In the middle of June, the boys and I took our first family trip of the summer. We went to Utah, without Josh because he was working and couldn't join us. The initial reason for the trip was to drop off Ammon at my parent's house, because he was going to scout camp with my dad's troop on Monday, June 17. I decided to take the boys down on Friday and make a fun weekend out of the drive.
The boys were so good in the car ride--which is about 4 1/2 hours long. I was truly amazed at just how well. I rented a Redbox movie and they watched that the first two hours. Then they played on their tablets & Nintendo DS's for the next two hours until we arrived at my parents' home in Tremonton late Friday afternoon.
The weather was beautiful when we got there--unlike Salmon that had a rainstorm that day and the previous day. The boys needed to move their legs & bodies after being contained for so long, so my mom pulled out the bubbles wands, and they played with them until the containers ran out of bubble juice. They made big bubbles, and trails of little bubbles, and tried catching & popping bubbles. They were fun toys to play with.
Then they played Frisbee for a while, until it was time for me to leave. I'd made plans to go see my friend Eve's play in Midvale. She was the sound director for their production of the Tony Award-Winning Play "Avenue Q". After reading about it on her blog, I really wanted to go, and I was so happy that they were showing it during the time that I would be in Utah. I made plans with my friend Kim, and I picked her up near Tremonton and we drove together to the theater in Midvale. I'd been to that theater before with Josh last year to see a different production that Eve was involved in, and really loved that particular theater. I was happy to go back there, and introduce the place to Kim, too. We sat on the front row, even though we were almost late. The play was awesome! I loved it!!! It's like Sesame Street--with puppets and real people, and the story is about adult lessons in life. Here's a tidbit about it from my friend Eve's blog: http://allaboutevey.blogspot.com/2013/05/opening-night.html
The play was a musical, and the actors and puppeteers were so amazing! I loved their unique voices and listening to them sing. I was completely enthralled with the show! It was a comedy, and I laughed so hard! One of the actors thanked me afterwards for my laughter. I laugh loud on purpose when I go to the theater--I know what it's like to perform on stage and need the energy from the audience! When I was in high school and performed on stage, a retired staff of my high school always came to the plays and was the ideal audience member--she laughed and cheered and applauded loudly. I told myself that I wanted to be that person when I grew up. I also told myself I wanted to perform in community theater when I grew up, but since that can't be a reality (uh--no auditorium here in Salmon and no community theater), I can still be the person that laughs and cheers for performers when I watch plays in the live theater. So, I do. It truly was an awesome experience to attend this unique play, and I'm so glad I went!
After the show, Eve and Kim and I went out to Denny's for a late night meal. We all went to the same high school and were involved in the drama program together, and going to Denny's after a play has been a tradition since our high school days. We reminisced and chit-chatted about life, and it was good to catch up with my long-time friends. We said our good-byes at about 11:30, and I drove Kim back to her car and went to my parents' house and went to bed.
While I was gone that evening, my mom took the boys to Pizza Plus and they ate pizza and breadsticks and played arcades for an hour. Then they went back to her house, and they watched "True Grit". She texted me a half hour after starting the movie, but I was in the play and my phone was shut off. She wanted to know if it was okay that the boys were watching a PG-13 movie. I laughed when I saw the text since I knew the boys were already watching it (which was fine with me, btw), and she obviously didn't think about that before they began the movie. I wasn't about to have her shut off the movie mid-way through it, and have angry, tired boys on her hands. But I thought back to when I was a kid; I was not allowed to watch anything but PG movies. One time she even came to a sleepover party at my friend's house and made them shut the movie off because it was PG-13. My, how times have changed!
The boys slept in sleeping bags in her living room that night, which they've wanted to do for years, and were so happy to have had a fun evening with good food, fun arcade games, a grown-up movie, and a wish granted! They went to bed super late (about 11:00), so they were ornery the next morning and I made a mental note to not let them sleep in Grandma's living room anymore! But I was very grateful that my mom was willing to babysit the boys for me and do fun things with them while I went to a play date (literally) with a friend.
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