We drove down to Idaho on Saturday July 13th. It was a good drive with stops at some nice rest areas. We joined Robin and her kids for dinner that evening. She made us yummy tator tot casserole. We had a good time hanging put with Robin, Zach, Elizabeth and Quinn. They have infectious laughs and find lots of things to laugh about. Dinner was a lot of fun.
We had a yummy breakfast at Robin's in the morning and loaded the car for the drive to Kaysville. On the way down we had a need for a potty stop. Our only option at the time was a gas station with a label in the window welcoming us to the middle of nowhere. It was posted pretty clearly inside that restroom were for paying guests only, so I treated the kids to ice creams that we ate sitting in the dusty parking lot.
We made it to Grammy's without any problems but not quite in time to join her for church. Instead, we settled in and fell asleep on her sofas while the kids broke out the toys she had brought out for them.
Sunday evening I had some of my favorite high school people over for a mini reunion. Our official 20 year reunion is next month but none of us really wanted to go. So we emailed each other and set up a reunion with some of the people we did want to see. I made some gluten free chocolate brownies with extra chocolate chips and fresh raspberries. They were delicious. We had me, Erin Ford Findlay, Lori Hollist Auger, and Ann Baker Romero. It was great to just sit and talk. I could see why these were the friends I chose to spend my time with all through high school. I definitely think we should do more of these mini reunions!
We stayed at Grammy's until Thursday evening. We went swimming in the swim spa pretty much every day. We also visited a few museums. I took the kids to the Natural History Museum at the University of Utah on Tuesday the 16th. It was a really nice museum. We started by climbing all the way to the fifth floor. There, you can go out on the roof and learn about weather and water conservation. There is also a room about Native American history and current relationship with American society. We worked our way down through geological information and archeology and then to the dinosaur exhibit. There were a lot of kid-friendly activities and the displays were all really well done. It was a great museum.
On Wednesday we took a hike into the mountains behind the parents' house. We had decided it was time to spread the ashes of the dog the parents had that died just after my mission. Yes, that was 14 years ago. Her ashes have been in a box on the fireplace since then. On Sunday when we were waiting for the parents to return from church, Becca picked up the wooden box of dog ashes and, shaking it, asked why Grammy kept a box of rice with the kid toys on the fireplace. We decided it was time to move the dog on. The plan had always been to scatter the ashes on the Vita Course, or nature trail. But the boys who frequently went up there never managed to remember to take the boxed dog. So, Wednesday morning the 5 Killpacks and Grandad put on their socks and shoes and headed up the mountain. We walked to the creek and found a shady spot by the bridge. That was where we put Cricket's remains. Then, Kip and the kids played in the creek, building up a little dam to increase the depth of the water they were playing in. Anna and I got mosquito bites on our legs that bugged us the rest of the trip. And eventually we headed back down the mountainside.
On Thursday Grammy and Grandad treated us with a trip to the Treehouse children's museum in Ogden. It's another great museum option. There were enough things to do that we weren't able to get it all done in the two hours of free parking we had available. The highlight was when the staff hosted play staring the kids. It was a version of Blanca Flore. William got to be the prince. He did an excellent job projecting his lines just like Elizabeth Moreno taught him for the school talent show. Anna got to be one of the 7 bandits and also did well. Becca really wanted to be a Bandit but enjoyed the play anyway.
After the museum, Grandad took us to the union station Grill. We had a yummy lunch and then got to look at the trains on display outside. They had a train car that had carried the olympic torch for the winter olympics in Salt Lake in 2002.
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