A trip to Grammy Jo's part 4

I've been wanting to visit this grove of trees for quite a while, so while we were in town, I called up my good friend Christina (who's parents own the trees) and we met up with her and visited in the trees.

Sareny and Lexi came with me and we took some pictures.

I loved playing around and exploring in these trees as a kid. In the center of the trees is a clearing and there used to be a swing set. It was just such a cool place.

Me and Christina. We had some crazy times in high school! Even though I am 3 years younger and she was probably more of my sister's friend, we all had lots of fun together and they always included me in things. We grew up in the same ward and went to girl's camp together, obsessed over the tv show Young Riders together, and shared things like crushes and high school awkwardness together. It is always nice when we get a chance to catch up!

Unfortunately, someone brilliant decided to unleash in the valley a hoard of insects that kill this specific type of tree, so all of the trees like this in the area are dieing. And yes, it was deliberate and apparently sanctioned by someone who gets to make these types of decisions. I'm not sure what genius decided that killing any tree that adapts well in the desert was a good idea, but s/he deserves... well, I probably shouldn't say here what I think they deserve. But it makes me angry!

So farewell to a cool grove of trees.

One day we went swimming at the Logandale pool. Sareny and Isaac both tried diving off of the diving board, although they weren't very good at it. Me and Lexi both tried it as well, and both experienced some wardrobe malfunctions...apparently diving requires better suits.

Finley decided to style Isaac's hair. He was a pretty good sport about it.

Although his face here tells what he really thought about it.

All babies must have a bath in Grammy Jo's sink.

It took Keeley a moment to decide what she thought of it, but then she was rather chill.

I do like this picture of us. She is a sweetie!

A trip to Grammy's part 3

We had a lot of fun on our day being tourists in Las Vegas. We headed over to the Bellagio to check out their indoor garden. They change the theme of the garden quite frequently and it always looks amazing.

I think this frog was my favorite thing this time.

Part of the group in front of a sailboat.

Me and my biggest baby girl.

Then we headed out to watch the water show. It was really awesome! The music was Celine Dion's The Heart Will Go On. Here we are getting ready for the show.

Some of my children think it is looking at the camera if your face is pointed the right direction. Your eyes are then free to look at whatever you want...

We enjoyed the show so much that the kids asked if we could stay and watch another one. So we took a few pictures at a water fountain while we waited for the next show.

We had a couple of teen mods amongst us...

Then we got in place to watch the next water show.

This time the music was Luck Be a Lady Tonight, which was really catchy and upbeat. The water choreography was really cool, and although we had quite liked the first show, I think we all agreed this one was even better. The Bellagio gardens and water show definitely top my list of cool things to do in Vegas. Crazy that Keith has never seen them.

And speaking of Keith, after I published the last post I remembered that the reason he couldn't come on this trip, and really the reason this trip got planned, was because he was on a business trip in Chicago. He got to do a little sightseeing with Holli, John, and Rhys, and I decided to take the kids on a trip while Daddy was out of town. Maybe someday he'll get to be a tourist in Las Vegas too.

A trip to Grammy Jo's part 2

I forgot to mention in the previous post that Keith was unable to come with us on this trip, so it was just me and the kids and Lexi. After our tea party, we went to Las Vegas and visited the Natural History Museum. The first exhibit was all about bugs and parasites. Sareny showing us the human body and some of the pests we deal with.

Then Finley.

And me.

Whoever came up with this next contraption ought to be sued! It features a trap door that collapses when you step on it, and yet it encourages you to jump as hard as you can onto it. I tried it first, and fell forward and scraped/bruised my forearms pretty bad. Sareny was a little more cautious after my experience...

Bampa helping Fin and Sareny with something.

Then we moved on to the exhibit on sharks. This pool had sting rays and sharks. We saw one shark leap up out of the water onto the blue ledge. It was a little bit freaky.

At least it was just a tiny shark, and not a monster like this Great White.

Isaac and Grammy with the Great White.

We moved on to the dinosaur exhibit, and Finley was quite freaked out by these dinosaurs that moved and growled when you pushed a button.

Lexi held Keeley through most of the museum. She was cute.

Me and the kids in front of a feathered dinosaur. Weird.

We visited the kid's room, which was very hands on with lots of things to touch and climb on.

Isaac and Bampa in an aquarium. It was pretty funny, that bubble made their heads look very small for their bodies.

They had a rather lengthy video showing about a mummified dinosaur that they had found somewhere. Isaac was extremely interested in this video so while the others went ahead, I sat down with him and we watched the video. This dinosaur had been named Leonardo, and later Isaac said, "I wonder how they knew his name was Leonardo, do you mom?" We had to get a picture of Isaac with his friend Leonardo. I would say this was Isaac's favorite part of the whole museum.

Then we caught up to everybody else in the ancient people exhibit.

We had lots of fun at the museum! After leaving here, we ate at Cheesecake Factory, which we seem to do every summer when we visit Grammy and Bampa. We also saw some more sights before we left for Grammy's house...

A trip to Grammy's part 1

We went to Grammy Jo's house back in June. On the way there, we stopped at Burger King for lunch and some play time.

Grammy had Lexi and Cass's old bedroom ripped up in preparation for her new craft room, and lots of random items were lieing about. Like these cute Hawaiian grass skirts of me and Holl Jo's. The girls had fun dressing up in them and doing a little hula for us.

We decided to have a tea party one day, and we all had to dress up in Grammy Jo's finest.

 

I kind of can't believe the adults had to get in costume too...but it was fun.

Keeley started out in the swing that we borrowed from someone for the weekend.

Cute girls sipping their tea. Or fruit punch. :) Me in the background making more little sandwiches, which were a big hit.

Isaac, me, Lexi.

Sareny, Finley, Grammy.

Bampa started out enjoying the festivities with us, sans dress up items, but he ended up like this. And now I am going to have to end this post, because blogger is not letting me upload any more pictures. But it was a fun morning, and as soon as the tea party was over, we headed in to Las Vegas for more fun.