This is the second post on our Christmas trip to Utah. If you want to see the previous post, just click here.
The last post left off with us arriving in Park City. We were fortunate enough to stay at my in-laws condo in Park City. The biggest reason we went up there, was to spend some fun time in the snow. As Park City is a world-renown ski resort, we thought the snow would be pretty good. We were right. Between Texas and California, none of my kids spend much time in the snow. This was a real treat. In addition, this was my grandson's first real experience with snow. Any time you get to bundle little kids up in snow gear, it's hilariously cute. Here's a series of pictures from our fun in the snow!
We found a little hill, and introduced the little kids to sledding. It wasn't much, but they sure loved it.
Here's G-Man and his little sister giving it a try...
My wife was out there, taking pictures of everyone else. We finally made her take a ride down the hill. It didn't take a lot of convincing, to be honest...
Later that morning, many of us went into downtown Park City. I love the main street, as it's lined with art galleries, restaurants and cool, little shops. We stood together for a few snapshots:
After lunch, we headed south and drove straight for Midway. We heard about this amazing "ice castle" and wanted to check it out for ourselves. It was amazing! Set on a small patch of land, folks had been spraying water in small amounts to create ice sculptures, for several weeks. Gradually, they had built entire walls of ice. Many of these were 15 ft tall. Here's a video of us walking into the "courtyard" of the castle:
This place was amazing. They continue to add more ice to the structures, so that it continues to change, over time. It was fun to explore all the different paths and small caves.
While we were inside the castle, we ran into cousins that were visiting Utah from Tokyo. What a crazy coincidence. We were trying to figure out how to catch up with them while we were both there, and wouldn't you know it...we ran right into them. What a great chance to catch-up in the ice!
We finally drove all the way back to Orem, as it was New Year's Eve. Over the last few years, we've started a tradition on New Year's Eve of ordering take-out from cuisine around the world. We had dishes from India, Japan, China, Thailand and Mexico. It was seriously delicious!
I love giving people a chance to try food from cultures that they don't normally dine from. I've been lucky to travel around the world, and try food from so many interesting destinations. I think it's a pretty cool tradition.
That evening, my little sister and her husband came over to visit. They are close to my oldest kids in age, and have grown-up together, over the years. Due to several circumstances, they haven't all been together in almost two years. It was great to see them catching up with each other:
Another tradition that we've observed, involves having activities for the kids each hour, counting down to midnight. One of the activities was a silly string fight, outside in the snow. Here are some great pictures of the action:
Look at Grandpa in action with the kids ; )
Another activity involved making a lot of noise for a short period of time...I'm sure glad we put a time-limit on this one...
Yet another activity involved an M&M-eating contest. Watch Grandpa employ a tactic that didn't even occur to the kids:
Overall, we had another great New Year's Eve...one to remember, that's for sure. That's it for this post. Join us next time when we celebrate my youngest daughter's third birthday....
No comments:
Post a Comment