Let me explain.
Once upon a time, my brother Eric came up with this wonderful idea to throw my dad a surprise 60th birthday party. The surprise party was originally supposed to be held at my parents' Oklahoma home on the day after my Dad's 60 birthday--Friday July 15th. All of the kids were going to make the trip, and we were going to make a great weekend of it. Then, as the party plans progressed, the plans changed, as well as the location of the party. With my parents' home on the market, we decided it might be better if we planned to hold the party at another destination, just in case the house sold. After much consideration, we chose St. George, Utah--the city my Dad grew up in, as the new birthday party hot spot. This would be a sentimental place to celebrate and would allow us to include all of my dad's nuclear family in our plans. It was all coming together beautifully, until that is, Nick's job had to get in the way.
Just as we firmed up our plans with everyone for the party, Nick got the sad news that he could not take one single day vacation in the month of July!! Hmmm.. That was going to complicate things. How were we going to get to Utah for a party on the 15th of the month when Nick didn't have any time off? After much deliberation, the only solution that we could come up with is that Nick would drive me and the kids out to Utah on the first of July, (he was post-call that day) fly home the next day, fly back for the party, fly back the next day, and then either fly back out on the first of August to drive me home, or I would simply make the drive by myself whenever I was ready to come back! (Yeah, I know, I already owned up to being crazy!)
It was kind of an ordeal sorting through all of the flights and travel plans, but once we got it all mapped out, it didn't seem like a bad plan at all. The kids and I would get to spend tons of time with both sides of the family, we would get to dodge a month of Nick having terrible hours--not to mention doing OB again for the first time since medical school, and most importantly, we would all get to be at my Dad's 60th birthday party. For the most part, it sounded wonderful! We were a little nervous at being apart for so long--the longest we had previously gone was four days, but hey, we'd been married almost ten years. We could handle it, right!? Of course we could. And we did. And actually, it worked out wonderfully.
After driving all day (and half of the night--I did all of the day driving and we picked up Grandpa Hoskins in Rock Springs Wyoming so he could cap off the night driving) we arrived at the Hoskins Lake House at Bear Lake in the middle of the night on July 1st. Nick got to spend the next day with us before we tearfully sent him on a plane back to our Minnesota home. The first few days were a little bit rough, and I felt almost like a newlywed pining over my absent love, but with all of the fun the Hoskins had planned, the kids and I soon recovered. (Nick, on the other hand, called us every ten minutes for the next two weeks, but hey, nobody in his family noticed or made fun of him for it---yeah right.) In fact, Grandpa Hoskins played hooky from work and we stayed so busy we barely sat down for the next two weeks. It was packing it in true Hoskins style!
Here is a sampling of some of the things we did:
*Rode on the boat at Bear Lake--a family favorite of course. The kids loved being up front by Grandma. They also loved going out on the surfboard with Uncle Ralph--an amazing feat on Ralph's part. And Grandpa had Mason absolutely hysterical with laughter as they floated around and Mason splashed him in the face. Grandpa also took the kids to the beach while we were there, as well as got out the four-wheelers and the yard games.
*Took a whole family bike ride. This was Grandpa's idea of fun for the 4th of July and actually turned out to be a pretty stellar work-out, not to mention a comical fiasco!! Those bikes are actually impossible to pedal with so many people on them, and after running each other off of the road a few times as we raced along the trail, the smart family members on my bike faked out the other family members and pulled a quick u-turn. We were halfway back to the rental place before the others, who had sped past us, even realized we had gone. It was wonderful! We were casually eating snow cones on the park benches as they huffed and puffed back in. Then the kids enjoyed a few minutes in the sprinkler before we headed back to the Lake House.
*Watched the 4th of July fireworks from the boat. Although it took a little creative persuasion to get everybody on board (excuse the pun) we did end up enjoying a one-of-a-kind 4th of July celebration. We coasted around the lake, laughed and talked, and danced to a number of fun patriotic songs. The kids especially liked "Firework" and "Coming to America." The best performance of the night; however, was grandpa Hoskins rendition of Niel Diamond's "Hello." he helped the kids really "feel" the song, and made us all laugh our heads off in the process. Thanks Grandpa!! The kids are still talking about your favorite song!! It was too dark for many pictures, but I did get this one of Grandpa and Mase before the sun set.
*Swam in the Bear Lake pool. The water fights were pretty full on too!
*Visited Heritage Park (aka This is the Place Park).
*Attended Isabellie's gymnastics birthday party.
*Cooked out, four-wheeled, and slept over at the Hoskins' Cabin.
*Boated some more. We found an awesome rope swing in the process, (me and the three older kids all took multiple turns on the swing) and did a ton of tubing with the kiddos.
And ate chocolate fondue.
We also spent tons of time with all of the Hoskins family enjoying nights at everyone's homes eating and playing games. Additionally, I got a little alone time to attend the temple, do some shopping, and read. Plus, while we were there, the kids and I even made a few little side trips. For our first outing, we went to my grandparents home in Garland. Then, I also took the kids down to Provo for a day of fun and reminiscing. First we caught up with some of our Pennsylvania friends at Thanksgiving Point.
Then we hit the BYU campus for a little shopping at the bookstore--books, sweets, and chocolate milk!! At the end of the day, I took the kids to visit Dr. Gantt, one of my Psychology professors who was lecturing while we were on campus. Afterwards I braved a dinner out on my own at good old Las Hermanos--my favorite Mexican restaurant from the Provo days. It was an awesome day, full of fun and memories!
All in all, the whole two weeks hanging out with the Hoskins was wonderful. I got a lot of raised eyebrows when I told people that I was staying with my in-laws, alone, for two weeks, but it couldn't have been more wonderful. In all sincerity, they took such good care of me it was hard to leave. There aren't very many moments in this life, as a homeschooling mother of four small children, and the wife of a medical resident, that someone takes care of me, but they certainly did. They spoiled me by doing all of the cooking and cleaning while we were there, and watched my kids so many times! Even Nick's sisters and brothers pitched in and helped with the kids, and Brenda spoiled me with a lunch outing and shopping on her! Thanks you guys for your love and support and for giving us an eventful few weeks full of fun, family, and fond memories!
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