Sunny in St. George

*warning - very long post*

Almost 2 months ago, we took a mini vacation down to St. George with Erik's family. I've had to postpone writing this blog post because I used some of the pictures included below as Mother's Day gifts and I wanted them to be a surprise.

We stayed at the beautiful Entrada resort. The warm, 85 degree weather was perfect and Claire spent every second of the day running around with her cousins. This little girl was in toddler heaven. Our patio led out to a large, grass area/pond, which were home to hours of amusement by the little ones. Claire and her older cousin, Soren, ran around until we were tired of supervising and made them come inside. Claire was obsessed with the ducks and wanted to see them at all times. If she only saw one, she would ask where the others were. It was so nice of her to be concerned for their wellbeing. :)

Throughout the weekend, Claire got a lot better at putting up with Soren's shenanigans, like when he would try to give her hugs (below). They even got into a little mischief together and Erik had to fish our ball out of the pond. I know this is only the beginning.

(My favorite picture of the two of them! So funny and adorable!)

While Erik went golfing, Claire and I put on our running shoes and took a walk around the resort grounds. They were so pretty, but there was no one around to take our picture! You know me....I figured out a way and Claire was a good sport while I balanced the camera on any object I could find so that we would have pictures of our little outing. She even sat on a bench long enough (2 seconds) for me to take her picture in front of a small waterfall.



When we weren't outside, we had a blast hanging out in our room, which was connected to Vivian's room (Claire's youngest cousin). She loved going back and forth from room to room, but of course, she didn't take her eyes off of the ducks for too long. Last year, Claire was almost exactly Vivian's age and wasn't able to grasp how much fun duck-watching can be like she did this year. It's amazing how fast they grow!

Having the pond right outside our room gave us entertainment both day and night. The frog noises were so loud and with a flashlight and a good eye, you could see tons of them lining the shore. Soren was so excited and loved looking at all of them with his Uncle Erik. Since Claire is an avid animal lover, we figured she would want to join in on the fun, so I let Erik wake her up and show her what all of the commotion was about. I think she was still half asleep because she really couldn't have cared less.

We had perfect weather that weekend! Everytime we walked by the pool area, Claire wanted to join the others inside. She had so much fun splashing around, it definitely made me anxious for summer. I had fun as well, except for when a little terror child wouldn't stop spraying me with his water gun after I asked him to stop multiple times. I just love it when other mother's pretend to be ignorant to their child's actions.

It's funny how once you have a child, you no longer think about your own needs. The recurring thought in my mind was, "what would Claire have fun doing?". So, of course, that led us to the park. This little girl loves slides and is generally pretty fearless when it comes to the big ones. It's so nice when you find a park with shades over it so the slides don't get hot. I wish we had them here!

All of the kids had a blast! Erik and I even joined in on the fun and found a few interesting toys to play with around the park. The best one was what Erik is sitting in below. Seriously, if you stayed in long enough you'd probably throw up. It went around in circles so fast it was hard to stop yourself once you got going.

This resort had tons of activities. Erik and I played pickle ball together, which I hadn't played in years! It brought me back to my childhood days when our neighborhood would have pickle ball tournaments. Ahh, the good ol' days. There was also a beautiful golf course, which Erik played on with his Mom and Dad while we were at the pool and supervising naptime. I wish we would have had more time there to enjoy everything there was to offer.

Being a few weeks away from Easter, Erik's mom put together a quick Easter egg hunt for the kiddos. At first, Claire had no idea what to do. She'd pick up an egg and then look at me, like "now what?". It wasn't too long after that she dropped one of the eggs and it broke open. She saw the M&M and that was it. She'd pick up an egg and open it. There was no basket middleman in this equation.

One of the funniest parts of the two Easter egg hunts we had that weekend was Claire's distain for the crackers she found inside some of the eggs. Beside the one picture below, she didn't want anything to do with the crackers. All she wanted were M&M's and marshmallows. Claire was not going to settle for anything but the good stuff. :)

Just before it was time to drive home, we drove to Snow Canyon and walked to a nearby sand dune. Erik and Steve (Erik's bro-in-law) were on stroller pushing duty while Erik's sister, Kari, lead us down the trail (she always has to be first in line ;)), I was on picture taking patrol, and Erik's Dad brought up the rear. It was a typical Olafsson family hiking equation.

At first thought, the scenery was no big deal to me. But then I remembered that Claire has never seen or felt sand before. It was a brand new experience for her and it instantly became very exciting. She loved running around, feeling the sand on her fingers and toes, and for some reason, liked scooting around on her bum. The feeling of sand going up your diaper must have been exhilerating I guess. :)

Upon arrival, we took a few family pictures before the fun really got started. This is a must, because wrangling up children who have been excitedly playing so they can pose for a picture is not ideal. I don't know why I didn't think of this sooner. Below is (I think) the first picture ever taken of just Erik and his sisters and their children. So cute!

Our long weekend quickly come to an end and Claire was pooped! Unlike last year, Claire slept fairly well in her pack-n-play, which we stashed in the bathroom (it was huge and there was no way she would have slept in the same room as us), but we were all ready to get back home to our nice comfy beds.