Toilet Paper and Tampons

Sometimes it is the simplest of things that entertain them for hours. Today it was toilet paper and tampons. Such a funny girl.

Didn't You Know?

Ribbons are the Best Toys EVER!

Family Stay-ca-tion Day 3: Discovery Gateway & The Lion House

Day#3 of our Family Stay-ca-tion was filled with the Discovery Gateway Children's Museum. We arrived at 9:30 am. They don't open until 10 am. So we walked to the north end of the Gateway Mall and watched the water spray out of the ground. Sweet Pea wasn't sure what to think of it. At first I thought that she wanted to go play in it, but then she decided that she just wanted to watch. Then we walked back to the Children's Museum.

Once they opened, we walked back to what is called The Garden. This area from the outside kind of looks like a bee hive, but on the inside is what we called The Ball Room. My Sweet Pea LOVEs balls. She could have sat in this room the whole time. And she didn't want anyone else to touch her BLUE balls. It was funny.

There are buckets to pick up the balls and carry to the tubes that you put them down. These tubes go all over. They suck the balls up, play notes when the balls are dropped down them or just roll all over the place.

This wall had a couple of lights that would light up if the ball touched the right pegs. Sweet Pea kept coming back to the balls. I think we came to this room at least 5 times.

After The Garden, we walked into the Kid's Eye View. In this area everything is kid size. First you walk past a mail box. (I'm not sure what it was for) And to your left is a construction zone. Sweet Pea liked to play with the tools, trucks, and huge blocks here.

She made sure that Mamma and Daddy had their hats on:


She really liked to send the blocks down the slide, but was disappointed that she couldn't go down as well.

There was a house in this area. Sweet Pea really didn't care. She walked in opened the fridge, No food. Shut the fridge walked through the living room, sat on the chair, climbed into the crib, then immediately got out. Nothing much in the house for her. She did really like the lawn mower outside the house though.

Then came the water area. There wasn't a whole lot of water. (I'm sure I should be thankful for this, but there wasn't even enough for the boats to float) Most of this area was a little high for my Sweet Pea. But there is one section of it that is low enough that she could stand and play.

Then we went into the Farmer section. There were bowls of veggies next to the garden so you could sort them. Sweet Pea liked to throw them all over the floor.

There was also some chickens where you could gather their eggs. A horse that you could get on and pretend to ride. Some tractors to play with. Oh, and a couple of cars that the kids could get into and pretend to ride.

There was a conveyer belt for kids to learn that their food comes from the Farmer, is packaged and delivered to the grocery store.

The grocery store was pretty cool. They had carts and baskets that were kid size. They could do all their own shopping. Gathering all the food possible into her little cart was fun.



We took a little trip upstairs to see what else there was. Right at the top of the stairs is a Story Factory. Here you can record sounds for a story. And I'm sure some other things, but this is definitely a Big Kid area.

Then we walked around to The Studio. The studio had a bunch of magnetic things to play with. Lots of puzzles, a doll house, some extra large legos, some block things. It was a pretty cool room, but still a little old for my Sweet Pea. She loves magnets, but there was almost too many things in this room. A little overwhelming I think.




We took a little jaunt into The Media Zone. Here (obviously sponsered by KSL 5) you can practice your reporting skills.

And outside on The Terrace is the helicopter. Sweet Pea really didn't like that it actually made sounds. It scared her. It was hard to get her into the helicopter. Funny little girl.


We didn't go into the New exhibit. We had a very hungry little girl. But overall, the museum was fun. It did keep my one-year-old's attention for 2 hours. Definitely NOT mine, but that's why it's a children's museum. I will probably wait until Sweet Pea is a little older before we go back to Discovery Gateway. But we will go back.

I was sorely disappointed with the people who worked there. They wandered around in packs of 3-4 people talking about whatever drama is going on in their 17 year old lives. They didn't do anything. They would play with the toys, sit in the kitchen of the house, or near the balls. There is a rule about no food or drinks in the museum and these workers could have cared less. There was a couple there with their little boy (not older than my Sweet Pea) and they were feeding him a chocolate bar. Which he was getting all over. They were sitting in the ball section. The parents wiped his hands off, but when soap and water is not used we all know there is a little bit of yucky left on their hands. And when you have a child that is allergic to food, this is SO NO GOOD. What about the kids that are allergic to foods just when they touch it? The workers said nothing. I was annoyed.

But we left soon after and went for a ride on the Trax train. Downtown Salt Lake is free, so we rode from The Gateway Mall to the 100 South stop. Where we got off and walked the rest of the way to The Lion House Pantry.

Although my little Sweet Pea couldn't eat anything here. I had planned for that and packed her a lunch that she could eat while we enjoyed our meal. The Lion House Pantry was also included in our Visit Salt Lake Connect Pass. So wonderful. Their food is always good and it was easy. I really liked the Chocolate cake.

(pic from stanwalks.com)

Family Stay-ca-tion Day 2: This Is The Place Heritage Park

Our stay-ca-tion Day #2 started out with us driving up to This is The Place. We got up there by 9:30 am. The park hours are 9-5; however, you do NOT need to be there by 9 am. None of the building tours or activities open until 10 am. (They do not mention this on the website)

Monument just outside the visitor center.
We got there and immediately rode the train around the whole park. Sweet Pea LOVED the train. It was nice to see everything in the park so we could figure out what we wanted to do first. We got off the train back at the front gate and walked up main street. We stopped at one of the houses to take a look and noticed that in the backyard they were doing some chores and playing some games.
Sweet Pea got to scrub some laundry and then go hang it up. She thought it was pretty fun.
She also got to race these wooden bears up the wall with string. (I didn't get a picture) And my pregnant self decided that I could do the stilts.

See, this fat Mamma can get up on stilts WITH a backpack on.

We walked farther up the road and found the craft center. Sweet Pea got to color a boat, a paddle to match, a pin-wheel, and got a coloring book. They only had felt pens, so she learned all about how easy they write and all about the lids. Her favorite part was putting the lids back on the felt pens. (I love that she holds her pen correctly. She is so observant.)
We walked up the street and saw the Mountain Man. He was kind of funny and a lot interesting, but could talk your ear off. The ONLY person in the park who could. NO ONE else seemed to want to tell us anything. They just spent their time talking to the other workers at their station. It was pretty annoying.

We saw the Barber Shop. Maybe would have been cooler if he told us anything. Everywhere we went they would say, "let us know if you have any questions." How am I supposed to have any questions when it just looks like old stuff to me. I don't know if there is anything cool about it. JUST TELL ME!

We went around the corner to the Leather Shop (?). They gave us a piece of leather that we could take outside and pound little prints into. It was fun for Sweet Pea to pretend to use the hammer and she LOVED telling us what the prints were. I did all the pounding. It's harder than it looks. Here they gave us the leather like we should know what to do with it. I just looked at the guy strangely and said, "what am I supposed to do with it?" I was really disappointed with the workers at the park.


There was a little skit they put on later in the morning. They arrested the man selling his fake tonics. It was fun. Sweet Pea kept her attention on what was going on really well. But the gun shots were NOT fun for her.

There was a mini town that we didn't have time to go to. (walking around this park took longer than I thought it would) We also didn't get to see the tour of the cabins. I would really like to do both of those. OH, and the quilt exhibit. I didn't get to see that. Sad day. But it didn't open until the afternoon. (nap time)

The most information we received about pioneers and other things about the park was from the tour of Brigham Young's Farm House and the train ride at the beginning of the day. Brigham Young's house tour is interesting, but NOT for kids. The older couple doing the tour tended to talk a whole lot and the kids don't care. A little too long. We had to cut our tour short and leave the group. Make sure that you ride the train more than once. Make sure you have a different conductor than the first time. You will get different information. That was nice.

You need a whole day to go through the park with kids. We will have to go back to see some of the things we missed.

We finished our stay-ca-tion day #2 with my Hubby's soccer game. It was blasted hot, but we went out to cheer for Daddy anyway. Sweet Pea with her books:
And snacks, bubbles, toys, water, and not enough to keep her entertained for 2 hours. I will have to come up with some other ideas before the next game.

My wonderful Hubby:

Family Stay-ca-tion Day 1: Utah's Hogle Zoo

This summer, because of my pregnancy, we planned our family vacation for our home town. Our first ever Family Stay-ca-tion. For our stay-ca-tion I bought the Visit Salt Lake Connect Pass. You can buy a 1, 2, 3, or 365 day pass. It gets you in to 13 different places in Salt Lake. Some have little extras that are included. I bought it for 1/2 price from Groupon.com. Most of the places I had never been and thought it would be a good deal.

With a little one and myself being VERY very pregnant, I figured we couldn't do everything. So, I picked some big attractions that I wanted to go to and planned those around nap times. Here is what we did:

On our first day we went to Utah's Hogle Zoo. My Sweet Pea had never been to the zoo, so she was really excited.


Right when we walked in there is one of those huge balls that spin on water. I didn't get a picture, but it was my Sweet Pea's favorite part of the zoo. There is a train ride right when you walk in as well. ($1.50/person) I believe it goes around the whole zoo, but I don't really know. We didn't go on it.

We saw all sorts of animals. The giraffe.

The Tiger.

Some other cat that I don't remember the name.


A Gorilla.

We also saw lots of snakes, turtles, lizards, birds, squirrels, and so many others. It was fun to walk around and have Sweet Pea make all of the animal sounds.

Near the middle of the zoo there is a carousel. ($2/person) Sweet Pea liked to watch it, but didn't seem interested in riding. Which is fine because the line was FOREVER long. We sat at one of the tables near by and watched while we ate lunch.

We took in our own lunch. No one even asked about the food and drink we took in. There were tons of people that took there lunches in. That was really helpful because of dairy allergy. AND I didn't have to spend the $7/person on lunch. That includes the little kiddies. Ouch!

There is a park for the kids to play at, but we didn't go into it. We wanted to make sure we saw ALL of the animals. And we can go to the park anytime. But it did look really fun. We will have to stop there next time.

There are some "shows" that they put on with the animals throughout the day. I was a little disappointed. Maybe that's because I go to Disneyland and Sea World and places like that. I wanted a bit more of a show. I thought it would be fun for Sweet Pea to see the Elephants spray water or do something fun, but they don't. They just tell about how they take care of the Elephants. This is fine, but not for a one-year-old. Then I thought the animal presentation would be better. I thought there would be more animals and the website even said you get to pet them after.

Again, disappointed. The presenters talked a little too much. Not enough animals. You DO get to touch them afterwards though. That's a good thing. I wouldn't take a kid under 2 to any of the presentations. It's a waste of time for them.

Overall, we had a great time at the zoo. I'm really glad that we took her.

That afternoon, we napped and then planned on going out to eat before we headed to Red Butte Gardens. When we got to the gardens we found it closed. I had checked their website to make sure there wasn't a concert or something planned that night and it said there wasn't. But there absolutely was. So sad. If you go there, make sure you call. Don't just rely on their website. So I've still never been there. Maybe someday.

We played at Sugarhouse Park instead. Sweet Pea LOVEs LoVeS loves the park. So it was a good alternative.

Very fun first day.

Wasted On The Little Ones. . . Or Is It?

Don't you feel as a parent that some of the best things in this life are wasted on the little ones?

• Napping
• Snacks
• Early Bed Times
• Time Outs (I could sure use them sometimes)
• Quiet Time

Well, this weekend I remembered that I had bought a kiddie pool for my Sweet Pea last year. I never got around to opening it. I didn't realize when we bought it that it squirted out water. But by the time I realized it we couldn't take it back. (that's why we didn't open it last year) I thought that Sweet Pea would like it this year. I also thought we could control the height of the spraying water. 0 for 2. She wouldn't play in it after the spray got higher than her head. And no amount of turning down the water would lessen the pressure.

But it was NOT wasted. My Hubby and I thoroughly enjoyed it.