UT-most Excursion, pt. 3

Tuesday was the designated "do-your-own-thing" day.  Mark and I took our kids to spend the day touring our old BYU stomping grounds.  

Since some of our best friends from home were also planning to be at BYU that day, we decided to meet up (and yes, I do recognize the irony of driving 15 hours to spend the day with friends who live 5 minutes away).  We didn't tell the kids ahead of time we would be meeting their friends, so when they hopped out of the car and saw them, they were shocked.  "What are the chances?!!" Aubree kept repeating.  Haha!

Elke majored in physics at BYU, and one of her old professors gave us a personal tour of the research rooms deep underground in the Eyring Science Center.  

The day was extremely warm for us mild-weather accustomed Washingtonians, so we didn't get too far in our walking tour of campus before the kids were "sooo hot," and "soooo hungry."  Soooo, we took them for lunch at the Cougar Eat, before browsing the BYU (no longer "Book") Store.

After lunch we visited the newly renovated Bean Life Science Museum, where we (would you believe it!) ran into our good friends and neighbors (we knew they were in Utah for the week, but didn't know they'd be at BYU the same day).  

Aubree swiped my camera and took it upon herself to take a picture of almost every display, some of which are quite intense.  

At some point, I explained to her that she should try to include people in some of her pictures.  From then on Bryce became her primary model, and he got sillier and sillier as time progressed.  

Finally we reached the part of the day for which the kids had been yearning - BYU Creamery Ice-cream!  My family met us there, and after waiting in a ridiculously long line, everyone eventually got their sweet treats.

Soon it was time to say good-bye to our friends ("see ya back in Washington!")...

...but some kids weren't thrilled to be leaving ("some kids" also didn't get a nap that day).  On the drive back to Kira's we stopped at Men's Wearhouse to get Mark a couple new suits.  "Some kid" and his 4-year old brother were kind of nightmares (but Mark's new suits are quite dapper).

After we wrangled all the kids to sleep, we decided it was adult game-night.  Sean added an additional "technology-free" declaration, and rounded up all phones, tablets, and other devices.  Smart brother!

Wednesday we made the long drive up to Antelope Island.  Despite having lived in Utah for eight years, I'd never before seen the Great Salt Lake.  We first stopped at the visitor's center, took advantage of some good photo ops, saw some huge, nasty spiders, and learned some interesting facts.

I love this picture of Daniel and Thane!

The horns were a hit.  

Next we took a driving tour of the island looking for bison.  Aubree hopped in the car with Colleen (much to the delight of Elizabeth and Alexander, and Aubree too, of course!).  Ian came in the car with us and we had a really great conversation  I might have missed noticing some of the bison or scenery, but it was worth it to get to know my brother on an adult-to-adult level.  

We stopped when we got to a little ranch and piled out of the cars for a picnic lunch.  

The kids ate their fill, then amused themselves climbing trees and hunting rocks. 

Once everyone finished eating, we explored the ranch a little more and found some hands-on exhibits the kids loved.  Bryce and Thane especially loved pumping the water from this barrel into the bucket.  

All the kids (and my brothers) enjoyed practicing their roping skills.  Daniel was a good sport.

Climbing on top of the saw horses was another favorite activity.

By the time we left, everyone was pretty hot and tired.  We considered heading into Salt Lake for more adventures, but when Piper threw up in the car (Kira's car), we decided it was best to head to Colleen's for dinner.

This is what happened as soon as Aubree got out of their car

Colleen had prepared a huge dinner and dessert in preparation for all of us descending on her home that evening.  Oh, and did I mention it was her birthday that day?  Talk about a super star!  While we finished dinner prep, Aubree organized some of the older cousins and made a birthday banner for Colleen.  

We ate dinner outside and the kids played hard (as you can see from their nice pink cheeks).

My brothers decided to have push-up contests.  Eventually they started adding children to their backs (I believe Sean, who weighs quite a bit more than Ian, was trying to show him just how much harder it is for him to do push-ups...).  Go Ian!

And speaking of Ian...nice photo-bomb!

My mom went into full "grandma-mode" and was rolling around on the ground with the grandkids.  I'm not sure if she realized how silly this might make them all...

Since it was Colleen's birthday, we had to have cake and ice-cream.  In my family, we have a tradition that the more you love someone, the worse you should sing the "Happy Birthday" song.  I should warn you... we really love Colleen!

Thane didn't want to miss a morsel of his cake!

Despite the long day, we'd promised the kids they could have a sleepover in the basement.  The girls had been begging to sleep on the trampoline.  Kira put in a movie, hoping they'd all conk out while watching.  That plan failed miserably!  Grandma volunteered to sleep downstairs with all of them, and I believe by 11 pm most of them might have fallen asleep.  Yikes!