We met up with the Hacking cousins at my parents' house. Jacob was in heaven with the 3 boys and unfortunately Allison was the only girl. She held her own though and these guys had a great time together!
We spent one day at This is the Place Heritage Park. There are a lot of shops and buildings to go in and learn about early Utah pioneer life.
We rode a big train...
ponies,
a little train...
a handcart pulled by Grandpa...
plus we made candles, punched leather, went inside teepees, in a petting zoo, etc. It was a lot of fun, it was educational and boy was it hot!We went on a morning hike up Ensign Peak overlooking the beautiful Salt Lake Valley.
First ride on a slip-n-slide with the Hacking cousins--Jacob was getting pretty good by the end!
Next, a tour through the Oquirrh Mountain Temple. What a privilege it was to be there during the Open House.
We spent one day with Tom's best friend from high school and his family, the Allgrunns. We went swimming and the kids had a blast with these spitting frog fountains.
Early on the 4th of July, we set out as a family to run in a 5K in Centerville. Tom & I ran it together and kept each other going. We seriously could feel the difference in altitude as we tried to breathe our way through the course! We were grateful to have a cheering section at this race, consisting of my parents and Tom's mom. Then we ran a kids run with Jacob & Allison. Even though it was a rather disappointing, extremely short course, they had a fun time "trying to win." We enjoyed the parade afterward. I believe this was the kids' first parade and they got really good at scrambling for candy. I loved to see them waving to the parade entries.
Then a gathering at the Omers' place. Here are 7 of the 9 grandkids.
They had a fun time running through the sprinklers!
There was an extended family gathering at Grandpa Omer's house, where we could see the nearby fireworks display from the driveway. We got to see a lot of Tom's family and do sparklers for the 1st time!
I love Jacob's face as he watched the fireworks!
Here we come to the end of our trip and I'll just mention a few other experiences that didn't get photos: Tom's dad now works in the new Church History building on Temple Square, so he took us on a tour of the building. We even got to go in the cold archives. We then went to the Conference Center and saw the International Art Competition display that was amazing! We went swimming again at the cool kids' pool with a waterslide, pirate ship water playground, squirting guns, etc. We played racquetball with Tom's dad and brother and had a Mary Kay party with my sisters-in-law late one night. This really was a packed vacation, but we did have time to relax and enjoy being home and with family. Utah is a beautiful and fun place to visit so we're glad we have many excuses to go often!!I wouldn't normally take pictures on a rest stop, but these guys were being so cute! We usually get out and literally RUN races to get some exercise. I loved seeing Gideon being helped along the "course" by his older siblings. And I love that Tom was "racing" alongside them. They all got excited high 5's after they all won.
Oh, I guess it's time to be done with the trip! Even with all the good food and fun in the car, sometimes you've just gotta scream until you're home. It's all a part of the Summer Family Vacation!