This summer two of my dear friends decided to take a road trip to visit our other dear friend in Utah--kids and all. We affectionately call each other Gina and we have oh so much fun when we are together. The way it worked out, I had to wait for Tristan to get home before I could head out, so I decided to fly down for a long weekend. Since I was flying I wasn't going to take all three kiddos, so I decided to just take Ethan for some special one-on-one time with me. We were able to fly out on the same day that Tristan flew in, so we picked him up from the airport and then headed to a nearby splash park to kill some time before Ethan and I had to be dropped off for our flight.
It was so fun to watch Ethan. He didn't know about the trip until we were at the splash park waiting to go back to the airport. He was in heaven at the airport. I wish I would have taken some pictures, but he loved every second of the airport and the flight and acted like it was something he did all the time.
By the time we got there, the other Ginas had been going hard for 5 days and were ready for some R&R at the pool. We got some yummy breakfast and headed over for a day of swimming and treats. Ethan didn't have a lot of experience in a big swimming pool, but he did great! (Ironically he started swimming lessons the day after we arrived back in Washington). He was happy as a clam spending the day in the pool.
Aunt KK helping him out (Kelly)
There were lots of friends to play with! Thank goodness Ninnie was well stocked with floatees!
Saturday we decided to divide and conquer. Little girls went shopping and little boys hit up the dinosaur museum nearby. It was a really cool museum and the models were impressive. We got to watch them as they were excavating this fossil--can't remember what it was but it was my first time to experience seeing actual dinosaur bones.
Silly buddies
I wanted to take pictures of every. single. thing. But here are a few of my favorites.
It was so much fun having time to devote just to Ethan and feel like I could just have a conversation with him and really focus on what he was thinking.
Our group of boys: Jensen (Jenn), Anderson (Kelly), Jack (Jenn), Ethan
Jaci had her three girls: Madie, Kylee and Sydney as well as Jenn's daughter, Jill. Not pictured is Reagan (Jenn). That's right. We had 9 kiddos running around Jenn's house. She was such an amazing hostess!
This was by far Ethan's favorite part of the museum. He loved playing in the water and digging up "fossils".
Found one!
The fossils in glass cases were actual fossils and not replicas.
I loved this model of a HUGE sea turtle. So amazing to think about all of God's creations big and small, past and present!
Of course, I loved the Mammoth fossils and replicas. This was an actual fossil!
The boys loved the shark!
Ethan wanted to take a picture of me in front of the shark, too. Not bad!
The boys also really loved this sand pit at the very end where they could use tools to dig up "bones".
Hanging out under the to-scale dino. They had a blast!
We spent the rest of the afternoon at the pool taking in some rays!
Ethan could have slept in the pool and been happy. Haha!
It was so great to spend some time with my girls. We laughed, ate and ate and ate, played outside, played boardgames, shopped and made great memories. I'm so grateful Tristan was home taking such great care of the other boys so I had a chance to go play for the weekend!
At LEAST weekly Ethan says, "Mom, I want to go back to Utah." He also keeps trying to plan vacations to Utah with our whole family. I'm so glad he had a great time and so grateful to Jenn and her sweet family for putting us up for the weekend! :)
