End of Summer Family Vacation!

Josh had made plans with his Dad to be at the 2015 opening University of Utah football game and the kids and I decided to tag along and make a fun little vacation out of it! Josh was so excited because Utah was playing Michigan and something about Coach Harbaugh leaving the 49'ers to coach Michigan, but we don't like Michigan, and Utah is looking good and probably have a chance, bla bla bla...... This is why Josh calls his Dad daily, sometimes multiple times a day..... because I just can't do the sports talk like a true LaFeber.

Anyways, this vacation was AWESOME! It was super busy and left us feeling exhausted by the time we got home but it was totally worth it!

Papa Art bought us plane tickets, partly because an hour flight would give us more time to play than a 7 hour car ride, but mostly because Papa Art has a soft spot for Austin and he knew that throwing plane tickets into the pot would make Josh more likely to bring the whole family with him than making a quick trip alone. Once the plans were made, we talked about this vacation daily. It was our survival destination to help us get through the crappy days. Austin was so excited to go on an airplane and even more excited to see "Gampa" and his motorcycle!


Wednesday September 2, 2015
The trip started off a little bumpy with our plane getting delayed by two hours, leaving us with two very tired kiddos in an airport from 6-11pm :(. Austin was psycho from tiredness and excitement and there was a good chance he wasn't going to make it on that plane alive. But once we got on board, things got better. Austin got the window seat and he had a great time looking out and chatting non-stop about everything he could see! Eve finally fell asleep in Dad's arms (thank goodness) so we got a good 50 minute flight of peace. Grandpa Art picked us up once we landed and by the time we got to the house, bathed the kids because Austin spent more time army crawling across the disgusting airport floor than he did walking, and into bed, it was 2:00am. Josh and Austin took one room and I took the other room with the baby. We had to split the kids up so they wouldn't wake each other up at night which was a smart idea because Austin had an especially hard time going to sleep in his new surroundings.

Thursday September 3, 2015
The next day started off bright and early! We were still tired from the masquerade the night before but we had lots to do! You can sleep when you're dead, right? We spent the morning playing in the front yard. Austin helped Grandpa water his flowers, Mom and Evie enjoyed laying in the grass, and we opened up Grandpas surprise bag of goodies he had bought for Austin which included sidewalk chalk, pop-its, and silly string! We had a blast spraying each other with that gooey string, and coloring pretty pictures on the ground. Pop-its are always a big hit with the A-man and he had an especially good time throwing them at Grandpa :). Grandpa also pulled out his Harley Davidson and wanted to take Austin for a spin but the minute he turned it on Austin got scared and was over it. It was an ideal morning. In fact, it was so much fun we repeated it the next morning as well! (the pictures below are a mixture of both mornings.) Later that day Grandpa watched the kids while Josh and I went to visit Uncle Nick's dental office for our yearly checkups, and then we went on a date to Rodizzio for lunch!

Doing some sidewalk art.

Grandpa showing Austin how to light the army tank fireworks!

Grandpa putting a bandanna on Dad's head so he would look legit!

Helping Grandpa water the flowers.

Austin was in heaven running around the  yard!

You can definitely tell she's a LaFeber!

My two biker studs.

 When we got back from lunch, Josh and Grandpa left for the UTAH game and I took the kids with me to visit Grandpa Helm and Great Grandma Helm. My Dad had just been released from the hospital and my Grandma was staying with him in a hotel room for a couple weeks to help get him back on his feet. We hung out in the hotel room for a bit and then took the kids swimming. My Dad had a hard time just watching and not being able to be a part of the swimming part since he is still very damaged from the accident so he went to the reception desk and bought Austin a bunch of pool toys to play with and floaties to put on his arms because my Dad was convinced that every child needs floaties if they can't swim even though Sadie and I grew up NEVER using them. This was funny to me and cute because it showed his sincere love and worry for Austin and his safety. Swimming always works up an appetite so we got dried off and walked over to KFC next to the hotel. This just happens to be Austin's favorite place to eat because they have biscuits and cole slaw! Strange right? Anyways, we had a good time eating and my Dad suddenly got really sentimental with us all being together and also because he heard Austin call him Grandpa Helm and he never thought he would live to hear those words. It was a special moment. One that started in tears and then turned into laughter once Austin loudly announced to the entire table, "My Dad is BIG!!" I have no idea where that came from or why he felt the need to share it but it was too cute :).

Josh and his Dad had a blast and were super excited about the Ute's big win! They got home at midnight with chicken nuggets from McDonald's and since Austin stayed up waiting for them to get back home, he got to hang out with the big boys downstairs wayyyyy past his bedtime eating nuggets and having fun with all the post-game excitement and banter. Meanwhile, Little Miss and I went to sleep after I chastised Dad and Grandpa for making too much noise ;).

Her royal chubiness taking a swim with Great Grandma Helm.... or pretending to because she HATES water :).

Playing some football with Grandpa Helm

Handsome guys at the big game! Josh had been waiting for this game for months and was so excited to spend some time with his Dad!

The pre-game parade.

Utah won! Go Utes!

Friday September 4, 2015

 The next day Grandpa Art took us to the zoo! This was our favorite day of the whole trip! Hogle Zoo was hosting a dinosaur exhibit which was super cool and after Austin got over his fear of the giant mechanical dinosaurs who would roar or spit water at you when you weren't ready for it, he really loved it! Grandpa and Austin were inseparable, mostly because Grandpa's wallet has an endless supply of cash for anything Austin asks for, but also because Grandpa was Austin's champion, shielding him from the big giant reptiles whenever he got scared while all Mom and Dad did was laugh at him ;). We rode the train, the carousel, stopped to have pizza and ice cream for lunch, and only made it through half of the zoo when both kids became extremely tired and started having meltdowns. Austin decided he was too tired to walk back to the car so Grandpa gave him a horsey ride all the way back! I knew Art's hip and back were killing him from all the walking but he is incapable of saying no to Austin, so with only one stop to rest, we made it back to the car. Austin passed out in his car seat before we even made it out of the parking lot! That's how you know it was a good day :).

We were so wiped out, we spent the rest of the night at Art's house hot tubbing and enjoying each others company. Well, Austin went hot tubbing. The rest of us sat out on the porch and watched since Grandpa forgot to turn the heater on and the water was cold (haha)! That night was so picturesque, and brought back so many memories of our days living in Bountiful. Utah summer evenings are the perfect temperature and it is so relaxing listening to the creek in Grandpa's back yard. We sat outside until late at night, laughing and talking. Austin had fun getting in and out of the hot tub to run around and play with Grandpa's potted plants, or throw rocks over the railing and into the creek below. There was also a hilarious incident where Austin pulled down Grandpas wind chime and accidentally broke it. When Dad and Grandpa brought it into the house to fix it, suddenly a huge swarm of wasps came out of it, scaring everyone and flying around everywhere! Needless to say, that wind chime was history hahaha. This was our last night with Josh's Dad so we stayed up late and made it count. Even though the party was only going to continue in Layton, we were sad that we had to leave Bountiful. We have always been so much closer with Josh's Dad. His house, his presence, his ability to become a child again whenever Austin is around.... it's all so comforting. I also forgot to mention that Art and Josh both won free hair cuts at the football game so Art and I took Austin down to Great Clips to get his first professional hair cut! Austin acted like he was dying, just like he does at home when I try to cut his hair, and totally freaked out Grandpa who in the middle of the cut started telling everyone that we were done and we needed to leave Austin alone. There was no way I was going to let Austin walk around with a half shaved head so I told Art he was fine and to just calm down. Again, it is hilarious watching how tight Austin has Grandpa wrapped around his finger!

He was rewarded with a sucker.

Little stud looks so good!

All of our zoo day pictures...

Grandpa, Austin, and I loved the gorilla room the best! They were great entertainment and just a little scary as they chased each other around!

Evie hanging out with Grandpa while Austin rode the carousel.

The world famous horsey ride!

Riding around on the train!

Austin chose to ride the gorilla on the carousel.

We had a lot of fun playing in the water!

Going down the BIG slide with Daddy!

You know it's good when it's all over your face!

We had a lot of fun watching Austin eat that ice cream cone!

Passed out with his souvenir stick in his hands. This boy finds sticks EVERYWHERE we go and  has to take them all home!

Saturday September 5, 2015

Austin played in the yard one last time with Grandpa while we got packed up and then after we said our goodbyes we headed to Layton to visit Grandma and Grandpa Ronnenkamp! We spent the entire day in Ogden, starting with the Tree House Children's Museum! It was such a fun, awesome place to play! Austin had to check out every single room before he would settle down and decide on one area to play in. As you can see from the pictures, we were very busy!

Teaching Austin how to eat sushi in "Asian land"

Dad hanging out with Austin in a tepee

learning how to paint hieroglyphics

Having himself a little picnic lunch

Austin loved the train set!

His favorite was the hospital room with all the babies!

Playing doctor

Grandma gave lots of smooches!

Little Miss hanging out with the three bears!

Austin also loved this old fire truck! He thought he was so cool driving it!

We were all hungry after the museum so we went to the old Ogden train station and ate at their cafe for lunch! The food was soooo yummy and it was actually inside the old train station! 

Our crazy crew trying to eat lunch!

Wandering around the train station. You could smell the years of history in the air! I loved it! This bench is all that's left of what was rows and rows of seating for the passengers as they waited for their trains.

Austin had fun running around and hearing his voice echo as he screamed with happiness!

Outside of the train station were all the retired trains! Austin was in heaven, let me tell you! They were huge and you could climb on them and check out the old box cars! It was every little boys dream :).

Grandpa Steve also has a love for trains so he had fun showing Austin around the place.

Austin wasn't very happy about having to stop his exploration to take a picture....

While we were there, a retired police sheriff stopped by on his horse and gave us a show! This wasn't an ordinary horse. His name was Sundance and he was trained to actually dance and do tricks! It was so fun to watch! Austin was nervous at first because of the horse's size but Grandpa picked him up and helped him make friends with the beautiful creature.

We went home that night exhausted from our fun packed day, but the fun didn't stop there! We spent the rest of the evening in the back yard playing football in the grass and blowing bubbles! Once again, it was the perfect Utah summer night :).

Swinging with Grandma and having a wonderful time!

Grandma brought home a peach pie from the train station cafe for us to eat later and it was seriously divine! Even Eve wanted a bite! While we sat outside in the grass she kept pulling the blankets, trying to move the pie closer to her! Nice try Evie girl, but that pie is mine!

Austin loved this wheel barrow because his favorite cartoon character, Caillou has one too! He kept saying "compost" and pretending to fertilize the yard like Caillou did in one of the many episodes he has memorized haha.

Playing with Daddy :).

Our little football star!

Sunday September 6, 2015
We went to church with Grandma and Grandpa Sunday morning but Austin didn't even make it through Sacrament :(. He hardly slept at all the entire trip so he was quite the handful! I was tired of fighting him to be quiet so he and I walked home which actually turned out to be quite nice. We held hands and talked and even stole a couple apples off of the neighbor's apple tree which Austin thought was so awesome! He loved that apple and snacked on it all day long :). For lunch Uncle Nick and the gang came over for a BBQ! We had fun eating, talking, and playing football. It was a really nice, relaxing Sunday and we were sad that our vacation was almost over.....

Austin loves cousin Brandon. They were so cute together :).

A little football action!

Hanging out with Aunt Jenn and talking around the table after dinner.

Grandma helped get Evie ready for bed! Eve loves her so much and I'm pretty sure the feeling is mutual ;).

We left the next day, sad to say goodbye, but happy to get back to our house where the kids would be in their own beds and sleep better! Grandpa Art picked us up in Bountiful where we dropped off our rental car and drove us to the airport. We laughed and joked in the car about all of our adventures while Austin slept the entire time and had no idea what was going on. I don't think any of us got more than 5 hours of sleep the entire trip! Once at the airport we unloaded our bags and said our goodbyes to Grandpa. We were sad but we had already planned his next visit to our house in a couple weeks so it felt like the party was just going to be put on hold for a little while. The plane flight home was so much easier than the flight there because our plane was on time and we were a little smarter this time now that we knew what to expect when traveling with two babies. It couldn't have been a better vacation and we can't wait to do it again next year!