Utah Fun!

We've already been in Utah for a week and have already had so much fun. Is every day at Grandma's house this much fun? Hmmm...I'll have to ask Andy, Bri and Tony. And if our daily lunch bunch so I can enjoy all my Bountiful favorites and constant playing wasn't enough, Grandpa and Grandma have gone above and beyond to make this trip special.

Wednesday, Grandma took us to the zoo. Hogle Zoo has made some serious improvements since I was little, making this a super fun experience. Grandma even purchased the "Grandparents Pass" to make her visit feel even more special. Included in the Grandparents Pass is a discount from $1 to $.75 for train tickets. What a steal! And if we consistently ride the train during our visits over the next 12 months as much as we did Wednesday, that pass will definitely pay for itself. Other favorites this time at the zoo were the elephants and the park. I love the picture of Max and Grandma going down the slide.

Thursday Grandpa took us the Discovery Gateway, the replacement for the Children's Museum. It is amazing. When you first walk in there is a maze of tubes that suction up balls and send them flying around and then dump them in a big bucket. Max loved it. He probably could have spent all day opening the doors and shoving balls everywhere, but we pushed him on to the Kid's Eye View Town. WOW. They had a gas station, post office, construction zone, house, farm, grocery store, and water area that was all kid size. Heaven. Max started out by putting all the potatoes and lettuce growing at the farm in the mailboxes. Then, he went to the grocery stored and filled his basket with cupcakes, salt, 2 bottles of ketchup (his favorite) and bananas. After that, was the water space, where he got soaking wet sending a toy car down the little river into a bowl at the end. Seriously--Max's heaven.

After that we took a break for a little lunch, conveniently at the exact time it decided to hail. Max was so confused--"Ow, Mom. Rain hurting Max." Good thing our lunch of Cheese on a Stick (dipped in ketchup, of course) made everything better. After lunch, we went back to the museum and Grandpa and Max played on a helicopter. Max loved it, pushing every button imaginable. Then, Max went back down to play with the balls. We were at the museum until 4, a total of 5 hours, with no naps and no breakdowns. It really is that much fun.

And Friday, wow Friday, Grandpa and Grandma took us to the Kangaroo Zoo. No, no. The Kangaroo Zoo is not a zoo filled with kangaroos, but a large warehouse filled with jump houses. I know. Grandpa really did his research for Max's visit. He wanted to find a place where Max could do lots climbing and jumping, and he definitely found it. Right when we walked in my dad said, "Man, this is definitely a place where we need Blake or Andy." And boy was he right. After the first time I climbed up that big ladder, lugging Max behind, I was beat. Good thing Max quickly found shorter slides that he could climb up on his own to be more interested in. And when he couldn't quite climb up by himself, he and Grandpa had a very precise system worked out--Grandpa grabbing his pants and tossing him up. Another very successful day followed by very successful naps. Max can now tell you that a kangaroo says "Boing! Boing! Boing!" courtesy of his Uncle Andy.


Okay, okay, I know there's not much about Baby Jack on this post. We dragged him along to all of these places, and like the good boy he is, he just smiled and played as much as he could. I love this little guy.

Well, I need to go to bed so I'm not dead asleep for the rest of the fun while I'm here. Oh wait. Andy, Bri, and I have been staying up all hours of the night getting me caught up on The Office. We're in the middle of Season 3 and I'm hooked.