Day 1 of our Texas Adventure aka Spring Break Wherein We Celebrate The First of 3 Birthdays on the Road

Our trip was pretty much complete right off the bat because we saw Lightning McQueen.  I don't recall passing through Radiator Springs, but there he was anyway.  Peter thought it was pretty awesome.  Oh, let's be honest, we all thought it was cool.

We had Woody along as our trusty traveling companion.  He kept watch up front with me.

As is obvious in the photo, we came upon Hole in the Rock.  Unfortunately, because we were on such a tight time frame to get Jonas to Texas before 5:00 on Friday night, we could only do a drive-by.

Ditto on the Monticello Temple.  The kids were amazed at how small it is.  I guess they're used to the view of the Salt Lake temple.

Oh yeah, it was also my birthday.  I celebrated by spending 13 hours in the car with my family to make it part of the way to our final destination.  Woo hoo!  Do I know how to party or what?  I did get a mini ipad out of the deal though, and I was with my favorite people, so it wasn't so bad. So birthday 1 on the road, done.

This was obviously still early in the trip, because everyone is still happy.

Actually, they were remarkably good.  There were a few minor meltdowns - but those were mostly on the way home.

Swim Team Banquet and Our Big Surprise

The Olympus High swim team banquet was held tonight.  There was dinner and awards, of course.

I thought this was really cool of our head coach.  We have this kid, David, who has been on swim team and he has some developmental delays.  His swimming is slow, but he's there and part of the team.  And I've been so impressed with the way all of the kids have accepted him, and you should hear them cheering for him at the meets even as he is a full length or two behind the last finisher.  Anyway, he wasn't ever going to qualify for state or earn his varsity letter, but he is a graduating senior.  So our coach, decided to give him his own letter jacket that he earned when he swam for the University of Utah as a student.  David was thrilled.  You can see him tearing off his jacket so he can put on Tom's letter jacket.

I thought that was really cool of Tom.

Since the season is over, and they will no longer be swimming at Granite, the captains decided to give each swimmer a piece of granite in the form of the lane line flags.  Jonas was awarded "best under pressure."

A shot of the team captains from Jonas's first year on swim team. 

At the banquet, the principal showed up to announce a huge surprise.  He told the kids to all go home and get their suits so they could be the first into the new pool.  We were all so excited!  (Of course, this threw a bit of a wrench into my plans to leave the banquet quickly and get home and pack for our early morning spring break departure.)  I think just about everyone of the kids made it back with their suits.

Here they are lined up just waiting for the countdown.  But every time they were about ready to jump in, someone else would come running through the door, so they would have to stop and wait.  

They wanted everyone there to jump in together.

There was lots of waiting, and posing for pictures and waiting.

But finally, when it was decided that everyone who was going to come was there, the official countdown began.

This is one of those instances where the pictures do a pretty good job of telling the story.

(Believe me, the coaches wish they were this excited to jump in the pool every day at practice!)

Then they turned out the lights, just for fun.

It was pretty cool to see all of these kids so excited to be in the new pool.  I just feel so bad for the poor seniors who will never have a chance to swim in the Olympus pool.  The old one was torn out just before they started, and this one was finished after their last season was over.

Shawn couldn't resist getting in either.  This is his field of dreams after all.

Loved watching them cheer!

Happy Stuff

A finished pool just waiting to be used...

A play date with a best friend that moved away a few months ago.

Megan and Preslee - cute girls.

Ah, Yes. Another Fantastic First Day of Spring

 Yep, it's just like I said.  I knew those warm February days weren't going to last.  It's almost as if Mother Nature wants to remind us that we can call it whatever we want to, but it isn't really spring until she says so.  Gotta love Salt Lake's manic weather.  I'm going to try not to cry.

My kids don't seem to mind in the least.  A snowstorm is exciting no matter when it happens, I guess.  (Except for Jonas.  I guess he and I will have to go find a nice temperate climate to live in.)

I thought this sort of thing wasn't supposed to happen until they were teenagers.  My kids must be ahead of the curve on doing dumb things.  I mean, that's cold!

Not everyone is there yet, thankfully.

Even better, is the fact that they decided to document it all on my phone.

And now it's time to cuddle on the couch and watch a movie.  That's more in line with my way of thinking.

Anyone Else?

Anyone else have the high school team's water polo caps hanging behind their bathroom door and dripping onto the floor? No?  I didn't think so.  The season is in full swing.  See you at the end of May...

St. Patrick's day 2014

Man, I don't know where this month has gone, but St. Patrick's Day is already here.  

I loved finding these signs inside the door.

Of course, the leprechauns visited and brought Lucky Charms.  

Here is the leprechaun trap that the girls set up in their room.

Unfortunately, they didn't catch a leprechaun, but they did catch Hamm.  He must have been looking for chocolate coins.

Lots of shamrocks and chocolate coins were left behind.

Jesse even took one of Peter's and started eating eat.

All of Peter's Toy Story guys were there ready for the leprechaun invasion.

And 2 of my favorite leprechauns of all.