Summer Vacation Part 1

So we did more than go to NYC this summer-- it's not summer without a road trip-- so that's what we did.  First, we hit the road to Cedar City, Utah where we stayed in a strange hotel room at Abbey Inn.  It was strange because of the layout-- I think the room used to belong to the owners because it had a full kitchen and was very long (and it was also right behind the front desk).  The girls loved the indoor pool (you are going to notice a theme with this...) and loved having their own TV to watch Disney Channel.  The room for Jackie and me was all the way down a hall- and felt far away from the kids-- which was fine with me.
Saturday morning, we woke up, and went over to the Utah Shakespeare Festival on the campus of SUU.  The girls loved the gift shop- but the best part was a special, private backstage tour given by Michael Bahr (education director at the festival).  He customized it for our girls and made it all revolve around Into the Woods (which we were seeing).  It was such a great tour- and Michael is such a great guy (and is always running from one place to the next).
After grabbing a quick lunch at the Pastry Pub, it was off to see Into the Woods.  It was a great show-- Little Red and Cinderella's Prince stole the show.  It was still a preview (the Narrator forgot a couple of lyrics-- which ended up being funny because the ensemble ended up singing responses to questions that were never asked..) and- more importantly, our girls loved it and were into it the entire time.

After the show, it was time for dinner (and we went to 2 places-- somewhere simple for the girls, and awesome BBQ for Jackie and myself)-- and at the BBQ place, we run into my former student (and all around great guy and designer), Daniel Whiting (down there designing for the Neil Simon Festival).
We also made sure to eat a tart and candy for the Greenshow (Ireland edition- kind of like Once without the working pub)-- Ellis proclaimed she didn't like Greenshows-- but I secretly caught her listening...
On Sunday, it was off to Zion's.  I decided that we should try something a little outside of our comfort zone-- so I signed us up to tube the Virgin River right outside Zion's.  Everyone had to be able to handle their own tubes (and our guide told us that the trip is very interactive) and off we went with water shoes on and a song in our hearts.
That was for the first 10 minutes.  Ellis and Millie shot down the river at first while Jackie and I kept getting our butts stuck on rocks.  For a little while, it was so rocky it was easier for me to stand up, hold the inner tube and walk down the river--- or more like chase after Millie (who was gliding along singing at the top of her lungs).  Ellis kept getting stuck and after a bit, she declared she was done, hopped onto the back of the river and started walking along the edge.  Periodically, Ellis would also be swept into huge branches on the side of the banks and begin screaming.  Jackie ended up staying with Ellis (after having a nice pee party at some point in the river) while I raced after Millie (and slipped and fell twice-- once really hard on my back (right on a rock) and once when a rock gouged all the skin off my ankle.  It was certainly an adventure.  I could make a lot of analogies about this trek (we can do hard things- sometimes you just have to pee in the water- don't give up- reward comes after frustrations- I HATE THIS DAMN RIVER-etc... but in the end (2 and a half hours later), we were at the end, Jackie with a sun burnt back and so happy to be on dry land.
After an awesome lunch, Jackie passed out at the hotel while I went swimming in 108 degree heat at our hotel (which had a great, cool, outdoor pool) with the girls.  It was a celebration of the day-- because we were alive.