Monday, June 2, 2008

Mt. Timpanogos




Diary of an Everyday Housewife
Sunday, June 1, 2008

Hello, One and All!
Yesterday Aaron decided that we should have a family bonding moment and hike up to the Timpanogos Caves. We decided to go in the afternoon so that Carson would be well rested after his nap, and have plenty of energy. While Carson was napping, the rest of us did yard work. Bad idea!! It turns out that we all should’ve conserved our energy!
When we arrived at the start of the hike, we were all feeling energized. We each had a water pack and made sure everyone had used the restroom! We were prepared! (By the way, I was a nerd and wore a fanny pack. Aaron calls it my Wonder Woman pack. It holds 4 water bottles. I have no shame!) We knew the hike was 1 ½ miles to the cave. It was going to be a cinch!
The hike started at a pretty steep incline, and got steeper every few feet. Aaron ran ahead with Carson while I literally drug Nyah and Ian up the hill. I was having panic attacks every few minutes thinking of the kids falling off the edge of the mountain. We were all exhausted and sweaty when we saw a little brown sign up ahead that read “1/4” which interpreted means, “We were only ¼ of the way to the caves!” The kids (except Carson who was well rested and energized) complained the whole way up the mountain.
“This is terrible!”
“I’m exhausted!”
“Why did we do this?”
“My legs hurt.”
“I’m thirsty and my water is all gone!”
“When are we going to get there?”
When we finally got to the top, we saw a restroom that said, “Last chance for a restroom!” Ian (who uses the restroom at least 20x a day) said, “I have to go!” I warned him to hold his breath and enter and exit quickly. There were flies buzzing in and out of the makeshift windows.
Ian came out of the bathroom laughing and said, “There was a sign on the wall that read, ‘Keep toilet lids closed to reduce smell.’” I’m thinking the lids were open since I could smell the toilets 20 yards away!!
When our tour finally got started our tour guide introduced herself. “I am Mean, Green (she had a green forest ranger’s outfit on) Coreen.” She then asked if anyone was afraid of the dark. Nyah and Carson started whimpering. She then proceeded to tell us that there were 2 bats sighted the day before. I felt Carson’s hands wrap tightly around my legs and Nyah gripped my hand and asked me at least 100 times if I there was really a bat.
Sometimes, as a mom, I think that it is okay to lie. After the 100th time being questioned about the bat, I finally broke down and said, “Mean, Green Correen is a liar! There are no bats in here!” Luckily, we didn’t see any during our tour!
Once the kids loosened up in the damp, dark caves, they started having a ton of fun.
Carson said, “This is unbelievable!”
Ian said, “This is awesome!”
Cali had a lot of fun laughing at our super cheerful tour guide.
And finally, Nyah enjoyed looking at the stalactites and stalagmites that looked like ice cream and dinosaur heads.
Unfortunately, when we got done with the tour, we had to walk back down the trail. There was more complaining, but it went a lot quicker than the uphill climb. When we all piled in the car, Aaron asked, “Wasn’t that fun! Who wants to come here again?”
Unfortunately for Aaron, none of the kids requested a return trip to Mt. Timpanogos. His hopes of having a family bonding experience were dashed! I think the kids’ memories of the experience will improve as their sore muscles recuperate!
Miss you and love you all! Thanks for your comments on the blog! I’m really enjoying keeping in touch.

Love ya!
Ness

9 comments:

khubble said...

What a cute and ambitious family you guys are. Okay, we will be home on the 11th or 12th of June, we are actually coming to Utah for mileys blessing on the 8th. But after that we will be home the rest of the time you are in California with the exception of the 18-22nd its our 15th anniversary weekend and we won't be in town those days. But that still leaves plenty of time for us to get together hopefully a few times. Can't wait to see you all.

The Everyday Housewife said...

Your anniversary sounds awesome! Hawaii, right?! Wow! I can't wait to hear about it! Can't wait to see you.

homegirl said...

What do you mean, your blog looks cute! Sounds like my kind of day with the family. It always seems to go that way, its a good thing we only remember the fun part!

Tenille Gates said...

HI! I was blog lurking and i came across yours :0) Im pretty sure you taught me in YM..its been a while :0) your family is adorable and its good to see that all is well!!

Memzy said...

I could have sworn I already commented here. Blogspot must have ate my comment. Sounds like a fun day! Good to catch up with you.

homegirl said...

Hey Vanessa, I'm am a loser and I didn't go to Women's Conference. Instead, I was at a hot, sweaty and miserable swim meet. I'll ask around and if I hear something good I'll let you know!

Jennifer said...

Sounds like the kiddos keep you on your toes! But I'm glad in the end, everyone enjoyed themselves! It was really great to meet you and I know Jay enjoyed seeing you after so long. I can't remember if I gave your the correct blogspot address last night, so if not here goes: http://jjsyler.blogspot.com/ Talk to you soon!
Jennifer & Jay :)

homegirl said...

I thought I was bad at posting stuff! You and Kendra need to take off your countdowns and post something new!

The Everyday Housewife said...

Okay, I took the hint and added some blogs! I actually haven't been home long enough this summer to blog at all. I'm getting caught up though! I only have 2 more months of backtracking left to type up! Thanks for keeping in touch!