Field Trip

April 18 and 19 I chaperoned Eric's High School Orchestra field trip to Provo and Salt Lake. We went to a workshop at BYU and those kids were treated to a really cool session of instructions from a well-known conductor (Kory Katseanas), then they watched a rehearsal. Went to a Mall in SLC, ate out, attended the Utah Symphony concert in Abravanel hall on Friday evening.

And the fun stuff started the next day when we went to LAGOON! It's a theme park in Farmington, Utah. I hadn't been in years, and there were new roller coasters. So we rode and rode and rode. There were no crowds, so we could just walk right on the rides some of the time. THAT was fun. I don't have pictures of roller coasters, but I have a few shots of Eric and his friends. I also don't have a picture of us AFTER we rode the wettest ride in the park. I don't have a record of me looking like a drowned rat because on the "Cliff Hanger" I got water in my ears, up my nose. . .I may as well have gone swimming! I went into a bathroom and RUNG OUT all my clothing over the toilet. Honest-- ALL my clothing. It was ridiculous. Eric apologized all over for making me ride it with him. "I'm so sorry, Mom!" he kept screaming through the streams of water running down his face on the ride. ha. Yeah, well. We dried eventually.



Eric and I still love roller coasters, and since they go fast, they helped us dry off. The air quality left much to be desired. On our drive home along the Wasatch front, we could not see the mountains at all through all the dust and particles in the air. It was way windy and way bad air quality. Mostly just dust. We were so gritty. The air cleared up in the central part of the state. But driving along the freeway and NOT being able to see mountains is really weird. That might be the case during a snow storm, but this was not snow or anything wet--just dry dust and guck blowing through the valleys.




And we were exhausted when we got home. But a fun time was had by all. Eric even had enough energy to attend the Junior Prom at his school that night! He left Lagoon a little earlier than the rest of us and got home in time for that. I stayed and rode the bus home with the rest of the chaperones. It was a bus full of some really nice kids.



Show us your wettest side! And we thought we looked wet after riding "Rattle Snake Rapids." I don't think so! Can you tell I was trying hard to take a quick pix of the 8 of us in the raft before things started getting wet so I could my camera quickly away in my purse. This was before the Cliff Hanger fiasco.

Fun Run

Whoever named these "Fun Runs" must have liked running or something. Some of us just DON'T! So why do we do it? Why, for the medals and door prize drawings, of course~ and the T-shirts! ha.

Eric and I and various other family members and friends have been participants in the local ROTC Run, Walk or Get Out of the Way Fun Run (Real name: "Lead, Follow or Get out of the Way")for several years now. Nick and Katie came last year. Katie ran and Nick was the "official" photographer for our family. My friend, Nancy, has run with me before. Eric's gone with other friends. This year I was the only one with a camera while Eric and I ran. We (well, I did) won medals. I got first place in my age category. The kids keep telling me, "Mom, you don't HAVE to tell them there were only two in your age category!" ha ha. Well, there were, but I WAS first. =) And it's not the first time I've medaled--it's the age thing.



This year a few of Eric's friends and fellow cross country runners came. Can you tell it was COLD that morning? Yikes. One of Eric's friends fell and cut up her knee pretty badly on the first lap of our twice around the campus 5K run, but after a less-than-a-minute time out, she finished~and won second place in her age category! Way to go, Venice! There is a picture of Eric being a supportive friend. He actually took LOTS of gory pictures of her damaged knee. I'll spare you the details. We had to document it for her family who couldn't be there! Hers was the only injury.


Here's a nice shot of Eric stretching before the race. That kid is VERY limber!






Our best door prize was dinner for two at the Garden House Restaurant here in Cedar. I won it, but since Venice won ZERO door prizes, I gave it to Eric and he and Venice and Venice's sister all went out to eat together and had a fun time. The Jardine family has kind of adopted Eric as one of their other children. At least, that is what ERIC tells me! The Mom was one of his first violin teachers. Nice folks.


Claiming my medal. They had them made up this year to look like dog tags--appropriate for an Army Race, yes?


Till next year! Come and join us.