Trampolines & Temples - different kinds of adventures

August 9, 2010 –

Travis and Alicia’s kids have their own thrill ride at their house. Their home is built on three levels with a back deck built onto the second level. On ground level right next to the deck is a big trampoline. Dee and Kit – you may want to close your computers down so you won’t read this, and Brian – I’m sure we’ll be seeing you for adjustments as soon as we’re home. Tanner, Marshall, KJ and even Kennedy love jumping off the second floor deck onto the trampoline below. Alex got to be pretty good at it too, and Zac and Katie wanted their turn as well although they were both a little nervous.

Zac built up the courage to jump a couple of times; the jumps were fine, but then he had a hard time controlling the bounce afterward. The first time he did a face plant after the bounce, and the second time he kind of landed on his side. Katie really wanted to go but was scared to jump. So I did a Michael Jackson and held her over the side. I lowered her as far as I could reach and then dropped her. She landed fine, but then bounced forward and did a belly flop. Once was enough for her.

Although the daring plunge off the deck was very memorable, our real activity for the day was going into Salt Lake City to see some of the Mormon Church sites there. We had intended to start the visit at the This Is the Place Heritage Park at the site where Brigham Young looked over the Salt Lake Valley and reportedly said, “This is the place,” referring to where the Mormon pioneers would settle after their journey westward.

Our friend Travis has apparently never been to This Is the Place Park but had recently taken his kids on a hike to Ensign Peak. A couple of days after arriving in the Salt Lake Valley, Brigham Young and others hiked the peak and began planning and laying out the city. Travis mistakenly gave us directions to Ensign Peak, and that’s where we ended up. Since we were there, we decided to hike to the top. It wasn’t long (maybe a mile or so round trip), but it was fairly steep at some points and didn’t have a lot of shade. Alex was fine, but Zac and Katie needed some encouragement. Just when Zac was ready to turn around, a big cloud blocked out the sun for a while and a cool wind even started to blow. He and I agreed that it was a miracle (although of a minor scale), and he then made it to the top. The view of the valley was pretty amazing, and the exercise did us all some good.

We considered trying to go the This Is the Place Park afterward, but we decided that could wait for another trip. We then went down the mountain a short way to visit Temple Square. There are two visitor centers as well as several historic buildings that people can tour around the Salt Lake Temple. The giant statue of Christ in the North Visitors Center is definitely a highlight, and both the old Tabernacle and new Conference Center are well worth touring. From the roof of the Conference Center, you see an awesome view of the Temple and the surrounding area. I think the whole family enjoyed our tour of Temple Square.

This evening, we hung out with Travis, Alicia and family. Travis, Tanner and I started doing some prep work on Tanner’s Eagle project that he is doing for Boy Scouts, and the kids played together. Tonight the kids decided to have a campout on the trampoline. Our kids didn’t really make it the whole night though. Katie loved the idea and hung out for a while, but then came into our room when it was time to sleep at around midnight. Alex couldn’t fall asleep after all the other kids were all out, and she ended up coming in around 1:00 or 1:30. Zac then woke up around 4:30 and found his way in too. Between kids coming in and out, I think I woke up at least three times. Finally, I just went into the playroom and slept for a couple of hours on a giant beanbag. One adventure right after another – aren’t family vacations great? I wouldn’t trade them for anything.