adventures in the bubble. part one.

we spent an awesome week in utah valley with family. i'm sorry. were you looking for details of the drive out? i will spare you. suffice it to say that it was very long and extremely slow-going behind the moving truck. the kids were so-so. it helped to break up the nasty duo of aw and bw. but the only way to do that was to put one of them in the truck with gary and ellie and they were not all that impressed with either child. as a traveling companion, that is. so cw spent much of the drive in the truck. i did giggle myself silly when i looked back at aw sitting between gary and ellie in the truck. i could see her little head bouncing as she jabbered ceaselessly. gary's eyes were fixated on the road and ellie was staring out into the vast utah desert with a look of what can only be described as total helplessness. i was delirious with relief that she caught her second wind while riding with them. the real fun began when we hit utah. we went to a great pool, lazy river and all. you cannot beat a lazy river. though i did determine that i was incapable of being lazy in the lazy river. i was constantly worrying that one of the kids would be pulled away. which is really a ridiculous concern considering the river was a huge oval. eventually i would have caught up to them or they would have lapped me. and i'm a little too tall for the whole thing. it was like trying to walk at a reasonable pace on a treadmill submerged in thirty inches of water. only this treadmill was set at a sprinter's pace. i couldn't glide along on my knees. i couldn't totally sit with my head above water. i did get a few cute pictures of baby g. he loved the fountains of water in the baby pool. he didn't seem fazed in the least that they were set on colon-cleansing mode. the older kids loved it and it was fun to see all of the grandkids together. it is fun to go anywhere with ten kids and seven adults. there is always someone willing to go down the slide. again. always someone willing to have a snack on the lawn. always someone willing to lather sunscreen on your burning shoulders. always someone.