A GREAT get-away!
Since school doesn't start until next week for Kaiya, I'm just reminiscing about the summer, so sad to see it ending! It was a busy, but surprisingly simple summer for us. So back in July, we decided we needed at least one little vacation to get away! So we went to one of our favorite places to visit some of our favorite people! We went to California to visit my brother, Aaron, and his family for about 10 days and it was such a GREAT trip!! It always is!
(LOTS of pics ahead, beware!)
The week before we left, we had the treat of having Aaron's family here in Utah to visit, minus Aaron! Debbie and the kids braved a two week trip without daddy -- wow!! And we had so much fun while they were here! We spent a day with Brittany and her kids at the Aerospace museum in Layton and had lunch afterward. Three adults and let's see, ELEVEN kids = crazy fun!! Another day we took all the kids to the pool for the day with my sister and her kids again! Again, LOTS of fun! I opted to leave little Avie with a sitter and that worked out best, so I could use all my free hands for Kai and Tay! The rest of the time was spent talking and cousins playing! It was really nice to have our guests! Their last day we spent packing and getting ready for our two families to follow each other back to Cali! It never ceases to amaze me how much STUFF a family of 5 can take for a vacation! We were packed to the ceiling!
On our way out, we got to stop in St. George where Jessika lives with her grandparents! We spent the night there to break up our drive and it was such a TREAT to see them and spend so much time with them! They treated us to this really cool water park in their town that has rocks to climb on and streams -- looked like a miniature St. George with all that red rock!
And there was also a carousel that the girls had a BLAST on!
Then we went back and enjoyed a yummy BBQ dinner and Jessika's grandma's to DIE for cheesecake! They also did a little celebration for Kai's bday, since it was just a few weeks later. They always spoil her and are so sweet to our special girl!
We did fireworks and stayed up really late just talking and catching up (Jess's GREAT new boyfriend was there too). Kai and Tay shared a room that night and it was a good test to see what the near future will be like with the two of them sharing a room -- they did pretty good, except for the fact that it took them hours to fall asleep! Silly girls! The next day we were up bright and early and saying our good-bye's until next time! They were such wonderful hosts to our family and we always enjoy every second we get to spend with them!
I should insert here how the kids did in the car. It was a 15 hour drive each way. Yes, we stopped in St. George on the way out, but on the way back, we drove it straight through. I was really nervous about all the time in the car with such little ones. I can VERY happily say, the kids were PERFECT!! I was beyond shocked at how well they did! I kept them entertained with treats, movies, and dollar store "gifts" along the way that they thought were amazing! Easy to please, these girls! I was especially impressed with Avery, who of course could not see the movies, but still was such a peach! They all slept a lot and it gave Chris and I some great time to talk and enjoy each others company! I was so proud of the girls and so grateful that it was such a PEACEFUL, LONG drive!
We drove to Vegas and of course had to stop and the MASSIVE H&M for some shopping, which we did quite well and quite fast, considering we had 7 kids between all of us who were NOT interested in shopping! A HUGE thanks to Chris for that one!
We made it to Aaron and Deb's that night and went to their church the next day and then just hung out!
We had such a blast on this trip, and spent nearly every day at the beach! HEAVEN! We also went hiking to some beautiful falls
and enjoyed a beautiful walk by the ocean.
And did I mention we were at the beach A LOT?! We went to different beaches each time so we got a really nice taste of different places. Chris and Aaron got their surf on and even saw SHARKS -- yes, that's right, SHARKS!! No thanks! But it didn't seem to deter them! I so wish Chris could surf more often. He really loves it, but only gets to go once a year, if that! So, yeah, he had fun with that! We hit up our favorite, well, everyone's favorite little joint -- SPLASH CAFE -- mmmmmmmm! Oh, I crave that clam chowder in the sour dough bread bowl all year long! And it never disappoints! Which is why I made sure we went there twice! Debbie and I had some alone time to shop, thanks to the boys. We enjoyed a fun evening at an outdoor concert.
And we made lots of sandcastles, played in the water,
and oh boy did the kids get SANDY!! Sand it places you don't even want to know about! I'm pretty sure they were even pooping sand! Taylor especially, oh she loved it! She would lay in it and just roll around! Most of all, we just had so much fun being with Aaron and Debbie and seeing the cousins having so much fun together! Their 4 boys were so good to our 3 girls and they just adore them!
We also spent one day with Chris' grandparents who live not too far from my brother. We went to lunch with them and spent some good time visiting with them. We so love and admire them and are grateful for each time we get to see them!
This was such a NEEDED vacation. It has been a stressful year for us for lots of reasons. It was such a blessing to get away and not have to think about some of that stuff for a little while. It rejuvenated us and we came back refreshed and ready to go again. We are so grateful for our family. They mean so much to us and we have drawn so much closer to them throughout our struggles. Aaron and Debbie were such great hosts and we are so grateful for the close relationship we have always shared, even living far away from each other. This will be a vacation for the memory books! I'm soooo glad we went!
(LOTS of pics ahead, beware!)
The week before we left, we had the treat of having Aaron's family here in Utah to visit, minus Aaron! Debbie and the kids braved a two week trip without daddy -- wow!! And we had so much fun while they were here! We spent a day with Brittany and her kids at the Aerospace museum in Layton and had lunch afterward. Three adults and let's see, ELEVEN kids = crazy fun!! Another day we took all the kids to the pool for the day with my sister and her kids again! Again, LOTS of fun! I opted to leave little Avie with a sitter and that worked out best, so I could use all my free hands for Kai and Tay! The rest of the time was spent talking and cousins playing! It was really nice to have our guests! Their last day we spent packing and getting ready for our two families to follow each other back to Cali! It never ceases to amaze me how much STUFF a family of 5 can take for a vacation! We were packed to the ceiling!
On our way out, we got to stop in St. George where Jessika lives with her grandparents! We spent the night there to break up our drive and it was such a TREAT to see them and spend so much time with them! They treated us to this really cool water park in their town that has rocks to climb on and streams -- looked like a miniature St. George with all that red rock!
And there was also a carousel that the girls had a BLAST on!
Then we went back and enjoyed a yummy BBQ dinner and Jessika's grandma's to DIE for cheesecake! They also did a little celebration for Kai's bday, since it was just a few weeks later. They always spoil her and are so sweet to our special girl!
We did fireworks and stayed up really late just talking and catching up (Jess's GREAT new boyfriend was there too). Kai and Tay shared a room that night and it was a good test to see what the near future will be like with the two of them sharing a room -- they did pretty good, except for the fact that it took them hours to fall asleep! Silly girls! The next day we were up bright and early and saying our good-bye's until next time! They were such wonderful hosts to our family and we always enjoy every second we get to spend with them!
I should insert here how the kids did in the car. It was a 15 hour drive each way. Yes, we stopped in St. George on the way out, but on the way back, we drove it straight through. I was really nervous about all the time in the car with such little ones. I can VERY happily say, the kids were PERFECT!! I was beyond shocked at how well they did! I kept them entertained with treats, movies, and dollar store "gifts" along the way that they thought were amazing! Easy to please, these girls! I was especially impressed with Avery, who of course could not see the movies, but still was such a peach! They all slept a lot and it gave Chris and I some great time to talk and enjoy each others company! I was so proud of the girls and so grateful that it was such a PEACEFUL, LONG drive!
We drove to Vegas and of course had to stop and the MASSIVE H&M for some shopping, which we did quite well and quite fast, considering we had 7 kids between all of us who were NOT interested in shopping! A HUGE thanks to Chris for that one!
We made it to Aaron and Deb's that night and went to their church the next day and then just hung out!
We had such a blast on this trip, and spent nearly every day at the beach! HEAVEN! We also went hiking to some beautiful falls
and enjoyed a beautiful walk by the ocean.
And did I mention we were at the beach A LOT?! We went to different beaches each time so we got a really nice taste of different places. Chris and Aaron got their surf on and even saw SHARKS -- yes, that's right, SHARKS!! No thanks! But it didn't seem to deter them! I so wish Chris could surf more often. He really loves it, but only gets to go once a year, if that! So, yeah, he had fun with that! We hit up our favorite, well, everyone's favorite little joint -- SPLASH CAFE -- mmmmmmmm! Oh, I crave that clam chowder in the sour dough bread bowl all year long! And it never disappoints! Which is why I made sure we went there twice! Debbie and I had some alone time to shop, thanks to the boys. We enjoyed a fun evening at an outdoor concert.
And we made lots of sandcastles, played in the water,
and oh boy did the kids get SANDY!! Sand it places you don't even want to know about! I'm pretty sure they were even pooping sand! Taylor especially, oh she loved it! She would lay in it and just roll around! Most of all, we just had so much fun being with Aaron and Debbie and seeing the cousins having so much fun together! Their 4 boys were so good to our 3 girls and they just adore them!
We also spent one day with Chris' grandparents who live not too far from my brother. We went to lunch with them and spent some good time visiting with them. We so love and admire them and are grateful for each time we get to see them!
This was such a NEEDED vacation. It has been a stressful year for us for lots of reasons. It was such a blessing to get away and not have to think about some of that stuff for a little while. It rejuvenated us and we came back refreshed and ready to go again. We are so grateful for our family. They mean so much to us and we have drawn so much closer to them throughout our struggles. Aaron and Debbie were such great hosts and we are so grateful for the close relationship we have always shared, even living far away from each other. This will be a vacation for the memory books! I'm soooo glad we went!
posted by Chris Grover at 10:35 AM
2 Comments:
Wow-thanks for sharing all the pictures and fun. It looks like you had a perfect vacation and LOVE that beach. I get totally homesick looking at that area. Isn't it funny how we are all drawn back to the places on the coast that we enjoyed 25 yrs. ago.
we are SO happy you guys were able to come, it was a wonderful summer!
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