Hall Happenings: Fall Break with the Grandkids

Mid October was fall break for the schools in Utah. I decided to take advantage of that and get the grandkids here for a visit. I drove to SLC on Wednesday and picked up Jake from daycare. "GRANDMA!!! Where's Grandpa???" Will I ever get just a minute to relish in the "Grandma." Probably not. Then we picked up Lijiah from school and drove to Spanish Fork and picked up Mick and Tori. Then it was eastbound with some precious cargo. Jamie and Lilli were in Vernal visiting with her family so Lilli was able to come and spend the night with us too. WOW. It was so fun to have 5 of the 6 grandkids here. We did have pizza for supper, but 1 hour later they were all starved so we had a highly nutritious bedtime snack of popcorn.

Thursday we hung out at the house for a while and then made the required trip to McDonalds for lunch. Jamie and Lilli joined us for lunch but it was nap time so she did not get to go bowling. I have never taken small children bowling before. Yeah for bumper bowling. Also for the ramp that allows them to roll the ball down it. Of course they didn't want to use the ramp. Jake rolled his ball so slow that it didn't even make it 1/2 way down the lane before it stopped and had to be retrieved by one of the workers. After that I made him use the ramp. They all had their moments of glory, but Victoria actually threw a strike in the last frame of the game. They all got about the same score (70's) as I remember getting the last time I bowled -- many, many years ago.

After the bowling, we made a running trip through the museum. A visit to Vernal for Megan's boys is not a visit if we don't go to the zoozeeum.

Friday Rhett and Natalie (who were also staying with us for fall break) agreed to go to the corn maze with us. Jamie and Lilli were headed back to SLC so they met us there.

This roller/bumpy slide is a fun thing for the kids. Rhett and Natalie are so awesome with the little ones.

This is some swing. Rhett got them swinging pretty hard.

This is the entrance to the maze for little ones made out of round straw bales. You can run through the maze or on top of the maze. These guys did plenty of both.

What's a trip to the corn maze without a ride on the cow train??

Each of the kids took a turn --with Uncle Rhett's help -- at shooting a mini pumpkin out of this super high tech pumpkin launcher gun.

Midway through the corn maze is this bridge where you can get a look over the top of everything to see if you are truly lost or just kind of lost :)

There are papers that give you clues which way to go. Natalie was reading the questions as the kids listened carefully to determine right or left.

We made it!!! And we didn't lose one child (or adult).

Also a vital part of the corn maze experience is playing in the corn crib. This year we started with just burying Mick. Then Lijiah. Natalie suggested we bury them all. So here they are, left to right, Mick, Lijiah, Jake, and Tori. (Jamie and Lillie decided to forgo the itchiness of the corn crib and headed home.)

They're alive!!

As mentioned in a previous post, Clark is spearheading a monthly hike/outdoor experience for our ward. This month it was to Fantasy Canyon. This is a totally awesome place of weird, creative sandstone formations about 30 miles southeast of Vernal. The grandkids had never been there so we were grateful they were here to share in the day. The previous two ward expeditions were not well attended, but this one had about 26 people there. Everyone was impressed.