Long Train Journey

Leave a comment

Last month we went on a true Adventure when we took the Amtrak train (the “California Zephyr”) from Salt Lake City to Colorado (Glenwood Springs). Our final destination was Snowmass Village, Colorado (which is near Aspen) where we attended the Utah Bar convention.

The train trip itself went very well — even though it was 9 hours each way. We brought our portable DVD player (along with several “new” DVDs we borrowed from the library) and busied ourselves with napping, watching the scenery along the way, and stopping at the cafe cart for snacks.

The Snowmass Village area was beautiful and we enjoyed taking several gondola rides and going on hikes in the area. We went swimming every day at the hotel pool and had some great meals. We even stumbled upon an outdoor concert with a great view of the entire valley.

Although we had a great vacation, there was definitely a downside to our grand train adventure. The trains were insanely delayed both times. By several hours. Train travel in the US is definitely not for people who are on any kind of schedule or timeframe — it is only best enjoyed if you have no pressing need to arrive at your destination at any particular time. We also had to deal with leaving and arriving in the middle of the night (3-4am). Theo was a trooper and took it all in stride, but this means of travel may not be in our future ever again. Perhaps this is only what it’s like in the Mountain West (we’ve taken Amtrak on the East coast without any problems lots of times) but if you need to travel between California and Chicago (which is the route our train took) be prepared to do a lot of waiting and be very relaxed about your schedule.

Park City Escape

Leave a comment

A few weeks ago we went on a short 24-hour getaway to Park City with some friends, and it was a great little escape. We went up for the Deer Valley Music Festival’s Disney concert and arrived early on a Friday evening. We stayed at a great condo in Deer Valley and were able to eat dinner and settle in before the concert.

The kids loved the concert! They wanted to stay until they could hear the songs from “Frozen” which meant that we stayed until the very end, which was around 10pm. We still had to navigate the packed parking lot, but were happy to only drive a few minutes until we got to the condo. The kids went to bed immediately and we were all ready to relax and rest.

The next day, we woke and ate a casual breakfast at the condo and then headed out to Park City’s Main Street for the Kimball Arts Festival. The traffic going into Park City the day before had been really terrible since they blocked off lanes for the exclusive use of shuttle buses. We took advantage of these (free!) buses on Saturday and were able to get in and out of Main Street easily without having to worry about parking.

There was a special kids area with activities and we watched a pottery demonstration. The adults enjoyed looking at all the various artists’ work while the kids focused on things like snow cones. We had a nice lunch at a restaurant on Main Street and then headed back to the condo. The kids took a quick dip in the hot tub while the adults finished packing up and then we said goodbye to Park City!

It was a great little respite from the heat of the Salt Lake valley and felt like we were really away from the daily grind. So glad that we live near someplace that can feel like we’re so far away!

Wasatch Wildflower Festival

Leave a comment

Last weekend, we went to Snowbird up Little Cottonwood Canyon for the annual Wasatch Wildflower Festival. The Festival provided guided hikes of varying levels and abilities, all with the focus of looking at the beautiful summer wildflowers we have in Utah. There were also hikes offered at Brighton, Solitude and Alta on different days.

Of particular interest to us, of course, was the “Kids Walks” which were shorter (less than an hour) and provided activities. We had two knowledgable guides take us on a 1-mile hike on the lower mountain trail. They pointed out the various kinds of vegetation and flowers and gave the kids magnifying glasses to look more closely at them. The hike they took us on was pretty much paved the entire way, so even those with strollers could easily navigate it.

We are so lucky to live near these great ski/summer resorts. It is always such a nice way to spend a summer weekend in Utah; even though it was near 100 degrees in the valley, it was cooler up in the mountains. And as I’ve mentioned in the past, beating the heat in the summer is definitely one of my favorite things!

My Favorite Toy Stores

Leave a comment

This post isn’t necessarily about an “adventure” that I’ve taken with Theo but is still in the realm of kids’-related activities that parents encounter throughout the years. I am talking about buying gifts — whether for your own child or as a birthday present for another child. Here are my favorite go-to kids/toys stores that I like to buy from, that go beyond the usual chain toy store. Happy shopping!

UMFA Gift Shop  at Utah Museum of Fine Arts
410 Campus Center Drive

  • I’ve already written a post about this store (link above) but wanted to include it here too. It is such a great selection of unique and thoughtful items and I like supporting the museum at the same time. Members get a 10% discount at the store.

Jou Jou at The Grand America Hotel
555 South Main Street

  • This wins for the best ambiance of any toy store I’ve ever been in. It is playful and anyone walking into the store feels like a kid again. I love their selection of robot-themed items and the customizable candy tubes in the back (which play music too!).

Hip & Humble
1043 East 900 South

  • This is one of my favorite local boutiques for adults, but I have found some great gifts for kids or young women here too. Great gift-wrapping is also a plus, and I love their black/white/hot pink/polka dot color scheme which makes a fun presentation.

Tutoring Toy
1400 Foothill Drive

  • I think this is my favorite “classic” toy store and it is mostly due to the proprietors’ charm and friendliness. If I am truly clueless about what to buy a child, I know I can trust the owner’s expertise and advice on choosing an appropriate toy. They are knowledgable and make you feel like you are in a small-town toy store. They also offer fun free gift wrap, but they include a bundle of confetti paper that you will end up finding pieces of all over the place.

Lakeshore Learning
5480 South 900 East

  • This is actually a store geared towards teachers and educational supplies, but I love finding great toys here. Sometimes you just need to feel like the toys you accumulate in your home have some educational purpose to them and this is the right place to find those things. Everything is pretty high quality and I’ve had excellent customer service from the company when I contacted them regarding a missing piece.

The Kings English Bookshop
1511 South 1500 East

  • One of my favorite gifts to give kids lately is a book from this store. Of course you can find a book for a child anywhere, but I like to support this local shop and they have an extensive children’s section. The store always has book signings with authors so if I can time it right, I like to go and get a book personalized for a child at those events. They also have autographed copies for sale at all times, which is a nice touch to add for no extra cost.

Time to Build

Leave a comment

Over the past month, we’ve checked out the various free workshops offered by our local Home Depot and Lowe’s hardware stores. The alternate title of this post is “Building Character” because there is something satisfying about having your children make and build their own toys — and hopefully having them appreciate them more. Time will tell if Theo has learned any character-building traits from these activities, but he did have a lot of fun making them.

Both stores have a same general concept: they set aside time (on Saturday mornings) to have a section of the store designated as the kids’ workshop area and supply a kit and the tools necessary to build the kit. After giving you these items (and a free kids apron to keep), you’re pretty much on your own. Even as non-handy as I am, we had no trouble navigating the instructions sheets — well, sort of.

The Home Depot activity this month was a small toy riding lawnmower. We needed to use a hammer, wood glue, and paint (to decorate the lawnmower after it was built). Pretty straightforward although the paint was a little messy and it was hard for an instant-gratification-er like Theo to realize that he had to wait for the paint to dry before he could apply the supplied decoration stickers. He actually plays with the mower at home and it’s found a nice place to live with the rest of his cars/trucks. Home Depot gives each child a pin of the activity upon completion to put on their apron, which is kind of a nice touch and gives a sense of accomplishment. I saw some older kids there with their aprons full of pins (like 20+) which seemed like this could be a fun ongoing activity.

The Lowe’s program (called “Build & Grow”) was similar to the Home Depot one, except that they had a much more restrictive registration policy. You definitely have to sign up in advance for the Lowe’s workshop (I actually missed the deadline for one of them and had to wait for the next one) and they fill up. (Whereas the Home Depot one says you can call ahead and register, but they seemed a lot more lenient on just walking in.) Lowe’s also gives you a free apron and throws in some kid goggles as well (which Theo took off after he realized the activity didn’t really warrant eye protection, but they sure look cute).

The Lowe’s activity was a “sheep drop” game which was merchandised in conjunction with the How to Train Your Dragon 2 movie. We haven’t seen the movie and had no idea what the tie-in was, but were still able to enjoy the construction and the game/toy. I mentioned how I sort-of had no problems with the instructions in general — in this kit they gave you two different lengths of tiny nails and I didn’t realize until we finished one of the steps that I had used the wrong size nail. It wasn’t a big deal but I kind of figure that these kits should at least be as easy as assembling something from Ikea. No matter, Theo still had a lot of fun pounding in all the microscopic nails. This kit just had decoration stickers to apply (we opted out of the movie-promoting-non-essential/functional one) and Theo could begin to play the game immediately. It is basically a box that you fling small wooden sheep into using a launcher, and you can conveniently carry all the pieces in the body of the box. Lowe’s gives each child an iron-on patch of completion for the activity similar to Home Depot’s pins. I definitely won’t be taking the time to iron on any patches but there is a handy pocket on the apron where you can accumulate the patches.

Given that these workshops are completely free, I think we will definitely be heading back to them depending on the kit and our schedule. You can look at the websites (links above) of each store in advance to check out what the activity will be (and register online), and remember to sign up for the Lowe’s one in advance if that is looking interesting to you. Happy building!

Homestead Resort Summer Concerts

Leave a comment

To celebrate the Summer Solstice, we looked for a fun activity where we could spend the evening outdoors enjoying the longest day of the year (which was of course way past Theo’s bedtime). We met some friends in Midway, Utah to go to the Summer Concert series at Homestead Resort.

It was perfect outdoor concert weather and a very mellow, relaxed atmosphere. Much like many other outdoor concerts, it is BYOB and bring-your-own-blankets/chairs. We found a shady spot and the kids ran off to explore the area while we chatted, listened to music and had some wine and dessert.

The boys also went to explore the crater and I enjoyed having the Homestead hotel lobby nearby (with clean indoor bathrooms). They have a package where you can order a picnic dinner and even spend the night, but we opted out of this and brought our own food. At the end of the night, we changed Theo into his pajamas for the ride home (which took about 1 hour) and marveled at the sky still being illuminated by the sun at close to 10pm. He fell asleep on the way and transferred into his bed at home without a peep.

The Summer Concert series runs throughout the summer on Saturday evenings and is free, so head this way if you need a relaxing summer escape!

Red Butte Gardens Summer Family Campouts

Leave a comment

One of of favorite summer traditions, which we will be doing for the 3rd time this year, is the Red Butte Gardens summer family campout. It is the perfect family activity for our family since I am not a camper, but my husband and Theo love it. They have gone on boys trips alone to camp, but this campout is one that even I can enjoy. 🙂

The amphitheater lawn area is reserved for the tents, and the programming during the evening includes s’mores, guided hikes, and music and movies. One year they even had telescopes set up to look at planets. Everyone sleeps using their own gear, and then in the morning they provide a catered hot breakfast.

It is truly “camping Lite” for those of you who may be concerned about bringing very young kids to “real camping” or those of you who don’t want to be completely removed from civilization or those of you who want running water and indoor plumbing nearby. These are all big highlights for me personally, and  I don’t think I’m the only one. The campouts typically sell out and require pre-registration, so book your dates now! (They typically have two dates every summer: one in July and one in August). Happy Camping or “Camping”!

A Curious Destination

Leave a comment
Today we went to visit the new Museum of Natural Curiosity at Thanksgiving Point. To make it even more of an Adventure, we took the Frontrunner train from Salt Lake to Lehi to the museum.

I’ve mentioned the Frontrunner train on this blog before, when I mentioned taking it to the Treehouse Museum in Ogden. I have been a frequent traveler on many public transport systems while living in Chicago, Boston and Washington, D.C. but I have never encountered a more pleasant commuter train ride than the Frontrunner here in SLC. It is always exactly on time, pristinely clean, and never crowded. You can take it as north as Ogden and south as Provo. We’ve ridden the entire line and I’m so glad it is an option. Anyway, kids 6 and under are free, and adults can buy a group pass that pays for itself if you have 2 adults riding roundtrip.

When we arrived in Lehi, we had to walk about 1 mile from the train station to the museum itself. It was a scenic walk along a golf course for most of the way, with sidewalks available. Once you reach Thanksgiving Point itself, there is a stretch of road into the museum where there aren’t any sidewalks so we had to walk carefully along the side of the street. It is still paved, so a stroller would be doable, but I was surprised that they wouldn’t provide a sidewalk along the main thoroughfare into the children’s museum.

It’s in sight! We made it!

The museum only opened a few weeks ago, and even on a weekday morning, it was very crowded. Like wait-outside-in-a-line-just-to-get-in crowded. I’m used to doing that going into a concert or something like that but to have restless kids involved is not as much fun. We eventually made it inside and took a look around!

We hit up every area of the museum with the exception of the high ropes course, which was an additional fee. Everything was bright and new but nothing really jumped out at me as exceptional, or unique to the museum. In fact, one of our favorite parts was going into the Children’s Discovery Garden (which they thoughtfully planned to be connected to the museum). I tend to think the most impressive part of Thanksgiving Point is still the outdoor gardens.

Overall, it was an enjoyable day trip since we involved the fun of taking the train back and forth, but it probably won’t be a very frequent destination since it’s pretty far away for what it is and about double the price of the children’s museum we have close to home. But I’m always glad to see more infrastructure being built for children and families and I’m sure it is a welcome addition to the Utah county area.