Tuesday, September 8, 2015

Labor Day Fun

This Labor Day weekend was so much fun.  The Hughes' came up to visit us and we spent the weekend travelling, seeing sites, having a blast with cousins, and spending time at Lagoon.  The kids absolutely loved Lagoon and enjoyed going on all of the rides with their cousins.  We found out Clay and his family were spending the weekend at Lagoon so we decided to join in on the fun too.  Unfortunately Russell had to work on that Saturday so it was just me and the kids.  We started the day by driving down to Farmington about an hour from our house.  We arrived just after the park opened and after purchasing our tickets, we headed straight for Lagoon's new ride, Cannibal.  This roller coaster was awesome and terrifying at the same time.  The whole time I felt like I was going to fall out of the car and die!  It was so fun though.  Klint doesn't like crazy roller coasters like that so he willingly volunteered to watch the younger kids while we went on this ride.  

We continued going through the park going on as many rides as we could.  Colby and Logan loved all of the kid rides and wanted to go on them over and over.  Colby loved the Jeep ride the best.  He said he liked it because when you go around the turn it goes super fast!  Logan's favorite ride was the train ride around the park to see the animals in the Lagoon zoo.  He loves anything to do with trains and animals.

Emily was just about the perfect size for all of the rides this year.  She was still short enough to ride all of the kid rides but she was also tall enough to ride most of the big rides too.  The only ones she couldn't ride were the crazy ones like Cannibal and Samurai.  Emily's first major roller coaster was Wicked.  I was a little leery about letting her ride this one but she was tall enough and she really wanted to because Tyrel was doing it too.  The ride people made Tyrel and Emily sit on special booster seats so that the harnesses would fit and away we went.  So on Wicked, the car shoots straight up on the track and then does a complete switch and goes straight down then loops around and all over the track all at the speed of like a million miles an hour.  I don't know what Emily expected from this ride but it was not what she got!  When we got off, I asked her if she liked the ride and she said "No!"  I think she expected it to be like the kid roller coasters not speedy fast and crazy like Wicked was.  But she put on a brave face and tried every other roller coaster she could ride without even getting sick.  She said her favorite was the Spider.

We ate our lunch in the park and then met up with Clay and his family as well and Tami and hers.  Together we went on more rides.  Emily and I rode with Becca and Braden on the Mouse Trap.  I don't know if that was the best seating arrangement...  Every time we came near the edge and whipped around, Becca and Braden would scream, "We're going to fall off the edge!"  Emily screamed every time they said that.  When we got off, Emily said, "I'm never riding with you on a ride again!"  They couldn't help but laugh so hard.  
We finally made it to the best rides in the park, the Log Flume and Rattlesnake Rapids.  We really should have done these rides right after lunch when it was warmer though because we got SOAKED!  While standing in line for the Log Flume, we were debating which position to set in so that we wouldn't get wet.  Some said the front and some said the back but in the end we all got a little wet no matter where we sat.  That is except for me.  Emily, Colby, Logan and I all rode in one log and luckily as we went down the hill into the water, there was not enough weight in the log to make a huge splash so we stayed pretty dry except for a few drops.  

Rattlesnake Rapids was a different story.  We were all wet after that one.  I really don't remember getting that wet when I have done that ride in the past.  There was no preventing it this time.  We even tried to turn the boat away from the waterfall but it didn't matter.  From that time on, we walked around in wet, cold clothes.  Colby and Logan cried forever it seemed like after that but Emily got right back in line with the other cousins and went again.  She loved it until she got out and realized she was cold but the excitement of Lagoon was too much for her to complain.

We all had a great time at Lagoon.  The kids loved going on the rides with their cousins.  Now they keep asking me when we can go back again. The kids had so much fun they were asleep by the time I got out of the parking lot.  We finally got home at midnight and fell right asleep.

The next morning we decided to take a little road trip up to Idaho.  Lacie originally wanted to go pick huckleberries in the Idaho mountains but then her friend said that we had missed the berries by a couple of weeks.  We were bummed but took the road trip anyway.  
We first drove up through the beautiful Logan Canyon to Bear Lake.  The Hughes' had never been to Bear Lake before.  While we were there, we stopped for a famous raspberry shake.  Those shakes were pretty good.  We might just have to drive up there again for another one.  

Then we continued on to Paris, ID.  Another first for the Hughes'.  There we ate lunch and toured the famous Paris Tabernacle.



The Tabernacle was pretty amazing.  I am always in awe with the workmanship of the early pioneers.  They built some pretty awesome buildings with just their hand tools and manual labor.  

After Paris, we continued on through Montpelier and then to Soda Springs.

In Soda Springs we saw the famous Hooper Spring.  This spring is actually a spring of carbonated water!  Because of various chemical reactions in the minerals and rocks and soil, the water in this spring is fizzy and tastes like Club Soda.  We even took a little sip of it and it does bite your tongue and then you spit the water out because it taste really weird like you are sucking on a penny.  But it is not harmful and you can drink it.


After checking out the Spring, we all stretched our legs by playing on the fun park near the Spring.  This park was really fun because the playground equipment was huge tractor and truck tires!  The kids had a blast climbing on the tires as well as playing on the fun seesaws. 

Then we rushed up to the Geyser Park to see the man-made geyser erupt on the hour.

This Geyser was discovered in an attempt to find a hot water source for a swimming pool.  On November 30, 1937, the drill went down 315 feet and unleashed the geyser.  The extreme pressure is caused by carbon dioxide gas mixing with water in an underground chamber.  It is now capped and controlled by a timer.  It erupts every hour on the hour.  The geyser reaches heights of 100 feet year round.  The Geyser was really cool to watch and reminded us of the geysers in Yellowstone.  We watched it for quite awhile until it stopped.

Before leaving the geyser, we got to watch a train go cruising by us on the track.  The boys loved it except for the fact that it was loud.  It was cool to see a train that close to us.  

We continued our trip up to Pocatello where Lacie wanted to meet up with some of her old friends.  It was nice to take a break from driving for a bit.  After getting something to eat, we headed back to Logan.  We were all exhausted but it was a fun trip.

Monday we checked out all of the food sites in Logan like Gossner's, Creamie's, the pajama factory, and finally Pepperidge Farm.  Unfortunately everything was closed except Pepperidge Farm because of the Labor Day holiday.  We also drove up to Preston, ID to check out a calf the Hughes wanted.  It didn't turn out to be what they expected so we just headed home.  On our way, we stopped at Firehouse Pizza to get some lunch.  Luckily since Russell works for the Fire Department, we were able to get a 50% discount on our food!  

Lacie and Klint headed home shortly after.  It was so fun to have visitors.  I hope they has as good of a time as we did. 

No comments: