Moab

This year Ryan's company sent us on a retreat to Moab.  This time the owners weren't able to join us, so it was Ryan and me, the secretary Amanda and her husband Chuck, and the new manager in Logan, Brian and his wife Amanda.  It was a lot of fun with all of us so close to the same age group, although Ryan and I were the oldest :(.  Thursday night four of us went to dinner and did some shopping.  Brian and Amanda weren't able to leave Logan as soon as the rest of us were, so they got there pretty late that night.  The next morning we rented some Jeeps and tried to find some trails.  You would think the Jeep rental company would give you a map, but no, we were on our own.  So after some help from the Chamber, we headed for Tusher Tunnel. 

 Although the trail on this one wasn't very adventurious, the destination was pretty cool! Two huge rocks formed a long tunnel that lead to a great view! Since this was only accessible by Jeep or ATV it was something not a lot of people get to see.

Next we headed to the Chicken Crossing Trail, which ended up being so long and so adventurous that we didn't get to finish it.  Still it lead to some great rock formations, and the boys got to test their Jeeps abilities more fully than the first trail.

That night all six of us had some great mexican food, did some more shopping, and then played cards back at the hotel. I'm a little sad I didn't get more photos of all of us! It was a nice little break and I will admit that I was done Jeeping after about an hour, but everyone else seemed to have fun and I definately slept well that night!  Bouncing around for six hours will definately wear you out!

Saturday morning Ryan and I did some driving through Arches.  Since we had gone before we didn't do any of the hikes, but Ryan enjoyed taking some photos.  Not a bad little break from work and home before summer ends!

Zoo

This year we didn't have too much money to go somewhere for our Anniversary, so we decided to spend the day at the zoo with Andrea and then go out to a nice dinner.

They recently opened a new section of the zoo that has been under construction for years. I was so glad that it didn't dissapoint! There is an entire under water section where you can watch the seals, sea lions, and polor bear in action.  The polar bear was hilarious and obviously has a little OCD, he just did his little backstrock swim routine over and over and over.

The sea lions were also very neat and would come right up to the glass.

Andrea of course also loved the carousel, and this was the first year she could understand when the ride was over, and time to get off, and there was no crying at all!

We, of course, road the train, which has always been a little dissapointing when it comes to the exhibits, but the ride has been enough for Andrea.  We were informed that the train will be closing for two years to remodel that entire area into an African Safari.  Alrhough I'm sad the train will be closed, it's long overdue!

First Day of Dance

It's been pretty evident that Andea would love to take dance lessons, and this year she is old enough.  So we signed her up with Dance Attitude here in town. After asking a lot of the other moms, I got the best feedback about this group.  It does make me feel a little old, however, since the company's owner also taught me dance when I was Andrea's age, but I'm sure I'm not the first alumni she's had bring their daugther to dance there. 

 When I called to sign up I was told that I am welcome to stay the first class to watch, and get more information about the schedule and pricing, but after that they don't like the moms to stay.  I was a little taken aback, this will be the first outside activity that I just drop Andrea off to, and I don't know if I'm ready. 

After the first class it was easy to see why they don't like the parents to stay.  Andrea was good for the most part about staying with the class and doing what she was told, but occationally she would come over to say "Mom, did you see that" or "Am I doing good?". 

I was so surprised at how well she listened and tried every move they told her, it was definately a Mommy Paycheck moment when even one of the other moms told me they were impressed with how well Andrea listens. 

The teachers were so cute with the girls, and I can tell she is going to love dance class.  We'll see how next week goes for me when I have to let my baby go for the first time.  Hopefully this will make preschool and kindergarten a little easier!