Labor day weekend, we woke up on Saturday morning and realized we had nothing to do.. We started discussing what we should do and somehow with a little help from Dena in the hotel department we ended up in Layton... very random!! We had seen some advertisement for a Kite Festival on Antelope Island. Ryan or I had never been there so we decided to all explore it together.
That night we hit Sizzler for dinner.. Ryan and Karden were in heaven when we walked in and they had "All You can Eat Ribs!" Holy cow! It was borderline disgusting and embarrassing!!
Karden was a complete mess and the pile of carnage we had on our table was nasty!! But they were both so happy!!
Karden held his own! Ryan only beat him by 4 ribs!
The next morning we got up bright and early and headed for a park in Kaysville for a Hot air balloon launch. We got there and waited and watched them let go tester balloon and got kind of worried if they were going to be able to launch them. Finally they Got them out of there trailers. It was really neat to see them go down the checklist of what needed to be done!
After they got them all inflated they decided that the the wind was a little too out of control.
so they tethered the balloons and walked around and asked if anyone wanted a ride!! I was so excited!
I made Whitley come stand in line with me because I didn't want to look weird, and karden decided to go as well! It was pretty darn neat.
We got to go up around 70 feet, we were above the trees and the power lines. The only part I didn't love was the fact that the basket is well.... a basket! Like the wicker basket kind. I assumed the floor would be metal or wood or something a tad bit more sturdy than wicker. but we survived and crossed riding in a hot air balloon off our bucket list!! It was something neat to see!!
We then Headed out To Antelope island. You pay 10.00 to get onto the island because it is a state park, Ok I can handle that. we follow the signs and get to the kite festival only to be stopped again and ask for another 15.00. We can see down the hill there are bounce houses and lots of tents so we agree and pay the money. We park get out and are so excited when we walk in and realize... NOTHING is free!! The bounce houses are 25.00 for and all day jump pass per kid. ( 25 X 3=Yikes) We tell the kids they are not doing the bounce houses! The little farm train is only a dollar, per kid, per ride so we cave and let them do that only to realize it just goes in a circle twice and then stops!
They were not that impressed!
We find a " free kid tent" yeah finally!! we go in and they tell us we can sit down and color a picture.... So we do!
Most expensive piece of paper I have ever colored! We are just about to leave and over the loud speaker they say the chalk festival for kids is about to begin.. Karden wants to do it soo bad. So we cave and pay the 10.00 to let karden and Whitley throw colored chalk at each other!
They had fun... But were filthy and smelled weird the rest of the day! Good thing I had planned ahead and brought throw away shirts.
We decided we had enough and left the super
We decide to drive around the rest of the island. We see lots of buffalo and antelope! It was neat, Those animal are HUGE!!
We find the parking lot to go and swim in the Great Salt lake and when we pull up we realize that the water is really low and we have to walk at least a mile to get to the water.
So we all change into our swimsuits, carry our beach bag, sand toys, and the 30 pound baby who is struggling to walk in to the sand and begin our trek. It is Hot, and muggy, and smells and about half way there Ryan Stops and looks at the sky... I ask what is wrong. He then says I am looking for the buzzards to be circling my head waiting for me to die... This is like walking across the Mojave desert!! I was laughing so hard I almost peed my pants! We finally get to the water and before you enter the water there is a 3 foot section of black on the sand. I'm asking Ryan what it is when karden goes running to the water and the ground moves literally. They were million and million of gnats!! It was the most disgusting thing I have seen. It was like the ground was moving in waves when someone would walk through them... I then decided I was not going to swim because I was NOT walking through the bugs.. It was nasty!!! So Ryan takes the kids and they are all going to swim, They get in the water to there calf.
and all hell breaks loose!! 3 kids + eczema sores= complete and udder pandemonium. There were all screaming bloody murder because all the salt in the water was burning there legs. We are trying to get them all to calm down so we can try to wipe the water off, get there shoes on them and try to tell them we can wash them off in the showers that are guess where?... across the Mojave desert again!!
So we start trekking back with 3 screaming kids in tow!! Not one of our finest parenting moments! We finally get back and find a shower and wash off the salt and the kids calm down.
We load everyone up and head for home!! The kids all fall asleep and Ryan and I are talking about our epic fail adventure and he says " Do ya wonder why neither of us have been there before... It's because it sucks!!!" We laughed about all the way home!!
Making Memories that is for sure!
