The last time we went on a family vacation was in April when we visited my sister Katie in Arizona. I have been dying to go on another trip since then. It wasn't possible near the end of my pregnancy and so after the minis were born I started thinking about where we could go with 5 kids under the age of 6. We decided St. George would be good since it's not too long of a car ride. There is plenty of things for kids to do and we had a free place to stay thanks to Uncle Lew. Uncle Lew is one of the owners of Lowry Doors, and not really an uncle but Marshall has always called him that. Funny thing is that we call him that with my kids but they started calling him Grandpa Lew while we were on our trip. Anyways, he has a townhome in St. George that he has let us stay in before. It is such a great place with plenty of space, close to everything and a beautiful view of the city.
So off to St. George we went. The thing about going anywhere with 5 young kids, including twins is that you either avoid making eye contact with other people or you prepare yourself for all of the comments made by strangers. We ate at Chuck-O-Rama one night thinking it would be kid friendly, lots of options and no waiting for food. There were lots of elderly people there and most of them said how tired they were after watching us. It definitely was exhausting helping them all and keeping them all happy but I don't need everyone reminding me that. With all of the craziness I pretty much just laughed through dinner because it was very overwhelming at times.
Thankfully the minis are small enough to be carried in a front pack/moby wrap. We went hiking at Pioneer Park and Marshall kept Taggart in the front pack and I had Sienna snuggled in the Moby wrap. It was a must to have hands free to help Kaden and Lynnlee so this allowed us too.
We felt really hot after hiking around so we went downtown to the cute little town square with the fountains and rivers. The kids were having a blast and I noticed we were the only ones there. I realized after looking at the temperature outside that it was only around 60 degrees and the locals were probably bundled up in doors sitting next to a fire. It felt so warm to us and it was nice to have it to ourselves.
While the kids were playing in the water I was going to grab some lunch so we could have a picnic there. While they were playing we noticed some bounce houses and booths going up on the grass just west of us. Marshall went over to check it out and found out it was a free family fair going on. They said anyone was welcome and they would be serving pizza and drinks. I love our timing with finding free things.
So after they had exhausted themselves at the fountains we went over to the fair for lunch, walked around the booths, and the kids played games. I won carousel ticket in a drawing at the fair and so the kids even got to ride the carousel while we were there.
We had plenty of time built in for downtime at Uncle Lew's. The minis struggled with being in their car seats too long, being held too much, and so it was good to just be inside and let them stretch out on the ground.
James and Lynnlee loved all of the free time because they loved playing on the giant bean bags.
So off to St. George we went. The thing about going anywhere with 5 young kids, including twins is that you either avoid making eye contact with other people or you prepare yourself for all of the comments made by strangers. We ate at Chuck-O-Rama one night thinking it would be kid friendly, lots of options and no waiting for food. There were lots of elderly people there and most of them said how tired they were after watching us. It definitely was exhausting helping them all and keeping them all happy but I don't need everyone reminding me that. With all of the craziness I pretty much just laughed through dinner because it was very overwhelming at times.
Thankfully the minis are small enough to be carried in a front pack/moby wrap. We went hiking at Pioneer Park and Marshall kept Taggart in the front pack and I had Sienna snuggled in the Moby wrap. It was a must to have hands free to help Kaden and Lynnlee so this allowed us too.
We felt really hot after hiking around so we went downtown to the cute little town square with the fountains and rivers. The kids were having a blast and I noticed we were the only ones there. I realized after looking at the temperature outside that it was only around 60 degrees and the locals were probably bundled up in doors sitting next to a fire. It felt so warm to us and it was nice to have it to ourselves.
While the kids were playing in the water I was going to grab some lunch so we could have a picnic there. While they were playing we noticed some bounce houses and booths going up on the grass just west of us. Marshall went over to check it out and found out it was a free family fair going on. They said anyone was welcome and they would be serving pizza and drinks. I love our timing with finding free things.
So after they had exhausted themselves at the fountains we went over to the fair for lunch, walked around the booths, and the kids played games. I won carousel ticket in a drawing at the fair and so the kids even got to ride the carousel while we were there.
We had plenty of time built in for downtime at Uncle Lew's. The minis struggled with being in their car seats too long, being held too much, and so it was good to just be inside and let them stretch out on the ground.
The view from the front.
James and Lynnlee loved all of the free time because they loved playing on the giant bean bags.
Down time Sunday morning eating some cereal.
I have been dying to play tennis again. There was a park with lots and lots of tennis courts. We had plenty of extra balls and one extra racquet so the idea was for the kids to play on one court bouncing the balls while Marshall and I played on the other court. It sounded like a great plan. Marshall and I did get to play for a little bit but the rest of the time was spent playing referee with the kids fighting over the one extra racquet. I guess next time we will make sure to have a racquet for everyone.
When you have twin you notice other twins more, strangers with twins talk to you and ask about your twins, and everyone else tells you the twins they know or if they are a twin themselves. We met a lady at Chuck-O-Rama who had twin daughters. It was so random that she also happened to be in the same sacrament meeting with us on Sunday.
Sacrament meeting is the biggest challenge being so outnumbered by littles. We made it through about half of the meeting and then we all ended up in the hallway. At that point we decided to head over to the temple and visitor's center. We had lunch on the grass and then went in the visitor's center.
We finished off the weekend with dinner on the deck and enjoyed the beautiful view. Then it was time to load up and head for home. I love St. George and can't wait until our next adventures there. Even though it wasn't the most relaxing trip, it was fun spending time with my family.
