August 11, 2011 Day 2 Kotter Reunion Part 2 Hollywood Connections

Later on after lunch we all met up at Hollywood Connection.  Our girls were so excited, that we had to be the first ones to be there!  You see the girls had already been with Matt's side of  the family summer of 2010. They remembered it well! We went in and waited for everyone to show up, and get their passes, and then the fun began.  Hollywood Connection has a Dragon Coaster, Merry go round, twirling balloon ride, bumper cars, a bus that goes up and around frontwards and backwards, roller skating, miniature golf, and arcade.

This year was a whole new experience for me, the girls were older, and needed less help.  It was nice!  We chose the perfect day to go.  It was almost empty for the time we were there.  It was so much fun to see all of the kids running back and forth to each ride.  We spent a good 2 or 3 hrs. which was more than enough time. The 1 complaint I have about this place is that the adults just let their kids run wild.  Absolutely no supervision at all.

The part that is the worst is the mini golf area.  The kids just run wild in there.  Last year 1 of the kids stole my ball.  They kept running through our game.  Playing in the water, climbing up on the props.  It's ridiculous!  I was hoping it would be better this year.  Boy was I wrong.  It was pretty much the same, and it ticks me off.  It is so rude and inconsiderate to start putting on an occupied hole especially while someone else  is putting.  It was all I could do to not yell at them.  I just kept telling them to wait there turn or move ahead of us.  It's not like we were taking our dear sweet time.  Matt and I were the only ones trying to get a hole in 1, the girls, and their cousin McKell were just happy to putt the ball.  It was sweet relief to get back out to the ride area.  I don't know if I could do mini golf there again without it giving me an anxiety attack.  Anyways sorry about the rant and rave, I just had to get it out of my system.

While me and the girls were going on the rides Matt decided to go win a bunch of tickets for prizes in the arcade area.  He left enough tokens for the girls to have fun too.  I can't remember how many tickets he won, but it was a lot!  The girls had fun playing a few games, and were happy to pick out their prizes.  They were kind of picky, but we got them to choose.  We also ended up getting a pink unicorn for them to share.  That was a big mistake because when one was holding it the other one wanted it, and was constantly asking if it was there turn to have it.  We will never do that again.  The girls lost it at their cousins house the next day anyways.  I'm just glad we didn't pay for it.

It was a fun day overall.  I'm glad we got to go, and i'm so thankful that my Mom found a killer deal for tickets.  Speaking of my Mom, she ended up leaving early because she didn't feel good.  I really wish that my Dad or Rex could have been there with her.  It's so hard to see her alone.  I'm glad we could all be together as a family though, it means a lot.  I love my family, and spending time with them!

I have to put this in as an afterthought though.  I'm completely worn out with Hollywood Connection.  We went 3 times this summer.  My Mom had 1 family pass leftover so we used it right before school began.  It was so crowded.  The next time it was one of my friends daughters birthday and they had her party there.  It was also crowded.  I thought I had lost maddie at 1 point.  It scared me so bad.  Madisynn loves it so much that in every single prayer she says she is thankful for it, and all of the rides.  It is pretty cute!  I'm glad they have fun.

On our way in:

Going on all of the rides:

This last picture makes me smile!  Jack has all of his tickets sprawled all over the floor and is counting them.  Little did he know they have a ticket counter/weigh-er.  =)  Oh to be young again!  Thanks for reading, and stay tuned for day 3 of our Staycation.

Weather Report

I had this email that my aunt sent me.  I meant to post it when it was really hot, but forgot.  I was cleaning out my emails and found it.  I thought I would share.  I hope you like!

August 11, 2011 Day 2 Kotter Reunion, Donut Falls Part 1

Donut Falls

We started out our day by going on a 3/4 mile hike up to Donut Falls.  Matt wasn't able to make it again because he worked the night before, and was sleeping.  My Sister Kate and her family weren't able to make it.  My Brother Quinn left to go to Hawaii right after Cowabunga Bay.  It was My Mom, my Brother Chris and his family, Me and the girls.  The hike is really easy.  The kids had fun finding big walking sticks, climbing on the rocks, picking flowers, and finding and chasing butterflies.  We made it to the falls in good time, and decided that we would hike up to the donut.  We had to cross the river.  Kenzie had no problem doing that, she is fearless and it scares me!  Maddie was scared so I ended up piggybacking her across.  Now the hard part climbing up the slippery rock to see the Donut.  This hike brought back memories from a camping trip many years ago.   

We had gone on a camping trip to somewhere in the Uinta Mountains.  My Dad saw a glacier and wanted to hike to it.  So he gathered our family together and we set out to hike to this glacier.  The hike started out just fine, and then we came to an area of loose rock.  We had nowhere to go but up.  It was so steep and scary.  We eventually made it to this glacier.  We played in the snow, and had a snowball fight.  Then it was time to go.  We decided to slide down the glacier.  I don't remember if we all did or if it was just my older brother Chris.  Anyways I think he lost control and he crashed and scraped up his legs pretty good.

We made it back to the area of loose rocks and tried to go down it, but they were to loose.  My Dad was trying to find another way down.  We were all freaking out thinking that we were going to have to use signals to somehow get the emergency rescue out to us.  My dad eventually found another way down, it was still steep and scary but I'm happy to say we made it all of the way down and back to our campsite.  So knowing that I was able to do that hike made it so I could do this hike up to the Donut at Donut Falls with no problem.

I was a little scared though, but made it.  Maddie was very scared, Kenzie not scared at all.  She was ready to get to the top.  I pretty much had to push Maddie up the rocks.  We made it to the top, and it was so worth it seeing the Donut close up. Not only did we get to see the Donut from on top, but we got to see it from under as well.  So cool!   We made it down the to the regular trail with nobody getting hurt.  I thought it was going to be me that would because i'm just lucky like that.  Maddie was scared out of her mind going down.  We had to slide on our bums most of the way down.  It was a team effort.  Go team!  Such a great experience, i'm so glad we did it and hiked up to the donut.  Definitely was something to cross off on our bucket lists.  I wish Matt, Quinn, Kate and her family could have made it.  They missed out.

Pictures of our hike:

Sarah, and I:

Chris and Sarah:

Maddie:

Gabe and McKenzie:

Gabe:

 Grandma with Gabe, Madisynn, McKenzie, Trace, and McKell:

At the top looking at the donut:

I thought that we had taken a picture of the donut from on top.  I couldn't find it, so I googled a picture of what it looks like.
The donut:

My Mom took this picture of the donut while we were all on top:

On the way down:

Outside the falls:

Under the falls:

Thanks for reading!  Stay tuned for part 2. =)