We had a fairly uneventful trip to SLC. We found tickets from Augusta for cheaper than the ATL prices! Flying out of Augusta is a far better experience. It’s a faster check-in time, so we don’t have to be there quite so early, close proximity parking, and a cleaner, less busy airport. Plus, we didn’t have to drive two hours to get there with the worry of traffic increasing that time. They upgraded us on our first flight from Augusta to ATL to comfort plus. It was nice to have extra leg room, even if it was for a thirty-minute flight. Unfortunately, the longer flight Andy and I were split up to sit by two of our kids (the other two were in a row behind us) and both of us were sitting next to rather large men. The one next to me kept his elbow in my side nearly the whole flight… I wasn’t sure if he was just so big he didn’t care, or if he didn’t have a personal space bubble like I do, but it was a bit uncomfortable. We had some terrible turbulence coming down from the Rocky Mountains, but all things considered, it was an uneventful trip. It seems like flying has become a bit more challenging as of late with the price of tickets, flights getting cancelled, etc. It’s definitely, “Corporate first, customer second,” world.
Utah was quite chilly the weekend we got there, which was a nice reprieve from summer heat. It was even colder as we drove up the canyon towards Aspen Grove. It made the sweaters our parents got us come quite in handy. This Aspen Grove trip was absolutely perfect. Of course, the food could’ve been better, and there were scraped knees, blisters, etc., but the feeling overall was a roaring success. The last trip to Aspen Grove was a bit more challenging for some of us because our kids were younger, we were housed in a lodge with a lot less space and privacy, and Andy was detained from residency and couldn’t come with me. This time around was a breeze and so much fun. Harvey was a baby last time, but this time, he discovered some new found freedom. Truthfully, he was a lot more confident in his independence than I was. I took him to ceramic painting with me so Andy could take the older kids to the ropes course. I got him a ceramic to paint while I worked on mine. He, of course, finished his before I finished mine. I was nearly finished with mine and told him to hang tight and I’d head up to the room with him so he could play with his buddy/cousin, Todd. I looked up from my plate and he was gone! I didn’t worry too much about it, because he knew his way around, so I decided to keep painting and then hunt him down. A few minutes later he came back in, huffing and puffing. “The door was locked!” He stammered. I laughed.
“I told you I’d take you up there in just a minute. Wait for me and we’ll go up.” He had gone all the way back to the hotel room and back. It’s probably a quarter mile or half a mile round trip–plus the three flights of stairs you have to ascend at a 7000 ft elevation. I went back to my piece, hurrying to finish and before I knew it, he was gone again. I finished up and went looking for him. I assumed he went back to the room, so I headed there, expecting him to be sitting by the door waiting for me. He wasn’t. I went a different route back down to the art room to see if I’d just missed him, but he still wasn’t there. I told my family that was still at the art room to text me if he came back there and headed back up to the room. He still wasn’t there, so I decided to go look by the playground. As I left the hotel, AJ was walking in. I asked him if he’d seen Harvey and he said, “Oh yeah! He was at the ice cream shop.” Fortunately, he was. That little smarty had bummed an ice cream off of his uncle. The whole time he was lost, I was pretty sure he was fine and safe because he really did know his way around, but of course, I had to worry a bit, because we were up in the mountains and it was entirely possible for a moose to come along or for Harvey to get lost in the woods, though I figured he wouldn’t venture out that way.
I asked my kids what their favorite part of the trip was. Max said, “hanging out with my cousins.” Maverick said, “Hanging out with my cousins and my classes.” Beverly said it was too hard to pick just one thing. Harvey said, “Hanging out with my brothers.” I said, “Max and Maverick?” He said, “Yeah and Todd and my other brothers.” I loved that he called his cousins his brothers. They all had a good time. My favorite part was seeing my kids with their cousins as if no time had passed at all. I also really enjoyed being out in nature, painting, pen turning, and all of the activities that were available for us to do as a family. I got there with Mom and dad before the rest of our family, so I offered to sign everyone up for the activities. I think doing that really helped us spend quality time together as a family because it is pretty easy to venture off and do your own thing there. At the end of the trip, all of the cousins (and our kids) asked if we could do this again next year. I guess we’ll see! It was definitely a wonderful experience and a very unifying one at that.
I’ll have to finish this post next week when I have my mac book (it’s easier to add pictures from there).