practice, the kids were definitely ready for Grandpa and Grandma's hunt.  There were a ton of eggs and plenty of surprises for everyone to hide.  Everything is better with cousins and with sunshine and family, the entire day ended up feeling pretty magical.