A month or so ago Alison asked Kefford if we were going to go with them to Lagoon again this year. Kefford initially said not this year because he had to work and things were looking kind of busy. After telling Kefford that I was planning on making a trip to Utah this summer to visit my sister he told me that I should take the kids and go to Lagoon with his parents and then go to Emily's place after like I did last year. After looking at the dates I realized that if we went we would be gone on Fathers Day again and I mentioned that to Kefford and said that it wouldn't work out. He told me it was not a big deal and that I should go and after the fifth grade assembly on Thursday that is just what we did.
Avy and Rylee were being cute and cuddly in the backseat and Kenedy told me I had to take a picture.
Kenedy wanted to drive to Utah and I was more then OK with that. I do not like driving and would much rather be the passenger. After missing the ramp to get on, taking the wrong freeway and having to drive through Boise to get back on the right freeway I was second guessing my decision of letting her drive. But once we figured out the right way to go Kenedy did a really good job with driving. I took a picture of all of us and sent it to my family and they were laughing at Kenedy's expression because she looked so scared. She was smiling for the picture but I must have taken too long and caught her nervously looking back at the road.
She had me take another picture to show her looking more confidant while driving.
The trip down to Utah was not too bad. We had plenty of snacks and activities to occupy ourselves. There was some grumpiness going on in the back seat but it is to be expected when three kids are crammed back there for 5 hours.
Avy and I enjoyed some selfie taking and Rylee was pretty excited about filling up her boogie board with a solid color!
Once we got to the Hotel we found our rooms and settled in for a bit. I am pretty sure I had the best roommates on this trip. I had Rylee, Brielle and Qiana. Those three loved every bit of the Hotel life and spent a lot of time roaming the hallways and unlocking our door. They loved the door key and might have had some teeny tiffs over who was going to carry it at any given time. At one point I had to put Qiana and Rylee in a brief timeout in Grandma and Grandpas room because while I was in there hanging out we were told that those two were knocking on random doors and running away. I put them in a two hour time out on the couch ;) but Grandpa let them go after a couple of minutes with a promise from them that they would not do that again.
We went to eat at Golden Corral and then when we got back I took the girls swimming at the Hotel pool. I love that these three are the best of friends and they have so much fun hanging out together. We spent about two hours down there before I finally made them get out and we went back to our room so they could shower and go to bed.
Brielle, Rylee and Qiana
Avynlea, Ally, Mikayla and Kenedy
Our Hotel room had double beds and so I expected that we would have two in each bed. But these girls had other ideas and wanted to all three be in the same bed. I was more then fine with having my own bed and did not complain one bit about that situation! Kenedy and Avynlea shared a room with Ally, Mikayla, Sara and Trista, while Ryker was in with Austin, Bailey and Levi. Gwen and Jeremy got their own room as did Bob and Alison.
The next morning it was time for Lagoon! A couple of days ago Avy texted Sara telling her to wear her Captain America shirt so that they could match.
With Kefford not being there with me I was a little concerned about who I was going to pal around with. Kenedy already told me she and Mikayla were going to do their own thing and Sara had some friends she was meeting at the park so I totally expected to be left with the kids. Luckily Gwen and Jeremy were there so I could hang out with them and since Dustin was with us as well I didn't have to be the awkward third wheel. Because some kids wanted to go on crazy rides and some kids did not this is how the groupings went:
Thrillseekers: Elizabeth, Dustin, Jeremy, Gwen, Rylee, Qiana, Ally and a reluctant Avynlea
Tame riders: Grandma, Grandpa, Mikayla, Brielle, Isabelle and Audrey
Teen Thrill seekers: Kenedy, Ryker, Bailey and Levi (Baileys friend)
Sara was with her friends and Trista and Austin were a boring engaged couple on their own.
Kenedy started off with Mikayla but they both soon realized this pairing was not going to work out as much as they wanted it to since Mikayla was not OK with the wild rides that Kenedy wanted to go on. Luckily they found the groups that they were more suited to and everyone went happily on their way.
The first ride our group wanted to go on was Cannibal. I was not really wanting to go on this but I figured I should give it a go at least once and went along with everyone else. Avy was absolutely not going on this ride and I had her wait in line with us and as we were getting in the coaster she crossed over and went down the exit to wait for us. I got in and had Qiana sitting by me with Rylee on the other side of her. I was pretty nervous the entire time waiting in line but as I sat down and got locked into place those nerves turned into full-blown panic and I was screaming in my head that I wanted to get out. It was too late and I looked over at Rylee and Qiana's calm and excited faces and thought if they can do it I better be a grownup and suck it up. So I closed my eyes and took some deep breaths and kept them shut through the entire ride. It was a lot easier to get through it with my eyes closed and, ok, maybe having them shut took away a lot of the thrill but it was the only way for me to get through this without looking and acting like a big baby. When we got done my arms and hands were tingling and I could not move my hands at all. My fingers were locked and it looked like I had a stroke. It freaked me out but after about 5 minutes they were fine.
The girls wanted to go on Paratroopers where Rylee had a minor freakout when her hat flew off but I was able to find it and recover it for her :)
Rylee and Qiana were the only ones to brave Samurai, being tossed around and around was not appealing to us adults. barf
The kids also went on and loved the roller coaster Jetstar
Bailey, Levi, Kenedy and Ryker
To give our lunches a chance to settle we took the sky ride to the other side of the park.
Elizabeth and Gwen Qiana and Rylee
Ally, Avynlea, Qiana and Rylee about to go through The Haunted House
As we were walking by Cliffhanger Gwen and I thought it looked like a fun one for the kids to go on. They got soaked on this ride and everyone really enjoyed it except for Rylee, she was not thrilled with this one. I really enjoyed watching them on this one!
The girls riding Musik Express
After a lot of park fun we took the girls back to the Hotel to go swimming. Once we all changed Mikayla said she wanted to go swimming at Lagoon instead of the Hotal and so Gwen and Jeremy took Mikayla, Avy and Ally to the park and I stayed at the Hotel with Brielle, Isabelle, Rylee, Qiana and Audrey while they swam.
I was texting my family about my experience on the Cannibal ride and Heather wanted to know if pictures were taken on the ride so they could see my face. I told them no and then Mom said I needed to recreate how I looked and send it to them. The first picture I took was pretty accurate but Mom said I did not enough terror in my face so I sent the second picture.
I had a lot of fun with the Peterson's at Lagoon and really always love anytime we can be with family!