Oh What Do You Do In the Summertime?

Stake Lagoon Day was August 4th.  Since it is really the only day I am willing to pay to go to Lagoon, I thought I should take my kids.  We also took Olivia because she hadn't been to Lagoon this year either.  There were some thunderstorm warnings going on today, but this didn't deter us from going, but as we were driving there we watched the thunder and lighting and probably rain going on right over Lagoon.  I decided that we should just wait about an hour until that stopped.  We stopped at McDonalds and had ice cream while we waited out the storm.  Upon leaving McDonalds, the sky had pretty much cleared and we were ready for the day.  It was a great day at Lagoon.  Because of the storm that had just past, there wasn't a whole lot of people there.  Infact, we hardly waited in any lines for more than 5 minutes.  The weather was warm, but not too warm and we all had a great time.  We started out seeing a parrot show that usually performs in Vegas.  Then immediately we went on the two kiddy rides that the kids had to do.  "Ladybug Bop" is still one of the kid's favorites, but it was the last of the kiddy rides *sigh* (my baby's are all grown up). 

Olivia on Turn of the Century

Now it's off to much more exciting rides.  Marie's favorite rides were the Tidal Wave so that was our next stop.  I guess I screwed up because I made Val and Livi ride in the second from the back instead of the back.  I told them we could come back around later, but we never made it back.  Then we made Marie ride on the Turn of the Century (The swings that fly around in a giant circle above the lagoon.) Marie was nervous and didn't want to ride it, but when we got off she said she had a new favorite ride, UNTIL we forced her to go on Wicked.  She had ridden on California Screamin at the scariest rollercoaster at  Disneyland and loved it, so I knew she would be okay on Wicked.  I told her that it wasn't any scarier than that and so she decided she was willing.  Now she had an NEW favorite ride at Lagoon.  It's Wicked, and she rode it twice.  The first thing she told Dale when we got home was that she had ridden Wicked twice.  She was very proud of herself. 

Marie's first year on Wicked

We pretty much are able to stay together at Lagoon now because all of the kids are willing to ride just about every ride.  I didn't push ther Rocket on Marie.  That one still scares me every time, but we went on all of the other rides together.  We also got to see the Cirque Lastrang (I think that's how you spell it).  I have never been one to see the shows, but this one was intrigued me.  It was a show with acts such as acrobats that are super limber and can contort there bodies into unimanginable shapes and sizes, and a balancing act and a woman who swings around from a hoop high above the stage.  It was really interesting and I think the kids really liked it.  By the time Lagoon was closing, we were tired and running out of steam anyway.  It was a great day.

Riding the Jet Star

On to Grandpa's Mountain!

Jordan - Master Marshmallow Roaster

Later that week Nadine, Marshall and their family were visiting from Nebraska for the Noker family reunion.  We wanted to see them too so we went back up to Grandpa's Mountain to go camping.  We had a good time seeing everyone, and realizing how much the neices and nephews have grown. 

At the Paris Ice Caves

Grandpa Sorenson wanted to show everyone the Paris Ice Caves.  Of coarse I wore the wrong shoes and couldn't really walk around in my Crocks, so I took a lot of pictures of everyone else climbing up through the holes in the ground.  It was fun for the others to explore all of the caves.  There was one cave that comes out in a really steep place.  Jordan, Rebekah and Ben came out really quickly, so I had no idea that it was going to make everyone so nervous.  As the others came out, they went really slowly and had to help each other to make it.  Some of them decide to head back to the cave entrance instead. I took pictures of a few of them coming out to give you an idea of what it was like. 

Coming Out of the hole

Once everyone was finished climbing all over the mountain, Jessica and Bill had to leave because they had plans, but the rest of us went back to camp and played games and talked some more.  I think the kids really enjoyed getting to know each other a little better. Our family had to leave Sunday because I had a class in the morning for our new math program at school, but I am really glad we went. We had a great time.