summer adventures

Kennecott Copper Mine

Now that everyone is better from all our sicknesses, we can finally start on summer!! Yea! And what better way to get started on summer than a family outing to Kennecott Copper Mines.

Truth be told, this has been in our backyard since we moved here, and I've never been to it. Gma Train took Ben a few years ago, so I figured we were covered for a while. I was just as excited as the boys to see it all!

First things first, and all the quarters from any adult within our group were quickly confiscated and used to look through the overgrown binocular thingys (whatever you call them). Terry was kind enough to offer our little pip-squeak, aka: Will, some assistance to see out into the open mines.

This is what they saw--wouldn't you love to look into their thoughts and know what they were thinking as they saw all this happening. I'm sure it was something like, "Dang! That's a big sandbox!"

This is part of our fun group we went with, by the token huge tire! Daren's Aunt Janyce (affectionately know to the family as Aunt Pooh--try explaining that one to 3 young boys!) put this trip together, and although Daren couldn't join us, we had a great time with Daren's cousins, aunts, uncles, and Gma Cox.

Cool old box car something-or-other!

You can't even see in this picture how teeny tiny these great big trucks look when they get to the other side of the pit. We went inside the visitor center, checked out all the cool stuff, and went to watch a short movie of the history of the copper mine. It was so fascinating, though I doubt the boys would say that!

After the mine, we picked up some food at the golden arches (McD's), and most everyone met over at the park here in Riverton to eat and play. I love this family that I'm a part of!! And I know a lot of them read this blog, and even though they never post comments, we still love ya! Thanks for the good times!

Lagoon

With the boys getting a little older, we figured it was as good of a time as ever to take advantage of the super sweet deal we got through the fire department to get season tickets to Lagoon (you only have to go 1.5 times to cover the charge and then you're in the good!). Besides, this is my alma matter, the place I grew up at, etc. I remember walking to Lagoon from my grandparents house in Farmington, going there as a family, being able to hear the rides from friends houses, etc., when I was younger...much younger, as Daren would say!!

Will could hardly wait to ride "Jacque's plane," and even sang the Indiana Jones theme song as he drove his plane away. He was "happier than a tornado in a trailer park!" (Mater, from the movie Cars)

Unfortunately for Ben, this year he was too big for all the kiddie rides, so he tried to wait patiently until he could go on some of his rides. After the old roller coaster, I took Jake and Ben to ride on the newer "Spider" ride. It was kinda scary...for me! I hate rides like that where you feel like you are going to derail at any minute cuz the rinky dinky chairs you are sitting in can't possibly hold you on. Sheesh!

We really saw this spider right as we got in line for the Spider ride! We found out after this ride that Jake is barely tall enough to ride all the bigger rides if he rides with someone responsible. How responsible can you be if you let your 5-year old ride all these crazy rides?! We hit the Colossus after Spider, and Jake was woo-hoo-ing it up as Ben was pretty darn nervous about it. I had to bribe him onto the ride, but Ben ended up loving it. Man, I remember when that was built...

Somehow, Daren got out of going on all these motion rides with the boys! They loved the Tidal Wave, and it was fun getting a picture of all our toes hanging out over the park while we were on the sky ride.

These were some of my favorite rides when I was growing up:

the old wooden roller coaster--still a classic ride!

How could you not love the Terror Ride?! I dont think they've changed one thing in it over the years!

We stayed until sunset, and took this picture above and below as we were once again, riding the Sky Ride.

Such good times!! And the boys were great...at least until it was time to go home. We saved the best for last--Wicked!! Ben and Jake loved it (while Will and Daren were snoozing in the car while waiting for us), and wanted to go again and again. Time ran out on us though, and so did my stomach! One more motion ride like that and I would have lost everything! I can't wait for our next adventure, whatever that is!