Well, we're finally back in Provo after a week at Park City, UT. (Incidentally, we also don't have pictures this week, since the computer equipment is still buried in a box in the basement, as I've had less than forty-eight hours to unpack stuff). Since my family is not particularly athletically inclined (I guess I should qualify that--the first few years that we went to Park City, my mom, my brother and I would occasionally go hiking, but there was no way that we were going to hike with Andrew, which would have meant one of us toting the 30 lb plus kid in a backpack, and none of us are in that great of shape!), there wasn't a lot to do in Park City, besides swim (splash, if you're Andrew) in the hotel pool, watch TV, eat, and go shopping. Which, I suppose, is a large part of the attraction for my parents (my dad especially, whose ideal vacation would probably involve telling everyone he knows that he's going to be out of town for a week and then staying home). It was a nice change from the hectic pace of the last couple of weeks, although it took Andrew the better part of the week to remember how to sleep through the night! And it was a little challenging to keep a rambunctious toddler quiet enough not to wake up my parents a good two hours before they were ready to get up (there were at least a couple of mornings when I wasn't fast enough to stop him from opening the door to the room where they were sleeping).
For Andrew, the highlights of the trip probably included swimming on an almost daily basis (where he routinely tried to plant his face in the pool and drink the chlorinated water), and going to the park (on one momentous occasion there was a cat under a picnic bench. Andrew followed the cat around for a good ten minutes or so before some other little girls, also following the beleaguered cat, demonstrated the fine art of petting. After that, Andrew dared to pet the cat himself, but I don't think he quite caught the art of the thing, because, after a couple hearty whacks, the cat wisely betook itself out of Andrew's reach). He also did his best to wreck havoc on the hotel suite where we were staying; I described the couch and oil incident last week, and on the penultimate night of our stay, Andrew (whether from too much food at dinner or because he'd cried too hard when he woke up) puked up an astonishing amount. I managed to catch most of it on some blankets that were handy, but some of it also got on the couch (a different one), which necessitated washing the cushion covers yet again. In all, Andrew was responsible for us washing the cushions of all the couches in the suite. The final highlight for Andrew of the trip has to have been the visit of his cousins, Jacob and Emi Tolley. (His cousin Enoch hardly counts, as he slept through most of the trip). The three of them squealed and chased each other all over the apartment in gleeful abandon.
And what about Andrew's mother? you ask. Well, the highlight of her week has to have been the orgy of consumerism she indulged in with her mother. After all, the Tanger outlet mall is conveniently located a scant ten minutes from downtown Park City. I think that my mom went every day except Sunday, and I went almost as often. I think between the two of us the Oshkosh, Carter's, Gymboree, and Stride Rite outlets did pretty good business. Oh, and the Borders bookstore (who can resist the lure of cheap books? Not I). Early in the week, I purchased a reasonably priced pair of stride rite tennis shoes for Andrew, in a size 7 XW, thinking that they'd work well for this coming fall and winter (Andrew wasn't with me at the time I bought the shoes). Later in the week, when I happened to have Andrew with me and my mom wanted to look in the neighboring shop, I decided to take Andrew in and get his feet measured officially. Just for curiousity's sake. (I figured he was wearing a 6, at most a 6.5). Imagine, then, my shock when the sales clerk tells me that Andrew should actually be wearing a size 7 right now. So much for the pair of shoes that I'd already bought (which we returned for a size 8, also XW, which apparently Andrew definitely needs). And so much for all of the bargain shoes I'd bought this summer at garage sales, thinking I was providentially laying up in store for the fall and winter (those 6.5 and 7 stride right and new balances may never get any wearings at this point). Sigh. The perils of having an oversized toddler!
Dan tells me that he doesn't have anything much to report for the week. He's moved to a new domicile (he's staying in the Hulet family home) and has housemates. (The Hulets are currently out of town--in Utah, I think--and a family coming to start school at Penn State this fall are also staying in their house until their apartment is ready). In a kind of ironic twist, this new family also has an Andrew--this one a 13-month-old, with, so Dan tells me, enviable sleeping habits. Meanwhile, he continues to work hard, preparing for his dissertation defense later this week.
Such were our adventures in this, the second week of August, in the year of our Lord two thousand and seven.
No comments:
Post a Comment