Family Fun: Antelope Island

 We soon learned that all of us in one hotel room ends up as "staying" the night rather than "sleeping."  We were all super sleepy after the second night together, especially since Titus wasn't feeling well.

 Our second day of family fun took us to the Great Salt Lake.  All of us have lived in Utah for our entire lives, but none of us had ever been to the Great Salt Lake before.  As we paid the entry fee at the ranger station we took note of the warning posted on the window: "Biting gnats have hatched on Antelope Island.  No refunds issued for bugs."  We giggled, but knew that if they had to make the statement, they must have had requests for refunds.  The first thing we noticed as we approached the island was the smell.

 There are buffalo on Antelope Island.  If I remember right, I think it is the largest herd of free-range buffalo in the United States.  They were very close to the road, so we got a really good view.

 These cute kids got really good at spying all sorts of wildlife on the island in addition to the buffalo.
 We saw this coyote....

 ...and this very large snake (do you see it???) and of course antelope.

 Our favorite thing on the island was the Fielding Garr Ranch.  Named for the man who homesteaded there only a few days after the Saints arrived in the Salt Lake Valley, this ranch is like a window into history.  There were lots of cool things to see there.  People lived on the island until 1981 when the State purchased it.

 I told the kids I wanted to install one of these bells on our place so when they are out playing or working with the animals and I need them I can just ring the bell.  They, of course, had to give it a try.

 There were some cool birds on the island in addition to the seagulls.  Because of the salt water, there are a lot of species that aren't found other places in the state.

 After leaving the ranch we discovered for ourselves that indeed the biting gnats had hatched on the island.  We stopped to eat and instead got eaten.  They were indescribable violent swarms that would attack, imbed themselves in your hair so you couldn't get rid of them, and then feast.  Jeff was literally yelling at people at the restaurant when they would open the door.  If you ever want to enjoy a buffalo burger on Antelope Island, we recommend you go BEFORE the biting gnats hatch.

We stopped at the visitors center where the kids purchased arrowheads and salt from the Great Salt Lake.  The walk from the parking lot into the visitors center felt like a minefield in a war zone because of the flesh-eating gnats, so when we finished there we were ready to say goodbye to Antelope Island....or so we thought.  The kids just couldn't bear the thought of leaving the Great Salt Lake without actually setting foot in it.  So we drove down to the marina and let them walk down to the water's edge.

 This completely satisfied them.

 And with that, our Family Fun Graduation Celebration came to a close.  We spent the drive home talking about all the fun things we did and all the great places we had seen.  It was hard for us to pick our favorite.  My favorite?  Being with my family, of course.  Having all of us together was exactly what I wanted to celebrate this milestone in our lives.  I'm not sure where our journey will lead us from here, but I know we will travel the path together, and that we will love and learn along the way.

Family Fun: Day One

  Our first stop on our Family Fun weekend was actually the InstaCare.  It turned out that Titus vomiting at the graduation was only the beginning of his illness over the weekend.  After a worrisome and sleepless night, Titus and I headed off to the InstaCare first thing in the morning while Jeff and the rest of the circus occupied the hotel pool.

  After a breathing treatment at the InstaCare, Titus was good to go so we were off to the Hill Airforce Base Aerospace Museum, which none of us had ever been to before.

 The kids loved it!  It was free and we could have spent even more time there.  There were two huge hangers full of all sorts of aircraft from all different eras.  We especially liked the Uniform room, the information about Vietnam...

 ...and the F16.

 The weather was beautiful and the kids loved running around and checking out the planes outside.

 They each got a "pressed penny" in the gift shop, and Levi and Isaac bought small toy replica planes.  They pretended to bomb each other in the back seat for the rest of the weekend.

 After lunch at Famous Dave's, our next stop was the Clark Planetarium at The Gateway, which was also a first for all of us.  This museum is also free!  The kids loved this plasma globe and the cloud simulator.

 I was a huge fan of this to-scale model of our solar system with info about each planet.

 While we were waiting for the movie to start (which was not free) we could not get enough of this fun scale that told you how much you would weigh at other places in our solar system.  Levi was fascinated with the concept that he would only weigh 11 pounds on the moon.

 We all loved the sky inside the dome theater.  It made us excited for warm summer nights so we can spend more time watching the stars.  The gift shop at the Planetarium was super cool, and since the merchandise was reasonably priced, it will certainly be a future shopping destination for me.  I loved the selection of cool stuff they had.  Daisy bought a "Newton's Swing" and Levi got a gyroscope.  And yes, I have thoroughly enjoyed playing with them.

Our next stop was City Creek, which we hadn't seen before.  We got there by riding Trax, which is a favorite for the kids.

 The trout pool was a big hit.  Jeff was all sorts of stressed out about keeping our circus from falling in, or worse, peeing in, the water.  He found himself wondering why we chose to celebrate his graduation as a family by spending a weekend in a public place where other people could see how crazy we are.

 The Apple Store was, of course, a huge hit.

After doing a little shopping, we were headed back to the hotel.  All Isaac wanted all day long was "all-white (vanilla) ice cream."  His day was complete when we finally spotted a Dairy Queen and made the stop.  It was a long, busy, wonderful family day full of new experiences, new places, and fond memories.

Graduation

 I can honestly say there were times I thought this day would never come.  When we took the leap of faith - because we made this life changing decision based solely on the answer to prayers - to sell our home and go back to school, I could have never imagined what a beautiful journey it would be.

 Jeff and I met in college 12 years ago.  We each graduated with an associates degree just a few months after we were married.  We soon built a new home together, Jeff worked while I continued my education, and then we started our family.  After Jeff was promoted and our family grew, we knew that what he was doing was not meant to be his life's work.  But knowing that and doing something about it did not easily go hand-in-hand.  It took years of pondering, discussing, praying, fasting, thinking, talking, and more praying to finally decide to leave the family business and go back to school.

 One of the first things we learned is that God does not usually illuminate the whole path.  His plan requires that we follow in faith, not always knowing what step will come next.  What we came to understand over and over again is that His plan is perfect, and that He will always provide a way.

 One of the overarching lessons of this journey is that God is absolutely aware of us.  He cares about the big things and the little ones, the long-term goals and the minute-by-minute details.  We have witnessed a continuous stream of miracles throughout the past four and a half years.  Jeff has learned so much about himself.  His capacities, talents, and perspective have all been magnified.  Our marriage is stronger.  Our family is stronger. Our faith is stronger.  Our determination is stronger.  We have emerged from this leg of our journey so much stronger.

 The kids and I were the only ones that were able to be there to support Jeff at the graduation ceremony.  We started out alright, but soon Titus became fussy, so I took him out to feed him.  As I was walking down to our seats on my way back in, he threw up (no, not spit up, we're talking projectile vomit) ALL OVER.  Turns out Titus wasn't exactly thrilled to be at graduation.

 Luckily he drifted off to sleep as they were announcing Jeff's department.

 ...and he wasn't the only one who caught a nap during the ceremony.

 Afterward, we were outta there.  There was some serious family fun waiting to be had!  We don't get to hang out with our dad a whole lot between school, work, and clinical hours, so we celebrated Graduation with a family weekend getaway.

 Titus was all smiles when we finally got out of the graduation and into the hotel.

 The kids could hardly wait to go swimming, and dad was a super great sport.

Titus (a.k.a. Skinny) and I mostly watched from the sidelines, enjoying the laughs and soaking up the memories. (Family Fun Weekend to be continued...)