That weekend of Charlie’s birthday was especially busy because after his party, Friday night, we were preparing for our St. George trip with my family for the following morning.
We were in turbo mode Saturday morning as we were packing for the trip. Jason and I were thrilled with how well the boys did on the long drive. Both Charlie and Colson took turns napping for a part of the way. While Colson slept, Charlie was playing some new games I had put on the iPad. Charlie loved it! Once Charlie got tired and fell asleep, Colson woke up and we put the iPad in front of him with a movie playing. Man, that iPad is a life saver in situations like these.
Once we arrived and unloaded all of our stuff, we didn’t waste any time. We jumped in the pool. My parents have a timeshare with WorldMark, as I have mentioned before, so we stayed at the WorldMark resort there. I hadn’t been to the one in St. George since high school. I was very excited. Jason, Charlie, and I had our own little unit right across the parking lot from the rest of the family. After we swam, we had dinner, and everyone took a bike ride while I put the boys down to bed. The unit we had was a one bedroom with a pull out bed in the family room. Jason and I weren’t smart enough to sleep in the pull out bed until the last couple of nights. At the beginning we were all creeping in the bedroom trying not to wake up the others. We had Charlie sleeping on couch cushions on the floor in the corner, and on the other side of the room was Colson in a pack-n-play. Don’t worry, we brought fans...which helps a lot with noise control. For the most part, the boys slept really well during the trip and we were able to put them down at the same time. Thinking back on that now, I really appreciate what a miracle that was. On top of that, Colson did a great job sleeping through the night, most nights. We were there Saturday through Thursday.
That first night we watched Jurassic Park, in preparation for the movie night for the boys. They would be seeing the new Jurassic World movie one night that week. 
Sunday was Father’s Day. We had a delicious Belgian waffle breakfast then went to church. When we got back, my family switched units into a bigger penthouse unit (as it wasn’t available until the second day). We hadn’t ever upgraded to the penthouse units before, so we were all stoked. It was so spacious! We loved having more table and seating space, as well as the hot tub on the balcony overlooking the main pool area. It was awesome! Our little family was still in a separate unit across the parking lot, but we spent most of the time with the family in the penthouse. For Colson’s naps, we would take him back to our unit, turn on the video monitor and leave one of our phones there while calling another phone. The monitor itself would not reach across the parking lot to the penthouse, but we could turn the volume up full blast and place the phone microphone to the monitor, which could be heard on the speaker of the other phone. This could be questionable parenting behavior, but we were even able to take the phone with us to the pool and swim until we heard him crying through the phone….through the monitor...It was perfect! The occasional time that Charlie slept, we placed him in one of the bedrooms of the penthouse.
That evening, we had a steak dinner, and then my mom put on a Father’s Day game and slideshow for my dad, and we opened presents.
The rest of the morning and afternoon was spent swimming and enjoying the pool in the HOT sun with good food and snacks. It was like 110 degrees there. Charlie and Colson did great with the swimming, by the way. They loved being in the water. Charlie finally got to break out his puddle jumper from Christmas. I was nervous that he would resist, since he has never wanted to wear a life jacket before, but he did awesome! He just kept getting braver and braver, jumping off the side of the pool and drifting off into the deep end by himself. I’m so glad we were able to spend so much time in the water for several days, because that really made the difference in his comfort and ability in the water. The first few minutes were a little awkward as he was trying to figure out how to balance and float in the puddle jumper, but with so much practice he became a pro. Grandma found an awesome infant float tube for Colson, and he really seemed to love that. He would just float around, kicking his legs and splashing his hands. It was so cute. My family members were really great in taking turns watching them and playing with them in the pool. There was even a separate warm, shallow kiddie pool that Charlie spent a lot of time in. It was great! My mom also got some fun "adult" swim toys, like float tubes and a basketball hoop. We had a blast!
That night, my mom treated the girls to a show at Tuacahn. None of us had been, and it was such a beautiful and dramatic back drop! It is an outdoor venue surrounded by red rock. It was gorgeous and very fun. We saw Beauty and the Beast. My mom treated us with frozen lemonade during the intermission, which was so nice since the venue is not air conditioned. It was quite warm/hot. We had a great time and really enjoyed the show. While we were away at the show, the boys back at the resort watched the kids and picked up the ATVs for our Tuesday activity.
The hot tub
A large part of Monday night and Tuesday morning/afternoon was spent on the rented Rhino and four wheeler. It was a dusty blast! The trails were right behind the resort, so that was perfect and convenient. When people weren’t riding the ATVs, they were swimming in the pool, lounging, or bike riding.
One of my gifts to Jason for Father’s Day was the game Settlers of Catan. We had never played, but had kept hearing from people how much they loved it. That afternoon, we broke out the game and gave it a try. The hard part was none of us had ever played, so it was kind of agonizing as we were reading the directions, looking up the rules online, and trying to teach ourselves how to play. It took a good few hours, but we enjoyed ourselves. After finishing the game and eating dinner, we went to an amazing park. I wish I could remember the name of it, but it was right by a city trail and it had some new and impressive play equipment. It was really fun. After that, we got some Coldstone. Yum! The night didn’t end there, we got back, put the boys down to bed, and then jumped in the hot tub. I would say we soaked in there for a good couple of hours, just chatting, waiting for Bryan to get home from being with one of his “girl” friends, and playing Schamoo (however you spell it). Good memories!
a view from the penthouse balcony
One of my gifts to Jason for Father’s Day was the game Settlers of Catan. We had never played, but had kept hearing from people how much they loved it. That afternoon, we broke out the game and gave it a try. The hard part was none of us had ever played, so it was kind of agonizing as we were reading the directions, looking up the rules online, and trying to teach ourselves how to play. It took a good few hours, but we enjoyed ourselves. After finishing the game and eating dinner, we went to an amazing park. I wish I could remember the name of it, but it was right by a city trail and it had some new and impressive play equipment. It was really fun. After that, we got some Coldstone. Yum! The night didn’t end there, we got back, put the boys down to bed, and then jumped in the hot tub. I would say we soaked in there for a good couple of hours, just chatting, waiting for Bryan to get home from being with one of his “girl” friends, and playing Schamoo (however you spell it). Good memories!
the breakdown at Coldstone
Wednesday morning was spent at the pool. While the guys went to Jurassic World, the girls, Charlie, and Colson went to the splashpad. The splash pad there was so cool, but it was just too hot outside to really enjoy it. When the movie was over, we met up with the guys for dinner at Pizza Factory.
Thursday morning, those of us who remained in St. George, did a little swimming before packing and heading home. On the drive back, Colson was pretty sad. I had to stop a couple of times to nurse him. I am so grateful to Camry because she ended up riding home with us and she was a tremendous help with the boys and driving. 
That night, Jason, Tyson, and Bryan packed up and headed home. Jason and Tyson had to work on Thursday and Bryan had Youth Conference. Word has it that they had some good, bonding “boy-talk” on the way home. Wish I could have been there. But, I must say, we quite enjoyed ourselves that evening at the penthouse. Once the little boys were asleep (I ended up sleeing them in the now empty room in the penthouse), we had a marathon of games. We played Ligretto, Ticket to Ride, and Blockus. The winner of the game got to choose the next game, and so on. It was really fun.
Such a fun trip and so many good memories! Thanks, Mom and Dad, for making it so wonderful!
No comments:
Post a Comment