Trip to Ely

Carissa, Gabe, and I went with my mom and Alyssa to Ely on Wed. in order to watch my cousin, Joe, graduate from high school that night. The kids did pretty good, but the 4 hour drive was obviously longer than they thought it should be. We would be out in the middle of nothing and they would ask if we were there yet. I would ask them if they could see anything, they would say no, and I would say then I guess we aren't there yet. And, then I would tell them how much longer it would be. Neither one of them ended up sleeping at all on the drive out there or the drive home, which makes the drive seem longer to them. In the past they usually sleep at least part of the drive.

For the most part, Carissa and Gabe both did pretty well at the graduation considering how tired they were. We got up that day at 7am so that Carissa could go to school, then had lunch in the car as we started the drive. And, both kids were up until midnight, because of the graduation and then the get-together for Joe that we went to. Gabe went to sleep instantly with no fuss. While in Ely, we went to both parks and to the duck pond and spent the rest of the time at my grandparents house. Unforunately, Carissa got a stomach bug the last night we were there which lead to an interesting trip home, but we all made it. And, she was feeling much better by the next day.
Carissa and Gabe watching Great Grandma Burgess make cinnamon rolls
Duck with an interesting hairdo
Feeding the ducks

Memorial Day weekend/Park City

Back in December we bought a 3 night stay at a resort in Park City. We ended up deciding to do our little vacation over Memorial Day weekend, since Carissa had a long weekend from school. We had planned to be a little more active on our vacation, but Ben got hospitalized the Wed. night before for a really bad ulcer. He was only in the hospital for 24 hours, but he still needed lots of rest while his stomach started to heal. We watched movies, and just spent time together in our room while we were there. And, much to Carissa's and Gabe's delight we went swimming twice while there and they got to try out their new floaties.

The view from our balcony and one of the swimming pools.
It was a really nice room to stay in with a nice kitchen. There was also a very nice bathroom and bedroom, but no pics of those.

Aviary

Today is the first day of my summer break. After 2 finals and 1 group project due yesterday, which made for a very long day. It was also the one day a month that we could use our zoo membership to get into the Aviary for free, and our zoo membership expires at the end of the month, so everything lined up and we went to the Aviary. This was the first time there for me and Ben, but I think that both of the kids have been there before on field trips with our old daycare. It was a lot of fun, and we got to see a few eggs while we were there too.

Gabe's size compared to an owl.
Carissa's size compared to an eagle.

There are eggs up there with the birds.
The kids got to get really close to some of the birds.
They were following the peacock.

Home Show and Dinner

The kids and I helped work at the Home Show selling slot machines again. This is the first time that Gabe has actually tried to help and stayed with us for 2-3 hours, and that was definitely his limit. But, he was trying to keep in control of himself, whenever he started to get out of control I would remind him that I could call daddy and he could go home and play there. He would immediately say that he wanted to stay and get in control of himself again.

Also, this time Brandon decided to inform Carissa that all of the things that she kept asking for she could have if she earned the money to buy them. So, if she could sell one slot machine she could have everything that she had her eye on at that moment. Evidently that had a big impact on her, for the rest of the time she was working she kept business cards in her shirt pocket and went up to every adult she saw and asked if they wanted a business card and if they had any questions. She was very nervous, but I guess she could see those dollar signs. She got turned down several times, but the times that people wanted cards and took them from her made her very excited. She earned $10 for the weekend, pretty good for a 5 year old. She really likes getting "pay checks."

By the end of the Home Show, Gabriel had caught on to how Carissa was trying to be a salesperson and he wanted to do it too. So, he had a few business cards and he kept telling us that he was working to try to sell the business cards. I thought that was a great idea, if he could get people to pay for business cards he could make pretty good money.

After the home show ends on the last day we usually all go out to dinner. This time we went to a Japanese steakhouse, and the kids were both very excited. They like how the food gets cooked at your table. And, this time Gabe handled the fire better than the last time. He put his arm over his face, but he didn't almost flip out of his chair like the last time. Also, the lady that seated us and took our order seemed quite impressed with Gabe. He immediately found pictures of sushi on the menu and said that he wanted sushi and chop sticks. He got both, and half way through the meal he realized that his chop sticks were different from Alyssa's. Gabe's were rubber banded together, and he had me take the rubber band off and he worked really hard trying to eat with chop sticks. If he keeps that up he just might get it figured out. Also, I finally tried sushi, just a California roll, but I had one.

Skiing videos

Carissa skiing

Carissa skiing/crash

Gabe 1st time skiing without harness

Gabe 1st time skiing by himself part 1

Gabe 1st time skiing by himself part 2

Gabe skiing

Gabe skiing part 1

Gabe skiing part 2

Skiing

After, the Easter egg hunt at Snowbird we all went to my family's room and everyone who was going skiing got ready. Basically, everyone except for my mom and me was going to go skiing. Last year, Carissa tried skiing for a couple of minutes and cried the whole time and decided that it was not for her. So, when we said that Gabe was going to get to go skiing we were shocked to hear Carissa say that she wanted to try again and that because she was 5 she would be brave. We only rented one pair of skis and boots for the two of them though, because they can wear the same size and we didn't want to risk the money in case Carissa still didn't like skiing. Gabe, however we knew loved skiing the one time that he went last year and he had been asking to go skiing all season. So, he was finally going to get his chance.

This time both kids really enjoyed skiing. Each of them only went skiing for a few hours total between Sunday and Monday, but I just thought that is was amazing watching how fast they learned and improved. Both of them started out on a harness with my dad. Then, on the second day my dad skiied backwards in front of them in order to keep them from getting away while they learned to slow themselves down. After that Carissa and Gabe graduated to skiing down the slope on their own and my dad just followed and helped if needed. Eventually, Carissa had a pretty bad crash face first on the snow and that was it for her for the day. But, she still wants to go skiing next season. And, Gabriel got the point where he had pretty good control of himself in turning, and slowing down/stopping. I was completely impressed and amazed watching them. I took a few pictures and videos of both of the kids skiing, and one of the videos even has Carissa's crash (it is kind of hard to see though because she was so far from me).

Easter

Easter morning we all got up and the kids got their Easter baskets. Then we got ready and headed up to Snowbird, where my parents, Josh and Alyssa were staying. After we got there we went straight to the Easter egg hunt and just barely made it in time. After the egg hunt, the kids got to see the Easter bunny.