Park City Part 1

We spent two weeks in Park City, Utah, this summer to escape the Texas heat and spend time with family and friends.  We rented a house and rotated the grandparents throughout our stay:  first BB, then Chris, Grandma, and Paw joined us, then when BB left, Mimi and Papa Tig arrived, and then Grandma and Paw headed back to Texas and Mimi and Papa Tig stayed through to the end.  Did you catch all of that?  Good.  So let's get to it.

Max enjoying his morning coffee orange juice on the back patio on our first morning.

Our first full day in Park City was "Silly Sunday Market," which is an outdoor market and street festival with arts and crafts, food, and kid activities.  Scarlett bravely announced she wanted to rock climb, and Max decided he was up for it as well.  

Suiting up.

And she's off!

Brave girl.

Max goes for it (photo strategically taken to hide the fact that he's only about  two feet off the ground, but hey -- that's two feet higher than I got).

Salt Lake City was home to the 2002 Winter Olympics.  The Utah Olympic Park on the outskirts of Park City -- which is just a 30-45 minute drive from SLC -- hosted the Nordic jumping, bobsled, luge, and skeleton events.  The Olympic Park is now a year-round competition and training site for the U.S. Olympic team.  Visitors can watch the athletes in training; here we are watching ski jumpers doing their thing mid-air before landing in a pool.        

Hitting the hot tub back at the house.

The Kovac family came with us as well where we joined the Whittens, who spend most of every summer there.  Here's Max on the Kovac's porch after a storm.  We had lots of rainy weather while we were there -- much more than usual, I was told.  

We headed to the Natural History Museum of Utah in SLC on one of our rainy days.  Here's Scarlett and Stella lounging in a dinosaur footprint.  

All the kiddos minus Max -- Scarlett, Stella (who may or may not be jabbing Elliot in the ribs), Elliot, Beckett, Michael, and Henry.  

Silly cowgirls at the horse exhibit.

The museum is set up in the foothills on the outskirts of SLC; it's a beautiful setting.  

Back in Park City for some ice cream at Java Cow.  

Chris finally arrived and brought sunny weather with him.  Here we are hiking near Deer Valley Resort after a ride up the St. Regis funicular (basically a cross between a giant elevator and an escalator).  This is my kind of hike; ride up, walk down.  But the embarrassing truth is that we got lost on our way down and had to head back to the St. Regis and ride the funicular down.  Mind you, Max and a pack of two year-olds manged to do this hike by themselves a few days later (well, with a couple of day-camp counselors leading the way).  Notably, I had to carry him for half of our group hike, yet he had no problem whatsoever doing the entire thing by himself when I wasn't around.  I'm on to you, Max.  

Apparently Max would have been better off if he'd just headed on down by himself.

Regrouping at the St. Regis after our doomed hike.

Talking basketball, no doubt.

Cute photobomber after lunch at Silver Lake Village.

Riding the lift.  The various ways to ride up and down the mountains -- ski lift, gondola, funicular -- were huge hits with the kids.  And who am I kidding?  With me, too.

Riding the gondola to the top of the mountain at the Canyons Resort.  (These two were pretty much inseparable as is pretty clear from the photographs.)  

Look who it is!  Grandma and Paw arrived (by airplane, not by gondola, just to be clear).

"Walk softly and carry a big stick."

Getting ready to head out on a hike.  BB and Mimi (Michael, Henry, and Stella's grandma/Amy's mom) snagged some walking sticks, too.

The elusive family photo remains elusive.  I should just be grateful that neither Max nor I was impaled by the walking stick.

Max, Scarlett, Stella, Henry, Michael, Beckett, and Elliot.  

The Kovacs.

The ladies -- me, BB, Amy, and Mimi/Linda.

Roping.

Scoping out a shielded lift chair at the Canyons.