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Viva Las Vegas!

Whenever Las Vegas comes up, Lily is quick to say what a gross, disgusting, morally vapid place that Las Vegas is. It is true we have had personal experiences to back that feeling (including me stepping in vomit in my socks in the Circus Circus). But after this trip, Lily’s feelings have changed about Las Vegas. Not only did we visit our friend Missy (already giving Las Vegas “awesome” status), but today we explored Las Vegas in the morning as a family and we had a lot of fun.

First, we went to the Bellagio and saw the fairy garden. Clarissa especially loved it!

Then we grabbed ice cream (see video below) and went on an incredible “Fly Over” ride about the American West. That ride was a highlight of the entire trip. The West is so beautiful!

We then drove home. On the drive Ammon was making different creations out of his socks:

Then we had a delicious dinner at a Cedar City Mexican restaurant called Lupita’s. It was delicious and fast! While waiting for the food, we got this video capturing everyone’s highlights and lowlights from the trip.

On the way home, I did one-word stories with each kid and then a story where each kid told a section of the story (which is the last recording below). They were extremely wacky, and after each one I recorded a retelling of the story just to capture the imaginative fun we had. Lydia did some great background sound effects! Here are the results!

My family is my “why” and spending this time with them was an elixir to my soul, especially in the midst of some deep work stresses. Thank you family for sharing this trip with me!

Ventura and Sequoia National Park

In the morning we all went to Ventura to walk around and eat breakfast. Basically everything was closed so downtown was not interesting, but we did find a nice breakfast place for acai bowels as well as this fun heart scultpure:

Then we took the long drive to Sequoia National Park. Unfortunately, when we got there, the fog was so bad that going up the mountain to where the Sequoia trees were would have been too dangerous. We asked a lady who just came down the mountain and she said she used to be a trucker, and that fog was one of the most precarious and dangerous drives she’d ever done. We opted to pass. It was disappointing not seeing any Sequoia trees, but we did get our stamp and go on a beautiful hike in the park that had this incredible gully.

  • This is the fog/cloud cover we avoided

We then drove to Vegas for the night and stayed at a Home2 Suites hotel. As we were leaving the park, we saw some wild turkeys!

An Amazing Plan B: The Huntington

We were disappointed for the second day in a row because the ocean was choppy so they weren’t running the ferries to the channel islands. Ever ready to dispense itinerary wisdom, Lily suggested we go to the Huntington. I had never heard about it, but was so glad I got to go. It was amazing!

The Huntington was founded by a wealthy business owner (Henry Huntington) who wanted to use his wealth for cultural sharing and advancement. Before he died, he turned his estate into a place of cultural learning. He also married his aunt (through marriage) which was interesting.

The first room we visited had amazing books. There was an original Audubon book, a Gutenberg bible, a letter from Abraham Lincoln, a letter from Mary Shelley (which complained about French bread) and more. It was all so fascinating.

Then we saw furniture, tapestries, and amazing paintings.

Lily’s favorite part was sitting in the room of Gainsborough portraits. She remembered sitting in that room with her family as a child, and reliving that experience with such profound art was powerful for her. I also loved this room and got a new entry point into art since I was previously unfamiliar with Gainsborough. We also appreciated the newly commissioned portrait (see below next to the blue boy painting) that was a modern response to the Gainsborough blue boy portrait.

Then went to the children’s garden and the kids had a blast.

Ammon’s favorite part was the magnetic sand and magnets he got to play with. See the video link below.

https://youtube.com/shorts/ddg_SehFONY

Then we had mochi ice cream in the Chinese garden (which was beautiful) and walked through the Chinese garden to get to the Japanese garden. Here are pictures of the Japanese Garden:

We then exited through a beautiful rose garden and drove home to a beautiful sunset. It wasn’t the Channel Islands, but in some ways it was even better.

Back at the resort, we all went swimming. It was chilly outside, but the pool was so warm and we had a blast playing Marco Polo, having the kids do tricks on my shoulders and just paling around. After swimming we ate at the resort restaurant. Dinner was so wonderful. We had such meaningful family conversation which turned into everyone sharing what they think their own strengths are and what the strengths of others in the family are. It was a beautiful conversation. What an awesome day!

Driving, Santa Barbara, and Mochi Donuts

On Saturday morning, we packed up from Oceanside and drove to Santa Barbara. Here are some videos of how Ammon and Clarissa passed the time in the backseat while the rest of us were listening to the audiobook The Lemon Tree which is about the conflict between Israel and Palenstine. I’m glad Ammon took these videos, because I am curious about what they do to pass the time in the back seat.

Lily has been wanting to go to Santa Barbara for a long time, and it definitely lived up to her hopes. We had brunch at the public food hall and Ammon played on a public piano on the streetside when we were done. Mary also took a turn and played her song, “the top.”

Then we walked around the city. Lydia has told us one of her favorite things to do is to walk around cities with her family and I’m so glad we could do that with her. I think everyone had an amazing time. I certainly did. It was so fun to see the different interesting shops, like this cat cafe. They were too full for us to go in, but we looked through the window.

Then we went to this Turkish delight shop, which was a highlight for everyone, especially for Lily, who later said this Turkish delight shop was a highlight for the whole trip for her. She loved the beautiful colors, flavors and culture expressed in that shop.

Then we stumbled into an archives museum which had some really cool things!

Then we arrived at our Zachari Dunes at Mandalay Beach Hilton resort. We loved it so much there and we are hopeful to go back someday. Everyrthing was great, the room, the resort, the beach (the resort is right on the beach), the food, EVERYTHING! After we dropped our things, we went to the beach, and had so much fun. It was one of my favorite beach memories. Lily and I (but especially Lily) held hands with Lydia, Mary and Ammon, and walked into the waves and ran back too shore when ever a big one came, over and over again. Clarissa was busy building things in the sand. I helped Ammon and Clarissa build a huge walled castle we were trying to protect from the rising tide by fortifying the walls (a favorite game of mine I used to play as a child with my friend Anthony in his sandbox). I also played cornhole with Lydia and Mary. I played left-handed and we had funny rules like they would get three points for hitting me (I couldn’t move), and also, if they won a game, they could throw all there bean bags at me as hard as they wanted (which they did with hilarious on-target results). I laughed so hard playing with them. It was such a fun time.

After the beach, we ate at In-N-Out and then got mochi donuts (meaning very soft and chewy) donuts. They were delicious!

Legoland and Oceanside Pier

After enjoying a delicious breakfast at the Broken Yolk Cafe, we all went to Legoland to celebrate Ammon’s birthday! We loved observing all the decorative lego creations and riding on all the rides.

  • Ammon has this lego set!

Everyone’s favorite ride was the underwater submarine adventure. They had real sea creatures in their and we saw sharks, rays, and a puffer fish!

In my opinion, this was the best coaster (Technic, see below). It had a great first hill, and then the rest was very tame.

Then we spent a lot of time observing all the incredible Lego creations. They used 60 million Legos! That was my and Lily’s favorite part of Legoland for sure. The creations were incredible!

  • Abraham Lincoln
  • San Diego
  • MGM Grand
  • San Francisco
  • SF Lombard Street
  • SF Chinatown
  • SF The Pier with sea lions that we like to visit
  • SF Golden Gate Bridge
  • DC – Lily and I think this might be the historic house with a garden where we kissed.
  • New York
  • A Mission in So Cal, we think the one we visited.
  • Record-breaking football stadium
  • The inside

Then Ammon picked out some lego sets and we got these pictures on the way out. At the end of the trip, when all the kids shared their favorite parts, I think every kid mentioned Legoland. What a great day! Also, the weather was perfect and the crowds weren’t bad.

Because Legoland closed at 5:00, we had time to go to an amazing vegan restaurant Lily found called the Plot. They even let us tour the garden in the back where they grow a lot of their own food. The food was incredible (Liy and I each got the meatloaf, and Lydia got the shepherd’s pie) and Ammon got a special desert. Lydia and Lily particularly loved The Plot, and Lily is feeling inspired to cook more vegan food!

Then we all went to the Oceanside Pier and had fun walking around and watching all the fishers.

It was such a fun day!

Filmore & Missy

Today we left for California. On the way, Lydia told us about how Filmore used to be the capitol of Utah, and that there was a Costa Vida there that was always super packed because everyone stopped there on their way South (all according to her history teacher). Lydia captured our imagination, and we pulled off in Filmore. Lily and I didn’t know it, but Filmore was the capitol of the Utah territory for a brief moment under Brigham Young. The capitol building was never finished and only one legislative session was held here, but the completed wing still stands today and at one time was a Presbyterian school, and before that I think it may have been an LDS-run school (see the below rules for teachers and punishments).

  • Design for finished capitol
  • Completed Wing
  • Prisoners were chained to the floor since there were no doors to the prison.
Ammon playing the piano in the old Utah capitol assembly hall.

Today was full of delightful surprises. As we were approaching Las Vegas, Lily remembered that she has a close friend, Missy, who lives there. We called up Missy, and on a whim picked up Thai food and visited Missy for an hour. It was wonderful! Missy was a treat to visit with, so warm, engaging and friendly, and her kids were so polite, kind, and delightful. And our kids were out of their minds with interest at Missy’s chickens. See the videos below!

We pulled into our Super 8 in Oceanside late at night. On the way we listened to a mind-blowing book called The Lemon Tree about the relationship between Israel and Palestine (charting both their general histories as well as the relationship between a Palestinian family, and an Israeli family that moved into their home after the Palestinians were kicked out of Israel. ***Spoiler alert*** A member from each family becomes friends and they turn the home into a school for Arabic children.

Happy Birthday Ammon!

Today our beloved Ammon turned 8! To start the day, Lily made delicious waffles while I ran to the store and cut up melon so we could give Ammon his breakfast of choice in bed. Here is a video:

We also downloaded Minecraft for Ammon, and he was glued to it almost the entire day. He was so happy to get Minecraft. At one point he told someone it was his favorite game, even though he had never played it before. He has asked for it multiple times, and it was fun to see how much he loved playing all day. I also watched him play for a bit and that was fun. During the day, I went on a run, and did some yard chores, and then around 5:00, we all went to the Korean BBQ place that we just went to a couple of days ago. Ammon fell in love with it and requested it again. He was also delighted when their staff sang to him with music, and brought him cake.

We had a great time wtih Georgia, who joined us for dinner, and then Lily took her home before we all enjoyed Menchies together. Ammon got a massive wallfe-cone concoction and we also let him buy a Menchies stuffed animal. Then we went to Target and bought him a Millenium Falcon Lego set for his birthday present.

At night, Lily and I both spent time tucking him in and giving him a back massage. We told him about the things we love most about him which are his outgoing, warm, and friendly nature and his beautiful dancing.

Ammon, we love you so much. You brighten up our family and make us smile every day. We love you!

Farmer’s Market and Hike with Baps and Bapa

This morning I was very tired, but once I finally got out of bed, we all rolled out to the Farmer’s market. The market was so fun. There was a dog costume contest we got to watch (one dog had a Jack Sparrow costume), great food and smoothies, fun produce to buy and great weather. After the market, we dropped off a smoothie to our friend Lauren who lives in downtown Salt Lake.

Then we went to the Living Room trailhead where we met up with my dad and Suzanne. It was so fun to hike the trail with them! Not only did they bring great snacks including grapes from their vines, but they were awesome trail company. Also, my dad spent a lot of energy trying help calm Ammon down in a kind and graceful way. Ammon was losing his mind and sobbing because of the wasps on the trail (and there were a lot), and I was struggling to be creative on how to help him. My dad talked to him and told him a story of when he got stung and patiently encouraged him along the trail. It was very sweet to see. The weather and the scenery were all so gorgeous. Utah is so beautiful!

At home, we let the kids fend for themselves while Lily and I went on a date to Red Tacos, and we also got desert. It was so fun to have deep time with my Lily, my heart, especially since I’ve been traveling so much!