Making Memories

My sister and her family came for a visit last weekend and we spent the three days doing our best to make some fun family memories with her daughter Rylee and Andrew. Rylee is only about 9 months younger than Andrew so they play together quite well and often refer to the other as their, "best friend." It is so cute.

We were supposed to hit up Wheeler Farm on Friday, but unfortunately it was cold and rainy, so we went to see the movie, Kung Fu Panda instead. The show darling and hilarious-I laughed out loud through the whole thing, and the kids liked it too, which is a bonus. Definitely go see it if you get the chance-SKIDOOSH!

Saturday we headed to Hogle Zoo. It was a beautiful day and the zoo was packed! The kids got their faces painted. Rylee got a dragonfly and Andrew chose a snake. At first he requested pink but we talked him into a purple one with red stripes. The kid just loves pink and purple-whatever works! We carefully avoided the terrifying fake elephant-Andrew is a little obsessed with and horrified by a huge wooden elephant they have there that sprays water on you. Every time we go to the zoo, he makes sure we AREN'T going anywhere near THE BEAST!


Sunday was the grand finale of the weekend-LAGOON! We waited until Sunday so it wouldn't be as busy and we could use a coupon I had from Teacher Appreciation Week that got us all in for $10 off. Not too shabby. Andrew and Rylee had both been talking about, "Goon," for weeks, and of course Andrew had compiled his list of rides he DID NOT want to go on, namely Haunted Houses of any kind, rollercoasters, and the log ride. I guess last year's trip left him traumatized after Dracula's Castle. Poor kid. Turns out, he was all about the haunted houses but had a complete and total MELTDOWN when Hillary took him on the Dino-Drop, which he had gone on last year-no problemo. KIDS!

Anyway, we ended up having a great time and were the last people to go on our favorite ride, The Rattlesnake Rapids before it closed. We had saved that one for last because you have absolutely no chance of staying dry and we wanted to get soaked and go straight home. Well, we waited a little too long and ended up getting there 10 minutes prior to the time they were supposed to close it. We thought, no problem, but when we got there they were sending people away and closing the dang thing early. Oh no they didn't! Apparently, some lame kids had jumped off the raft into the water just before we got there, so they had to drain the water, make sure no one was dead, stuff like that. I had a small objection to that because the kids were going to go ballistic if we didn't get to go on our favorite ride. (Okay they really didn't care much and were drop-dead tired at this point, but it was the principle of the thing!) So, I very kindly explained the predicament to the three Russian ride attendants and the 18 year old supervisor. The boss-kid, kindly agreed to refill the "trough," as they called it, and let us go on the ride. Good customer service is alive and well at one amusement park in Farmington, Utah. So we went ahead and rode it (not life-alteringly fun this time, but again, the principle), and I made sure to give boss-kid a nice commendation at the guest services desk before we left.A good time was had by all, and it was great to have my sister and her family here. I don't get to see them as much as I would like and feel like I have to reacquaint myself with darling Rylee every time I see her. Hopefully this blogging thing will help us stay caught up a little better.