Summer Vacation 2015 pt. 1

Tracy finished off the class he was teaching for the first half of summer at the end of July. The following day we took off for our Summer Vacation to Utah.

We took a bit of a longer route and spent the fist night in Las Vegas at what James calls the Fun Hotel (aka. Sam's Town).

Stopped to feed Charles on the road to Vegas and James gets a geology lesson.

He has eyes on the top of his head!

Happy to be out of the car while we have lunch.

I wanted a picture of James and Charles at the fun hotel, but James refused.
So I got one of just Charles.

We spent the first weekend in Utah in St. George. There we celebrated our anniversary. Left the kids with grandma and had dinner at The Cliff restaurant and saw Mission Impossible III. It was nice to be kid free for an evening. It had far too long since that had happened. Also while in St. George Tracy and his cousin took the Jeeps off road. I stayed behind because Charles just isn't old enough for that kind of adventure.

Deep in thought!

These two play very well together.

Duck pond near Tracy's cousin's condo.

Looking for fossils in the rocks.

Playing at the splash pad in downtown St. George.

A cutie!

James fell asleep like this on our way to grandma and grandpa house.

After St. George we spent some time at grandma's and grandpa's house. James had fun playing (sometimes pestering) with grandpa. Tracy had a meeting at Thanksgiving Point, so we tagged along and met some friends there too. Too bad the two 5 years didn't remember each other after 3 years of not really seeing each other, but it was fun to see them and spending time with them again. 

Tracy at his meeting in the fish bowl.

I didn't get a picture of the boys at the museum,
so I got some at Culver's during lunch.

Wednesday, August 5th was a very anticipated day! My sister Kandace returned from her mission.

Awaiting her return.

I think we took over JCW's, well at least this back section.

The next couple of days we spent in Provo. We visited the Bean Museum, explored the Provo River Trail which brought back memories of all the times I use to walk the trail to and from work.

At the Bean Museum

Charles checking out the tiger.

I was happy to see Shasta was still here.

James loved the giant elevator. He's blurry because he was running around in it.

Figuring out their creature power. (Thanks Wild Kratts)

He really loved the Zebras

He loved the Provo River Trail

Charles slept almost the whole time.

I think the bridges were his favorite.

"This goes all the way to the mountains. That's a long way."
He was very astonished by this discovery.

Throwing rocks.

The 7th we had a day of spending time with family. We had lunch with my 2 best friends which are pretty much family and a dinner celebrating the return of my sister. It was a fun day spent with loved ones.

At lunch with my friends

Holding Charles

On the 8th we went to the Nephi Demolition Derby. James had a blast watching the cars crash.

On the 9th my sister had her homecoming so we spent more time with my family. It was lots of fun. James really enjoyed playing with all his cousins, especially the 2 that are his age.

My siblings their families.
Missing one sister and her family and one brother..

After that we headed to Moab, check out part 2.