Adventure #7 Frontrunner Train Trip to SLC!

 We had plans to go camping on Antelope Island this Spring Break weekend, and our plans were rained out!  I was itching to do something to get away from my messy house so I told Dan that we should get a hotel with a pool and have a fun sleep over and swim!  He thought that was a good idea and added one of his own.  He thought it would be fun to take the frontrunner from Ogden to SLC, and use the Trax transportation system once we got there!  I am so glad we hoped on the train! It was so much fun, Dan had to work a little later than expected so we were running a few minutes behind and decided to drive to clearfield so we could make the earliest train.  It was so easy finding the station and getting on and off, the kids had a blast!  It was so fun to sit all together without any seat belts or confining spaces!  There wasn't any of the stresses of driving or traffic, just relaxation as we watched the scenerey. The Trax run right to SLC central station so we hopped on those and it took us right to The Little American Hotel where we stayed and swam!  The next day we walked around Temple Square which was really neat to show our kids.  Sophia was obsessed with Jesus our entire trip, she didn't even know we were going to Temple Square, but even before we got to SLC she kept seeing things that she would say was Jesus, First on the train, then at Crown Burger and finally our Hotel it was so funny, maybe she sensed where we were going!  This was my second time I think being at Temple Square during converence weekend and it was neat to walk around the grounds and hear the speakers.  It was really neat seeing all the people file out into the streets like little ants all over the place, it's fun to watch a huge crowd disperse like that!  Camille and Baby Lincoln braved the traffic and crowds of people to come and walk around the Temple grounds and City Creek Center with us!  It was such a spur of the moment trip and she was so awesome to swing over to be with us!  We got onto trax a little late and ended up missing our train home.  On Saturday, trains run every 2 hrs instead of every half hr.  So we hopped back onto trax and decided to go back to Gateway for lunch.  We made it back for the next train and had a fun ride home.  That was our only mishap, other than that the trip ran so smoothly!  I'm thinking about doing it again with the kids when Dan goes to Alaska this summer!

Adventure #6 Baby Animal Days!

 We got lucky again this year!  We were hoping for rain during Baby Animal Days because it really discourages the crowds and we're not afraid of a little mud and rain!  Melissa and I bundled up the kids yet again and enjoyed a fun day at the Heritage Center!  There were no lines and plenty of space to sit and enjoy holding all the baby animals!  The baby bears were back, but they are not that cool because you can't touch or hold them, you just watch the care takers cuddle and play with them.  All the other parts were great, from face painting to kettle corn, we loved it!

Adventure #5 Ogden's Dinosaur Park!

 Ogden's Dinosaur Park is one of my kids favorite places to go!  This Time was a little different because we were given little Dinosaur fact booklets to bring along with us as we explored.  We had to find the five different Dinosaurs in the booklet and fill out facts about each one.  Once their booklets were complete they were able to take them back to the ticket office and get two Dinosaur postcards each!  The kids thought it was great and it really made you read and learn about each Dinosaur!  Grandma Thatcher came with Nick, Annie, Lexie and Meagann!  Stephanie came with her three kids, and Tricia brought her family!  This was probably our most fun visit!  I wonder if it is because we've been cooped up all winter and it was just nice to be outside and doing something fun!  Afterwards we stopped at a little diner for dinner!  This was Sophia's first visit, and she was so nervous and clung to me like a velcro monkey when we stopped to watch the mechanical T-rex and Triceratop display.  She loved the Dinosaurs outside and the park!