Our Awesome Weekend

Mike has had a pretty crazy and stressful week at work last week. So much so that his boss practically ordered him to take a day off. So on Friday, Daddy didn't go to work and we had an awesome weekend! Here's what we did.

First, I just have to add in a couple of pictures not from the weekend, otherwise I'll forget to blog them.

This is some of Rachel's Magna Doodle art. I love that her drawings are starting to look like real things. This is, according to Rachel "a guy with spiky hair, and eyes."

This one is a combined effort of Rachel and me. I drew the suns (which Rachel always insists must have sunglasses) and the people (our family), Rachel drew water (on the bottom), a bridge (the arch), and a tree, which she says she drew like that so that it would make shade for all four of us.

Just some cute Daddy-Kiddo pics:

So, now we're at the weekend. On Friday we went to Cornbelly's, and it happened to be opening day, but it wasn't crowded at all! For non Utahns out there, Cornbelly's is a Fall themed, activity-packed family friendly thing that Thanksgiving Point puts on for about a month every year. Last year was our first year going, and we only took Rachel. We're hooked now, and Reed joined us for it this year. We had a blast!!

Peddle go-carts. Reed wasn't big enough, but he tried anyway.

Cow train (pulled by a tractor).

They have a bunch of wooden things to play on - trains and trucks and houses, a lot even with slides. The kids loved them all. Here is Rachel pretending to steer the train.

 Trying out the huge tractor.

Giant haystack. Reed eventually got all the way up to the top too.

Hay ride.

 They had a bunch of inflatable bouncy slides and houses that the kids loved. I think this one was their favorite. (I liked it too...)

Mini corn maze. We didn't do the big one.

 This may have been the kids' favorite attraction: the corn pit. Basically a big room full of dry corn kernels. I think the kids would have spent all day in here if we would've let them.

Rachel making a corn angel. Haha.

Giant spider web.

 Good bye until next year, Cornbelly's! There are so many other things we did there that I didn't take pictures of. Seriously, if you live anywhere near Thanksgiving Point and have never gone, you have to get to it before October's out, you won't regret it!

On Saturday, we took a drive up Nebo Loop again and did the same hike we did last weekend, but this time with Daddy. It was fun, again. We were going to go fishing at Payson Lakes, too, but then we decided it would be fun to go camping, since we've meant to all summer and haven't gotten around to it, and soon it will be too cold. So we headed home, packed up our gear, and went up the canyon again. We found a great spot and set up camp.

The kids were surprisingly good with the fire (as in, not going near it). We roasted hot dogs for dinner and Reed at FOUR! Being outside makes kids so hungry for some reason. The smores were not much of hit with the kids, but Mike and I ate them happily. :)

Rachel in her camp chair with "Puppy", who we had to remember to bring.

 Reed's very favorite thing was sitting by the river throwing rocks in. He did it for the longest time, and squealed with delight at the splashes. We did this twice, once before dinner and once after, and both times he had to be dragged away from the river screaming because he didn't want to stop. This kid loves dirt and rocks and all things boy.

We hiked around the woods and then just watched the fire as it got dark. Rachel loved spying things with her flashlight in the dark. Eventually we put Rachel in the tent and she talked and sang herself to sleep (which is how she always goes to sleep, and why we put her to bed first). It was harder getting Reed to fall asleep, but around 9:30 he eventually fell asleep on my lap by the fire and we put him to bed too and then Mike and I just sat up enjoying the fire, dark, and quiet for a little longer. Even though the low was only 50 degrees, it felt pretty cold, and the kids ended up in our sleeping bags and none of us got very good sleep. So today (Sunday) was a pretty cranky day, but it was worth it. Hopefully it will only get better with time and we'll have more fun camping adventures next year!