My whole family was So excited to head up to Utah for our second annual Midway Winter Getaway. We were heading up to join Bella, Britni, Jason and family at Suggie’s place in Midway. Of course it was going to be awesome.
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So in an attempt to drive my favorite way (with kids asleep) I got up at 3:30am and transferred three sleeping kids to the car. We were off, and only had to stop to let Scout go potty, nurse Dash, and let Scout go potty again because he got stage fright the first time. But after we got on the road again at Bake Pkwy, we had smooth sailing until Vegas where we picked up Micah.
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Our drive was great. Micah and I chit chatted, he worked, I drove, he let me nap, he drove, I stopped for a delicious salad at Pizza Factory in St. George, we kept going. And then when we were minutes away from Provo, I led the kids in my favorite part of the drive — the chant once we saw the Y on the mountain.
B - Y - U
B - Y - U
B - Y - U
And then we sang Shem’s original song from when I was probably 6 years old.
B -Y - B - Y - B - Y - U
Do you want to smell my shoe?
If you don’t, I do not care
I’ll pull down your underwear.
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Nostalgia!
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As we were pulling into Provo, my kids were getting anxious to get out of their car seats for the first time. The weather was beautiful — a nice 75 - 80 degrees. (Which was quite different than what we wanted as we were supposedly going up to the snow, but it really was great weather.) So I came up with a fabby dabby idea. I asked the kids if they wanted to hike to the Y. I figured that Micah could get a trail run in, and I could let the kids get some energy out before we drove the last 30 minutes.
Everyone was game.
This is the first moment the kids were out of their seats, and they were wired.
(Did I mention that we were all in our pajamas. Remember we started our drive in the dark.)
Here we are pre-hike.
Funny how my great idea didn’t take into consideration that I would be trekking the Y Hike with a baby strapped to the front of me, three water bottles, my big camera around my neck, flip flops on and two kids who have never taken on such a hike — especially in a particularly high altitude.
Good thing Micah got his trail run in!
Just kidding.
But I did look like quite the spectacle.
First off, I tried to get the kids to carry their own water bottles. Scout had a pretty interesting idea of where to hold his. Unfortunately, it didn’t quite stay, and I ended up holding it by the first switchback.
Micah took off, and Scout followed.
Surprisingly, he was pretty good in his Ugg Boots.
Not surprisingly, he developed blisters that lasted the entire trip.
When we hit one corner, we saw a little patch of snow in the shade.
Scout ran to it, and I think the quote was, “Snow….glorious, beautiful delicious snow!”
Delicious?
Navy ran to it once she saw Scout in heaven.
I think she thought it was just as delicious.
(I know it was kind of nasty to let them take a few nibbles, but they were just so excited.)
After Micah ran for a bit, he turned around to check on us. We stopped at a bench for a family photo. Apparently the girl who snapped the shot didn’t think Icka, who was laying on the bench in a bit of a tantrum, should be part of the family photo. I am not sure if I agree or not.
After our brief stop, Scout realized that his blisters were killing him, and decided to keep going sans shoes. I knew we already looked out-of-control, so who cares about one more thing.
Navy was probably the hardest hiker. She was fully capable, but she wanted to stop at every little thing. And when I have a boy who is rearing to go, and a girl who wants to stop and smell every flower, or stop to catch numerous lady bugs (her pets), it was quite the juggling act.
Here is Scout, way ahead of us, showing us a “Y”.
This was about the highest we went. We didn’t get all the way to the Y — or even half way, but we had a good time. The kids have talked about it a bunch of times, and I was glad to be the hostess of a fun memory.
We turned around and started walking back down. Scout was great at first, but when he stepped on a sharp rock, it all went downhill form there.
But as long as Micah was in charge of Navy — we all made it eventually. Even if there was a point where I was hauling all of my garb — which now included Scout’s shoes and even Scout for a bit. I finally called down to Micah and made him return to get Scout on his back.
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Once in the car on our way out of Provo, I saw that we accomplished what we set out to do. Our kids got all of their energy out for the remainder of the car ride. But by the looks of it all, maybe we had worn them out a little too much.
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Once we hit Midway, our first stop was the new kid’s room.
Suggie made it into a barn, and it is darling. There is a swing in the middle, and about anything else you can think of. The kids were loving every second of it. So they played and played.
But after baths and dinner, my kids went to la la land as quickly as you can imagine.
It was quite the day, with the sweetest ending of Midway.
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