Friday, October 29, 2010

Aspen Grove

We got to go to Aspen Grove with my parents this year. It was AWESOME! Time for a plug. To all you parents out there. Aspen Grove is the BEST VACATION EVER!!! They have camp councilors for literally every age group (literally, 6 weeks old and up), and you send your kids off, meet them for meals (which someone else cooks), and then send them off again until the evening. You TRULY get a vacation. No cooking, tending kids, cleaning...okay, there isn't a maid service, you do need to keep your room a little tidy, but that's way easy since your kids are gone all day! When I told Bart about Aspen Grove, he was a skeptic. By the end of the week, he was calling his family telling them that we should save up and do it! It is seriously awesome. I absolutely loved it as a kid, and now I'm not sure what's better. Going there as a kid, or going there as a parent. If you're thinking that might be nice, JUST DO IT! IT'S WORTH IT!

To me, this is what Aspen Grove is all about....Aspen Follies!



It's basically a ton of different obstacle course type things that you get to do with your family/group. SOOOOOOO much fun. That lame explanation really doesn't do it justice. Hopefully the pictures will give you a little bit of a better idea of it's awesomeness.

One of the first things we did while we were there was paint ball! I have been wanting to go paintballing FOREVER, but whenever I got the opportunity, something always came up and I couldn't. But I finally got to go! It was way fun, even with the ghetto coarse.



As soon as I told Bart Aspen Grove had a pond that kids could go fishing in, the only thing he wanted to do was take Addison fishing. I didn't know how it would pan out. Fishing generally takes a lot of patience...something 3 year olds aren't really known for. But they checked out their pole and bate, and headed down to the pond.

I figured I had better take some pictures quickly, while Addison was still in a good mood. I sure am glad I did because I swear, within 2 minutes, they had caught a fish! I couldn't believe it! (Neither could the people on the other side of the pond who looked like they had been there a while). As you can see, Addison was a little nervous around the fish once it was out of the water. It was a great daddy-daughter bonding experience though. Addison even tried the fish when they cooked it for her the next day. She wasn't a big fan, but I was proud of her for trying.



On Wednesdays the counselors actually take the kids for the whole day (lunch and all) to give people the opportunity to hike Mt. Timpanogos. Unfortunately, when we went this year, the Timp trail hadn't opened yet. So Bart, My dad, My sister and I hiked to Stewart Falls instead. It was a beautiful hike, and I hear it's even prettier in the fall when all the colors are changing.




Addison was a Stomper this year. I nearly cried when she got up on the first night and joined with her little co-campers to sing, "Super stompers, super stompers, stomp stomp stomp!" Hey! I was pregnant and emotional and my kid was experiencing something I remember my little brother and sisters experiencing. I found it touching.

By far, her favorite thing to do was swim.



The best part for me this year was that I didn't have to deal with food. I was so morning sick, it was so nice to just walk into a dining hall, grab whatever I thought I could keep down, eat, and then leave. No gross fridge smells. No cleanup or dishes in the sink smelling. No cooking smells. Nothing. Just come, eat, leave. I was able to keep almost everything down that week. It was WONDERFUL!

The saddest part of the whole vacation was the last day. Addison had been telling me all week how she and her friends were being cows and singing for the final night of skits. She was sooooo excited. After we came home from dinner, Addison felt sick. Sure enough, within an hour she was throwing up, so we tucked our sick little girl into bed and opened our window to listen to the skits (our room was right by the amphitheater). Suddenly her group's part came on. She heard the music and weakly sat up and said, "Mom! They're doing the cow part! I feel better! I have to go be a cow!" She was so obviously sick and wanted so badly to go and be part of all the fun, it was HEARTBREAKING!!! We had to deal with some tears, and promised her that we'd come again next year so that she could be with her group to do the skit. Poor little thing.


But even despite some sickness (fortunately it passed quickly) it was an AWESOME vacation. And I SERIOUSLY can't wait to go again next year!

1 comment:

janae said...

I am so envious. My family has done Aspen Grove a couple times, and so has Sam's family, but we've never gone. Of all the people that would appreciate it, I think Sam and I would be on the top of the list! Any resort thing that actually takes your kids sounds like heaven to me!