Weekend Trip

We got a letter in the mail a few weeks ago that said that Emilia had won a state award for a Reflections entry that she submitted back in February.  They told us in the letter that we would be invited to an awards meeting and would receive more info in the future.  We heard nothing for awhile and then lo and behold one day (the PERFECT DAY) we got a letter saying that the award would be presented to the winners on Saturday, April 22nd at 7pm.  The reason this was the PERFECT day? The letter came on a Saturday but sat in the mailbox until Sunday, and I got the letter a few hours after someone in the bishopric had desperately asked Kent if we could speak in church the following weekend.  I had to call him and tell him that we would be out of town for the weekend.  (Hallelujah! Dodged that bullet!  I have to admit that there are few things I really don't like doing more than speaking in Sacrament meeting.)  I have been so busy with church stuff with my young women's calling that I really, really REALLY felt overloaded and that was just going to be the last nail in my coffin.  But alas, I was spared the pain and suffering.

We left for our trip on Friday after school and arrived at our hotel after gorging ourselves at Golden Corral.  The kids were awed by the 100 desserts there and of course the chocolate fountain.  They ate and ate and declared buffets to be "the best thing in the world".  We went back to the hotel and the kids swam and wore themselves out.  This was the first time our kids swam at a hotel without either one of us having to get in!  Now that the kids are tall enough, and we brought the life jacket for Adele we just had to "lifeguard" and not get in.  Then we waited for the kids to go to sleep while they kept telling each other to stop talking and be quiet and go to sleep, and stop shaking the bed and stop touching me and on and on.  (Ah, sleeping in a hotel room with 4 kids.)

 I like to swim but it was nice to stay dry for a change.

Saturday was zoo day.  Everyone and their pregnant wife/girlfriend/mother/friend/daughter was there that day. It must have been the first warm day of the season or something.  By the time we left it was unbelievably crowded.  When I travel other places there are a few things that I always notice:

1.  I don't run into people I know everywhere and I almost have to remind myself that I don't know any of these people. I normally see people I know ALL the time when I am out and about, so that is weird.  

2.  There are a lot of "interesting" people in this world. And even though I call my kids "weirdos" all the time, I feel like we are actually pretty normal comparatively.

3.  Full body tattoos don't really look good on anyone.    

4.  Many people should wear more clothing than they do.

I love the eggs they have there

See the cougar?

Funniest picture ever. I had to make it big because it cracks me up!

 After the zoo, some lunch, quiet time, more swimming and a round of ibuprofen for almost everyone, we set out for the Reflection awards.  I was starting to get a headache before we went and unfortunately when I handed out the "vitamin I" as we call it at our house, I didn't give any to myself.  I ended up getting a migraine and being miserable but that's not the important part of this story so I will move on.

Emilia won an award in "theater" for a puppet show that she wrote and performed.  It was funny and cute.  We thought it would go on to nationals but we found out that the categories that don't go to nationals are film and theater.  So that's where it ends.  We were very proud and excited for her to win the 1st place in state award for her theater entry.  They had this little bench area set up where the winners were supposed to sit for a picture after they got their awards but they didn't give us much time so the picture ended up not turning out great. 

The trip ended up being a lot of fun and 1.  The timing could not have been better and 2.  We kind of got a late spring break trip since we didn't go anywhere for our real spring break.  The weather was amazing and wonderful.  Even though family trips are hard work and tiring, they are really fun and we made some good memories.