A Sample of Our Not-at-Home Schooling

IS homeschooling a family learning around the kitchen table? Well, the beauty of homeschooling is that it can be whatever you want and need it to be. I've been on an extended rant these days about the NON-sheltering, NON-isolated benefits of homeschooling. This post is, in part, a continuation of those thoughts. And in part it is a shout out to my friends, to whom I keep saying, "We're so busy," though when asked I can never seem to remember more than one or two of our "extras."

We are, in fact INCREDIBLY busy by our standards. I do not mean to imply busy is best. This year may simply be what our family needs to make up for a few pregnant school years where I did a lot of laying on the couch as a literal "captive audience" to the kids' spontaneous performances.

For whatever reason this year has packed itself so full, so far so good. We are maintaining our sanity (though we are only a month into it). And I feel like supporting my kids in their learning adventures and pursuits is exactly what I am supposed to be doing, so it is satisfying too.

For the record, here is what we've got going on:
Mondays: our most sacred cleaning day (which with older kids has turned mostly into cleaning morning), piano for my oldest daughter, and Makers Club (programming, mixed with robotics mixed with electronics and engineering mixed with imagination) for my oldest son... and we're looking to add tennis to the mix and, for 3 months out of the year, a ballet lesson taught by me for my youngest daughter ....

Tuesdays: Once a month we host our beloved Culture Club here. Otherwise there is just ballet, ballet, ballet. Literally. Ballet lessons at the ballet school for my son, before which I'm teaching a ballet lesson for my daughter and her peers, and if interest expands beyond the class on Monday, adding to that a beginning ballet class for my younger daughter's peers. PHEW!

Wednesdays: Once a month we hit Biography Club. Twice a month the girls go to American Girls Club. My son is starting a journalism class on this day next month and thereafter working on our community's homeschool newsletter, AND he has a weekly ballet lesson Wednesday night.

Thursdays: Boys Science Club is in the mornings. (So many boys in the club have little sisters in American Girls that this will morph to be on the same day which will really free our Wednesday mornings. Wow!) And the boy who wants to be a professional dancer has yet another ballet class too. Looking at adding a tennis lesson to this day as well. (Twice a month my daughter has a church group called Activity Days on Thursdays. My son's scouts should also be added to the mix, though I'm not sure what day. They are waiting for the critical mass of boys to have birthdays to reboot the program... I think.)

Fridays: To give him the best edge, I am teaching this son ballet Friday mornings. After which I've tried to keep the day free for weekends away and fun field trips. (Destinations on the calendar and to be reviewed include the Dinosaur Park in Ogden, the Monastery in Huntsville, and the Air Force Base Museum. Recently we've hit the Orthodox Church, the Hare Krishna Temple, and a couple of museums in Provo I reviewed for this post.)

You know, when I put it all down like that, it doesn't seem too bad. Maybe I'll stop telling everyone I'm SO busy. Maybe we're just mildly busy, though busier than WE have ever been. I'm pleased with our schedule because each activity represents a quality learning opportunity for my kids AND a chance to get in that all important socialization. More beautiful is that there is only ONE night where we aren't together as a family - Wednesday night, due to my son's latter ballet lesson. Every other night our evenings are free to enjoy dinner and life and our family and friends together! We are also incredibly blessed to have such a great group of homeschooling friends right around us, so while we may not be home, we aren't more than 5 minutes away.

Some say we homeschoolers are an isolated bunch. I submit that if that is so, it is by choice, and not by the nature of homeschooling. Others say it is ambitious to homeschool. When I think of the peace of our family getting to enjoy one another almost every evening, without the pressures of homework or running like crazy people to get our kids to their extra-curricular stuff, I think homeschooling is the answer for those who rather take a moment with the people they love to soak it all in.

"The World is Our Classroom" - A Field Trip Guide to Utah County

"The World Is Our Classroom"

Does that sound familiar? We discovered this weekend it is BYU's motto.... Or at least it's directly under the main "Brigham Young University" sign on campus. Who knew?! So BYU, and by extension ALL good Mormons, should embrace the possibility that homeschoolers have the best opportunity to learn for their augmented access to the world! Right?

Okay, I'm just kidding about the "all good Mormons" bit, but we here in Aggie land had no idea that BYU was so supportive of how we are trying to educate our kids.

Yes, we got out into the world, and this weekend we spent some time in Utah County. We rarely find ourselves there and were delighted to discover so much to do! So if you are like us, here are just a few destinations to get you started! (This pales in comparison to the field trip guide to the Salt Lake area. It's not to say there is less to do than in Salt Lake. WE just don't find ourselves in Provo very often, so here is where we started!)

Destination: BYU Museum of Art
Time: Mondays-Saturdays all year long
Cost: FREE
Review: I must confess the state of my people for this museum. My little 2 year old was under-slept and was howling to be let out of his stroller so he could run around and attack the exhibits. My older 3 were hungry. So we did NOT spend the time the museum deserved. So, as we sped through, warding off melt-downs of various kinds, I was able to appreciate a few things. First, the cost. Free is hard to beat. Unlike the Museum of Art at the UofU, this one is ALWAYS free. It is a tad smaller, but MY kids don't have the kind of art appetite that takes in a whole museum of art anyway, so the small size was just fine. We were there for "Cut," an exhibit featuring 40 historical costumes from movies. So we got to see THE ACTUAL clothes Johnny Depp wore playing Jack Sparrow. Hard to beat. Well, actually ALL the lovely, historic gowns beat Jack Sparrow's get-up. And it was cool to read which stars wore what. I could go on and on about how thrilled I was my fashion-interested girls saw this, but this was just a temporary exhibit. It seems the museum brings in some great stuff from around the world and is worth it! Visitor parking is on the north-east side of the museum and is very convenient.

Destination: Monte L. Bean Life Science Museum at BYU
Time: Mondays - Saturdays all year long
Cost: FREE
Review: This museum was actually our first stop. We parked in the Art Museum's parking lot and walked up the ramps (my kids called them the "Disney World of Sidewalks" - gotta love small pleasures!) to this museum. (If you do the same, the entrance to the building is on the east side. OR if you want to park closer, there is a lot on the north side of the Life Science Museum you can park in and get a pass for once you come inside.) This museum was lovely too. Free is hard to beat. And the displays feature mostly the real animals (dead and stuffed, obviously) so you get a sense of scale, which is thrilling for animals like elephants, giraffes and leaping lions and standing bears. The museum doesn't overwhelm the visitor with too much information to take in. My kids just wanted to run from animal to animal to see who would first spot the next cool thing. I'm sure we'd learn more on a second visit. THAT said, I don't know that there is so much there a third would add a whole lot. We probably spent between 60 and 90 minutes there. If the kids had slowed down, we could have learned more and maybe even been done in 2 hours. I must say, I preferred this over the zoo. First, you could get closer to the animals, and second, how often when you go to the zoo are the animals just laying around? Here, they were up to much cooler business (albeit very frozen business). Other notes: we missed the live animal encounters, but those do happen daily; and there is a good nursing spot in the basement ladies bathroom, but otherwise the basement isn't worth going down to see. Oh, AND we were there on a Saturday morning and it felt almost like a ghost town - so lovely to have it almost to ourselves!

Destination: Allan Hall Museum of People and Cultures at BYU
Time: Mondays-Fridays
Cost: FREE
Review: No review yet. I didn't realize it wasn't open Saturdays. Boo! Oh well! Hope to hit this one soon!

Destination: Provo City Library
Time: Standard City Library hours
Cost: FREE
Review: This was the spur of the moment back-up when we discovered the Museum of Peoples and Cultures was closed. I am a sucker for old buildings! This one is the origin of BYU - the old Brigham Young Academy. (And if you are a fan of the Great Brain books, the school Tom Fitzgerald actually attended. Cool!) So the building was fun. And it had a great children's section that the kids killed a lot of time in. I really like "The Attic" - a gallery on the 4th floor. The exhibit we caught was of original "Loony Tunes" still gels. The kids were thrilled it was cartoons, and we learned about how cartoons are made. Again, this exhibit is not permanent, but it looked like more cool stuff was to come.

Destination: Krishna Temple in Spanish Fork
Time: I think your best bet is to hit one of the many festivals hosted at the Temple
Cost: Tours are free, though donations are encouraged. Food is cheap - $6 for an adult plate; Festivals are also cheap.
Review: My son told his Sunday School class today about our experiences at this Temple yesterday. I wondered what they thought. There may be some people who feel children shouldn't be taken to places or events that don't reflect their beliefs. But it's hard to experience the world as any sort of classroom with that attitude. We seek after the virtuous, lovely, and of good report. We found it at the Krishna Temple. We were there for India Fest. We loved the relaxing music and we were entertained by the dancing. Before the entertainment began and between performance segments we explored and learned. We saw believers in the act of worshiping. We were invited to be blessed by the priest, and were, though we didn't understand what was said. We learned the Hare Krishna believe sound is an inlet to the soul. And we had our own beliefs affirmed - namely, that we are eternal beings clothed in bodies and that we find peace by being in tune with the divine. The girls LOVED the temple - they thought it looked like Jasmine's palace. I read reviews of it being run down, dangerous, and creepy. Here are my thoughts about those reviews. First, I think they clean the place up a bit before major events. Second, that such a place even exists in Utah without a large, tithe paying congregation is nothing short of miraculous to me. And third, it IS NOT Jasmine's palace. So it may not be worth the journey if you are an adult in search of a fantasy. BUT if you are interested in seeing and learning whatever the people and place have to teach in the moment, I bet you will come away with something beautiful. (If you go outside of an event, find someone to answer questions. We were there before things for India Fest got underway. Perhaps folks were busy, or at least I assumed they were, because no one stepped up to help us, point the way, or answer questions, and there was little informational or instructional literature laying around. I'm interested in going back just to have my many questions answered!)

Destination: Museum of Natural Curiosity in Lehi
Time: I don't know that there is a less-crowded time to go...
Cost: $15/adult; $12/child 3-12 years old
Review: (this was not on our most recent trip to Utah County, but part of our summer adventures. Read more about them here.) So if it isn't yet abundantly clear, I am a cheap skate, and first of all: OUCH! Wow, does that price tag sting! So if you've plopped down $51 dollars like I could have, you'd better have a great time, right? (Well, I was a guest with my sis-in-law who has a Thanksgiving Point membership, so we didn't pay THAT much. And STILL it WASN'T cheap.) We went when my sis-in-law hoped it would be less crowded - the middle of the week, around 4pm so right at dinner time. Our plan was foiled. The place was CRAWLING with kids! I couldn't imagine it MORE crowded. (I'm sure it could have been. I just have low crowd tolerance.) Anyway, my kids don't suffer from the same throng-phobia so they walked in, their jaws dropped, and they thanked me before doing anything, for bringing them to the best museum of their lives. They LOVED it! They climbed, crawled, leaped, sprayed, reached, jumped, felt and saw as much as they possibly could. We were there 2.5 hours and could have stayed longer but we were STARVING. If I had it to do again, I would plan 4+ hours at this place and bring food for a picnic if we get hungry. That said, though the kids would be thrilled, I don't know that I would do it again. Of all the museums, this one delivers the info in the most fun, engaging way. But there isn't a lot of info to deliver, so outside of the fun, physical nature of the exhibits, my 11 year old isn't going to learn a lot. Not enough to merit 2 visits. But that assumes he DID learn on the first visit. And in a place so packed, though you may want to take your time for some fun and simple instruction, if you do, 12 kids will jump in front of you, or 3 toddlers will be wailing where you are standing so trying to teach or learn anything begins to feel incredibly futile. (Speaking of toddlers, having one is a blessing. Going to a place this crowded with anyone else besides a toddler makes the protective mother in me cringe. It's a stranger-danger nightmare.) So yes, in my kids' dreams we go back. And IF we do, it will be a SCHOOL DAY from like 2-6 (to avoid field trip throngs), and either dad will be there or my two year old won't.

Reason # 2: Exposing Children to the World

This post is long overdue as being one of my tallest homeschooling soap boxes. My frustration boiled over recently as I read an article in the Deseret News titled "Back Home to School."

The following is a quote from that article: "Some parents express a desire to shield children from inappropriate influences, while others argue that isolating a child makes them ill-prepared for the realities of a diverse society."

I contend these statements are not mutually exclusive. Yes, many parents with children schooled at home AND in the public school system desire to shield children from inappropriate influences. My goodness! Much of our laws are designed to do just that! From drinking ages to movie ratings, we can all agree that children are not developmentally suited to handle all things all the time.

Now some of us, going along with the state law model, have decided that children SHOULD follow similar maturity patterns and pacing. Let them all drive at 16. Let them all see explicit nudity at 13. Send them off for 7+ hours per day, day after day at age 6. If your children follow these broad generalities, I have no criticism. 

But if parents, looking at their children as individuals and not as an average demographic, choose to shorten or extend some periods of various protections, why are so many willing to thumb their noses at that choice? Who best determines for YOUR child what an inappropriate influence is?

Now to the point that "isolating a child makes them ill-prepared for the realities of a diverse society." I couldn't agree more (except to point out that it would be more grammatically correct to argue either that "isolating children makes them ill prepared" OR "isolating a child makes him or her ill-prepared). Bad grammar aside, why on earth would we champion a school system that segregates elementary students not only by age, but also by subject aptitude? What kind of broad exposure is this?

Furthermore, to those folks who live in rural Utah, let's be honest. How diverse are the populations of our elementary schools? Don't most of your child's peers at school live in your neighborhood, enjoy roughly your same standard of living, and adhere or at least acknowledge most of your core beliefs?

So when we say we are exposing school kids to "different people with different points of view," what we really mean is "different people from our corner of town, that are the same age and excel or struggle with learning in similar ways." Now, is this what we are calling the non-isolation that really prepares children for the "realities of a diverse society?" After all, in most work places, employees aren't within a few months of the same age. They don't all commute in one huge vehicle from the same corner of town. And they don't all share the same knowledge, experience, and skill set. That being so, how exactly does school prepare children for the realities of our diverse society again?

"Now Stephanie," you interject, interrupting my rant (and spelling my name wrong again!). "The diversity in elementary schools may, in fact, be minimal, but you must concede it certainly exceeds the diversity in your family." (Nice comment! See, you are a poet.)

THIS is what I have to say about THAT.

The article quoted a woman who had been homeschooled growing up who felt her 'isolated worldview that resulted from learning at home was not necessarily a positive experience for her and her siblings.' She concluded "there's also something to be said for being exposed to different ways of thinking."

True. And I can hardly question the reality of this woman's experience. BUT must it be the reality for any other homeschooling family? Only if they chose to make it so! In another post, I argue socialization is the FIRST reason to homeschool your children. In that post, I expand the vision of homeschooling beyond a family gathered around the kitchen table reading text books. If that is the approach, might not a parent match a teacher, breath for breath, in worldly, diverse fact spewing? (And as some parents may try, how are their children worse off for having this brand of "world exposure" from a parent instead of a teacher?)

But homeschooling can encompass so much more! (And with budget and time constraints placed on schools, be EASILY more than is offered there.) Though we are not yet like the homeschooling families that travel the country and the world, my elementary-age children have 60-year-old NON-RELATIVES they count as friends. They have been to meditation circles and synagogues. We go to cultural events - the celebrations of the holidays of other countries, pow-wows, drum circles. And do you know who we tend to run into as we are OUT in the WORLD having EXPERIENCES rather than sitting in a room at a desk? Other homeschoolers. I don't know why this tends to be so. Perhaps the kids in school have too much homework to do, and too little time for any of the exposure the schools hold so dear. As it turns out, if you live in rural Utah, though the schools may be a safe place, if you really value exposing children to the world, homeschooling may just be the BEST bet!

Little Sister dressed as Moroccan Bride for Big Sister's presentation on Moroccan Weddings

PS As I have mentioned elsewhere, I don't believe homeschooling is the best choice for everyone. And I do respect the thoughtful choices parents make in the best interest of their children. We all know kids who seem to be damaged by their upbringing. Some of those have been homeschooled. Some have been public schooled. This post is to dissuade reasoning people from concluding homeschooling (a very large umbrella over a very diverse group) must necessarily lead to a diminished exposure to diversity in points of view. Let no one pride himself in open-mindedness and label all people who approach education differently as being isolated or close-minded.

It Takes a Village - A Few of the Offerings for Homeschoolers in the Cache Valley Area

I organized a Potluck Social for my homeschooling community. I hope a great time was had by all. There we announced and posted a few of the goings for homeschooling families in the coming school year. I've re-posted them here as an easy reference page for people wanting more details or contact info.

Cache Valley Homeschool Cooperative Group

Designed especially to support families who have teens as their oldest children, classes are for all age levels of kids – teen and elementary.   Our focus is on making sure we have a great group of teens.  Thirty families are currently involved in this group, and we could support just a few more families with teens.    Yet we sometimes have room for families that do not have teens yet, only elementary.

We offer several different choices of classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and your family can come one day, two days, or just for one class. We also have options for teens to attend, without having their families.

Please contact Janet Summit at summitsonthetop@gmail.com for more information.

Homeschool Family Choir

Beginning this fall, we will be meeting at a church in Logan most likely every Thursday evening. It will be free. Anyone can participate in this choir even if they are not homeschooled, as long as they have somebody in their family that homeschools. The more youth the better.

I plan on directing the choir for the fall and during Christmas. Plans are not firm for after Christmas yet.

If interested, please contact Mylie Laing at 435-239-7267, or 435-237-2179, or Mylielaing@gmail.com.

Journalism Class and CVHS Newspaper Team

Is your child interested in being a journalist?  Does your child want to be on the staff of the new CVHS newspaper?  Students ages 11 and up who are truly interested and self-motivated writers can join us for 6 weeks of classes on the ins and outs of journalism, followed by monthly meetings for further instruction and newspaper collaboration.  

We will meet weekly at the Logan Library on Wednesdays at 1:30 pm beginning October 1, with monthly meetings thereafter being the first Wednesday of each month.  Due to the nature of a newspaper, spots in this class/team are limited to 20 students/staffers.  Each student will need to pay $5 for class supplies and purchase his/her own copy ofThe Reporter’s Notebook – Writing Tools for Student Journalists by Mark Levin.  

Sasha Takis is the mentor for the class and the newspaper.  Email questions or requests to join to sashtak@digis.net.

Biography Club

All ages are welcome to join us on the second Wednesday each month at the Logan Library from 10:30 to 12. We will begin in September and run throughout the entire school year. Come to just listen or to share about any historical, fictional, religious, contemporary, or imaginary biographical subject or your choice. This year we hope to be adding a 30 minute presentation by local professionals who use the skills of public speaking and presenting in their everyday lives. You may attend the entire session or just come for the biographical presentation. We even sometimes have treats!

To find out more, please contact steffaniecasperson@yahoo.com.

Intermediate Ballet Class

This year I hope to be offering a ballet class for students ages 8 and older with at least 2 years of ballet training. These classes are primarily to supplement current instruction, and not to replace it. I hope classes will be offered once a week at the Whittier Center, likely on Friday mornings. They will last 1.5 hours and cost $30/month.

I am a former professional ballerina with two children who claim to want to dance professionally. I am offering these class to help them and anyone else with an ambition to be the best ballet dancer they can be.

To find out more, please contact me at steffaniecasperson@yahoo.com.

Service Club

We meet the first Tuesday of each month from 11-12 am.  Details of upcoming projects are posted on the yahoo calendar as plans are made. The kids involved so far are ages 9 and younger.   Thus far, we’ve made Linus blankets, sang Patriotic songs at an assisted living center, wrote letters to soldiers, and assembled activity bags for the hospital to name a few of our activities.

Please email questions  to Amy Waters at amwa_1950 at yahoo.com.

CVHS History Fair

Start thinking of what kinds of things you’d be interested in sharing from your history studies! This event features tables for project displays such as posters, dioramas, models, art, etc. and a program for performance entries such as recitations, readings, enactments, etc. Tentatively scheduled for November 7, location TBD, more information to follow.

Direct questions to Sasha Takis at sashtak@digis.net or watch for further information on the Yahoo group and the CVHS newspaper.  

2015 Northern Utah Homeschool Poetry Contest

“Colors” is the theme for the 2015 NUH Poetry Contest.  Entries must be submitted electronically by noon on Friday, February 13, 2015.

For rules and other information contact Sasha Takis at sashtak@digis.net or watch for further information on the Yahoo group and the CVHS newspaper.

Homeschool Swim Lessons

The first lessons will be the last week of August (held the 26 & 27) and classes are held Tuesdays or Wednesdays at noon. (You chose the day.) Registration begins next week. You do NOT need to be a Sports Academy member.

Call Sports Academy to register for homeschooler class.  

Harmony Ed’s Options Day

Harmony Ed's new Options Day program may start here in Cache Valley. It is a co-op type group that would meet at the Whittier Center on Wednesdays for three hours. From 9-noon. Classes are for teenagers and elementary. We also need teachers and they are compensated.

Contact Layna May at 435-713-5651 or laynamayjojo@yahoo.com

Chess and Strategy Game Club

Bring a chess board if you have one. Parents who know chess are welcome to help teach. Those who don't are welcome to learn. We try to get each child through 3-4 games, 1-2 with peers, 1-2 with adults. Those interested in the BSA Chess Merit Badge can complete all requirements here (please find a merit badge worksheet online and bring a printed copy). Other games we have played include King's Table (hnefatafl), 9 men's Morris, Dominion, and Agricola.

We meet every other week on Friday nights starting in September (Dates TBA via CV-HS listserve). Come at 7pm and stay until 9pm. If you want, bring a treat to share. Recommended for ages 6+. Parents must attend (no drop offs please). Younger children are welcome to play in the basement/backyard if a second parent is available to help monitor them. Unattended and unruly children will be put to work weeding the garden.

1080 Grandview Dr. Providence. RSVP requested by 6pm the Friday of each club meeting (reply to CV-HS email or via text to 574-323-7006).

Figuration

Because practicing figures takes iterations, I am thinking of starting a math fun practice activity for ages 5-8 or so.  It would meet weekly at the Logan Library, probably on Fridays and would include math art, games, stories & crafts.  

Kirsten Swanson at 512-1440, kirstenis@gmail.com

Park Days

Wednesday mornings at 10 for now, a different park each week. Weekly locations and times are posted on the calendar. If there is any interest, we will probably continue into October.

Cara Crump - organizer. cararicks@yahoo.com

Guardians Group

We are having our final planning meeting this Tuesday, AUGUST 5th from 9 am to 12 pm at the Deweyville Park. Bring the kids for that planning meeting. We will be deciding final mentorships, fees, etc.

This is a not-for-profit commonwealth and we utilize TJED principles . We offer fundraising to help offset the small costs we do have for supplies. We meet at two homeschooling families homes that are right next to each other in Garland, Tuesdays from 9 am to 3 pm.

Thursdays are optional and are our club days. We have a Liberty Girls, YASA, Knights of Freedom, Belt Loops, Youth- service, Temple trips, games, dancing that will be rotated. In addition, there are FHE nights, book clubs for moms, monthly field trips, theme nights, movie nights and other activities for youth as well.

If you have questions after looking at the website, ww.guardianscommonwealth.weebly.com, please feel free to email Tammy at wcheftammy@msn.com.

Lively Learners Group

Lively: full of life, active, animated, keen, strong, vivacious, exciting

Learners: students who acquire knowledge or skill by instruction and experience

Our Mission

To provide group learning projects and mentoring for students who love to learn, primarily between the ages of eight and thirteen years old, and their parents, within our homeschooling community, through projects taught by the parents and based on what the parents are passionate and excited about, with input from their children about what they want to learn, connecting a network of strong families to support one another, as well as a positive social environment for their children.

Most classes will be held Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10-12 at my house in downtown Logan. Examples of classes are: A Little House on the Prairie Christmas (the 6 weeks before Christmas break), Science Fair prep (6-8 weeks before homeschool science fair), Things that Go, etc., as well as a Keepers of the Faith Club (for girls age 7-14) and a monthly book club.

If anyone is interested, please contact any of the following:

Greta Ward        greta7302000@gmail.com    435-512-3574

Heidi Hillman    hillman.heidi@gmail.com      801-637-8910

Tammy Jensen  tammyjensen1@yahoo.com  208-852-0405

Nature Study Group

Meets once a month at different locations in the valley (and some outside the valley also). The focus is primarily on nature exploration, secondarily on instruction. Participation is free unless we go on field trips that require a fee, but that would be infrequently. The Nature Study Group includes activity like short hikes, looking at pond life, going birding, learning tree and flower

identification, completing nature journals, etc. Mild to moderate activity level.

Interested persons should contact Jamie Wilde at jamie.wilde@gmail.com

Homeschool Karate

Homeschool Karate is held Wednesdays at 5pm. Cost for the homeschool class is $25/month. Students may add more classes each week at the regular rates. (Classes twice a week cost $60/month, 3x/week is $80).

For more information contact Matt Lundgren 435-881-4877.

Beyond Temple Square - A Field Trip Guide to the Salt Lake City Area

This summer we've found ourselves with a lot of time to kill in downtown Salt Lake. Lucky for us, there is A TON of FUN stuff to do there that doesn't cost a lot of money. If you are looking for a fun city stay-cation, OR feel at a loss of what else to do in Salt Lake City that isn't Temple Square (the obvious and traditional go-to hot-spot), bookmark this page, complete with links for more info and directions, for a quick reference. And enjoy all the great learning on the go! (17 destinations reviewed below. Wow!)

Note: ALL of these destinations were enjoyed with my 3 youngest kids, ages 7, 4, and 2. (My oldest came to a few too, but mostly we went on these to kill time while he was in class.) Hence, the brief time suggestions and notes about cool elevators, etc. ;)

Destination: This Is the Place

Time: Open year round - we went early summer and in the morning, stayed for apx 3 hrs

Cost: $11 adults, $8 children age 3-11

Review: This is one of our family favorites. In fact, we volunteered here over 5 years ago, and if you LOVE it too and want to be a pioneer when you grow up, consider volunteering. (In fact, you can SEE me and my big two from our volunteering days on their website - click the link above. Me and my oldest girl are the first picture displayed on their "Jobs and Volunteers" tab, the volunteer page. The second picture if you click the right arrow on the picture itself, is my big boy when he was 4!) Anyway, there are a lot of fun things to do and see - big train rides, little train rides, pony rides, a splash pad, panning for gold, crafts, a petting corral, and mini village play area. We left after 3 hours only because we had somewhere to be. To maximize learning, ask a lot of questions of anyone dressed as a pioneer. They know a lot, but often don't dump info on you - which is nice if you have wiggly kids who want to get to the next thing, but too bad if you are shy or not sure what to ask. More is up and staffed in the summer, but the Candlelight Christmas is also a delight. Note: for free you can check out the monuments outside the park - call it a hike and take it all in!

Destination: State Capitol Building and the Ensign Peak hike

Time: Ensign Peak NOT open in Winter; we did the hike in the morning and capitol in the afternoon in the summer - total 3 hours

Cost: FREE

Review: There are a lot of cool/pretty things to see in the State Capitol building - great murals, busts of historically significant people, painting of Utah's governors. And it seems things are geared up for visitors during the summer. We liked the retro elevators, but my 2, 4, and 7 year olds are into elevators.... If you do the official free tour you get into a few more places than showing yourself around, but we just tried a lot of doors and found enough to interest us. Pop your head into the governors office for sure. I'd like to come back when our state legislature is in session, but I'll have to wait for older kids! (When I do, we're eating in the cafeteria in the House Building behind the main capitol building - just to see who we can see and take in the governmental air! :) Also, the grounds are lovely so be sure to stroll around the outside of the building too!

             Info on the Ensign Peak hike usually describes the hike as easy. I think that is because it is short. But it is fairly steep if you aren't in shape, or are carrying heavier little people. (I carried my 2 year old, but he is a feather-weight.) If you have crazy runners, there are some steep drop offs to mind. But the views are fantastic! Plan this hike taking a good hour if your kids can keep a good pace. If they go slow or like to rest, it will take more. Also, there are no near-by restrooms (at least not when we were there that were open) but there is a nice mini-park directly across from the trail-head. It seems under-used, but is quite lovely - a great spot to rest and enjoy a snack in the shade.
(Note: for a more temperate hike, and with a parking spot on the east side of the State Capitol, you can enjoy Memory Grove. See review below.)

Destination: International Peace Gardens and Welfare Square

Time: Gardens open May - September - 2 hrs for your first time; Welfare Square - 1 hr tour

Cost: FREE

Review: I grouped these two because they are within 3 blocks of each other, and share the theme of people around the world. The gardens are one of my family's favorite spots.

They are beautiful and a bit undiscovered so you may have the place all to yourselves! We love wandering and playing around the Little Mermaid, the Viking mound and the Chinese and Canadian area, but for your first time, try to make a full loop and see and learn more about all the countries represented. Not to be missed is the Matterhorn in Switzerland and the garden of Japan. (Bathrooms are in another part of the park, not the gardens themselves, so plan enough time to walk to them, should the need arise, or have all the kids go before you enter the gardens.)

          The chocolate milk at Welfare Square is some of the best I've had, EVER! You can sample it and the cheese the LDS church produces at the end of an hour tour of Welfare Square. The tour is guided by sister missionaries who have never worked at Welfare Square so sadly, their knowledge is limited to the script. And the script feels a bit forced at times, so it's more full of a churchy message than cool tidbits about the LDS church's humanitarian efforts. But you leave with an impression of the importance of taking care of our neighbors, by which the church means all the people of the world, and it is an awesome undertaking! Definitely worth the time spent to go once! (Tours start every hour on the hour from 10-3, but more is actively in production in the morning so there is more to see the earlier you go.)

Destination: City Capitol Building and Salt Lake City Downtown Library

Time: 2-3 hours - while both are open year-round, official tours of the City Building run during the summer on Mondays at 12pm and 1pm 

Cost: FREE

Review: Once again, I grouped these because they are across the street from on another and both very cool looking buildings! In fact, if you go THIS summer (2014) you can get FREE lunch for your kiddos by showing up at the library between 11am and 1pm. It's part of a state program, so if you are interested, you just head down the stairs in the main atrium/lobby of the library and the food is passed out near the base of the elevators. (Adults may purchase a meal for $2.50 cash.)

         The library was one of my 7 year old's favorite spots. And, as I mentioned above, my kids LOVE elevators, so these are worth riding! They are encased in glass, all except the floor, so not only can you look out, but you can look up too, and you can observe the workings of the elevator as it moves. The children's area is gorgeous with a fun attic and ice cave to enjoy reading in. We also took the elevator to the roof, which was a lot of fun, and you can picnic up there and walk down the outside of the building. Also on the fifth floor is a window outside of which are two beehives you can look into and see the honey comb with live bees hard at work. My 4 year old thought this was awesome! And with any library, there is always something going on, which is why the link above takes you to the events page.

          Anyway, the City Capitol Building is directly west of the library, and if your kids are anything like mine, they will want to check it out. My girls thought it was a castle. On the official tour you get to see the catwalk and how the entire building sits on giant springs to make it earthquake safe. But once again, we just walked around and found plenty to be interested in including portraits of all the Mayors of Salt Lake City. A sweet intern in the mayors office hooked us up with key chain flashlights, which then became the best part of the day. (How do my children develop such a love of cheap swag?)

Destination: The Living Planet Aquarium (and Scheels)

Time: WE spent 1 hr and 15 minutes at the Aquarium  

Cost: almost $16 for adults, kids 3-12 are almost $11 each!

Review: So considering my husband wasn't with us and my littlest guy was free, this STILL cost our family $50!!! NOT WORTH IT for just over an hour of entertainment and learning! To help you determine where I'm coming from in this review, let me mention a few things. First, we had Aquarium passes 5 years ago when it was at it's old location, so I think I had a pre-set "bigger and better" expectation. Also, on the particular day we went, we had already been to another destination so I was tired and didn't have the energy to milk the kids' engagement level. If I had tried harder, I might have stretched our time there to about 2 hours. Though the new building is bigger, I don't feel much has been added in value - just more space. (As the billboards say, "Room to explore." Sadly, that's all you get: room.) Many of the exhibits are yet to be installed. And the existing exhibits have younger/smaller animals in them. At this admission rate, you are paying about $1/cool thing your kids can see per kid. (The adult rate is more because I don't know that there are 10 cool exhibits in the whole place.) Some of my dissatisfaction may be due to the nature of aquariums: exhibits are indoors and the glass makes them 2 dimensional, so you feel like you are wandering in a line through the dark and waiting for the folks in front of you to step aside so you can see whatever is behind the glass. Also, I'm not into the ocean or animals in general, so it probably just will never hit the spot. Certainly NOT at the current pricing. (I'd pay $15 for my family to go through. For $15 I might have nicer things to say.) 

         If you want to save the money, check out Scheels. Yes, I know it's a sporting goods store. But from Salt Lake it's a shorter drive and more convenient. They have a cool salt-water aquarium inside, plus a bunch of stuffed animals on display. AND you can take a huge ferris wheel ride there for $1. You can probably spend about the same amount of time in the store as the aquarium, and get a ride to boot for A LOT LESS MOULA!

Destination: Clark Planetarium and Gateway Mall's Olympic Plaza Fountains

Time: 2-3 hours - I'm sure they don't use the fountains as a splash pad in the summer

Cost: FREE

Review: We love the Clark Planetarium. Though we have enjoyed shows at the dome theater and have yet to see an Imax show there, there is a TON to take in for free! (The shows cost extra.) Go and learn about tornadoes, cloud formation, the earth's rotation, the planets, Newtons laws, space travel, and take a walk on the moon and on Mars. Tons of interactive displays make it one of my kids' favorite spots. Afterwards, head North down the main corridor of the Gateway Mall and find yourself at the Olympic Plaza fountains. They come on for a choreographed showing with music every half hour - on the hour and half past. Mostly, the kids will enjoy the very exciting and unpredictable splash pad play, so bring suits and towels and prepare to get very wet. (The bathrooms nearest the fountains are in the kids area of Barnes and Nobles - and it's a great kids area btw, with a train table and Winnie the Pooh stage.) I forgot to use it this time around, but I believe the Planetarium validates parking. But if not, underground parking is still relatively cheap. (I use the Winter Parking garage for it's proximity to the planetarium and the fountains.)

Destination: Utah Museum of Fine Arts

Time: 2 hours

Cost: FREE on the FIRST WEDNESDAY of each month

Review: It's just hard to beat free. For free, this is a very cool museum. I don't know how often displays change, but we were able to catch a big one about the Bingham Copper Mine, which is nice because the actual mine is presently closed to visitors. Generally, the museum seems to be a good mix of old and new art and even some artifacts. Almost nothing to do (probably typical for an art museum) but plenty to see. I liked looking at painting dates and telling my kids what was happening in the world at the time the art piece was created. One other successful way to engage them was to pick a space (like a room or wall) and ask them to find their favorite piece in that space, stand by it, and tell me why it was their favorite. This helped them to have an interest in seeing it all, and allowed me as I shared my favorites, to model different things to note or appreciate in a piece of art. AND it was fun!

Destination: Natural History Museum

Time: We spent the better part of 3 hours here including eating, but could have spent more time, if we had it.

Cost: 4 times a year, the museum has a free day - if you don't go on that day, I recommend getting a membership. There is more to see than you can possibly take in on one day unless your kids have a 4+ hour attention span

Review: This really should be a review of going for the first time on a free day. So let me say that the museum offers tickets for free days. You can reserve up to 6 seven days in advance by visiting their website. I was away from a computer when the tickets became available and asked my husband to do it for us. He didn't have nice things to say about the reservation process. Said the site was clunky and it took him several attempts to get it to work. But in the end, we had 6 tickets waiting which we didn't appear to need. We arrived at 11. My friend who came to meet us before 10:30 found a parking spot in their smallish lot. At 11, there was no space left. I won't reveal how I came to NOT enjoy an uphill hike from parking in the heat or take a shuttle from many blocks away. But I would strongly advise getting to the Museum early. When we left at 2, new groups were stalking folks in the parking lot to find a spot.
            I was a big fan of this museum way back when it was in an older building near the University of Utah's main campus. Back then, they had a free day once a month similar to the art museum. So the free days were not over-crowded. I am not a huge fan of crowds. Probably as an individual, or with another adult, I don't mind them as much. But trailing 2 very young minors while managing a stroller can be a challenge.
            THAT said, this museum had a lot to see, and the kids loved seeing it! I recommend to families pushing strollers to take the elevators to the 4th floor and work your way down through the exhibits. Everything is nicely arranged around ramps. Exploring this way, you work backwards through history, instead of progressing from dinosaurs to animals today, but certainly the kids don't mind. The dinosaur bones were my kids' highlight, and walking down through, you finish with a "grand finale." The displays are huge and as you wind your way down (or up) you get to see them from multiple angles, which is GENIUS!
           There is a fair amount of hands-on learning to be had. If you can find a quieter time to go, kids would likely enjoy quite a bit of exploration and learning. When things get crowded the last thing you want to do is hang around waiting in a line to try something. Also, while there is TONS to see, there are only tiny signs explaining what you see, so in a crowd, you hate to stop and read and hold up the line, or wait for people to step aside to allow you to get to the sign.
            After you work from floor 4 to floor 2, if you have more time, take the elevator to level 5 to see the displays on the Native Americans and check out the view from the outside deck. The whole floor is worth seeing, but doesn't connect physically to the rest. It's a bit quieter up there. AND I discovered after pulling up a random bench to nurse that the bathrooms on the 5th floor have a nursing chair in them. NICE! (Other bathrooms may. Didn't check them all.)

Destination: Tracy Aviary

Time: 2.5 hours, Summer morning and early afternoon is when we were there

Cost: adults $7, kids 3-12 $5 (groups over 10 get $1/person discount so bring friends!)

Review: I am afraid of birds. Odd, I know. One of my worst nightmares involved John Travolta and a bird flying near my head. SCARY! That said, I LOVED the Aviary. Probably because my kids seemed engaged and excited the entire time we were there. We didn't purchase any of the extra bells and whistles, but still had a great time! We were most wowed by Andy, the Andean Condor. HUGE! But we delighted in walking around, taking the birds AND nature in. The whole place is lovely. The kids found a lot to interact with AND the displays were a great mix of at-a-glance cool info and details for the slower, info-driven explorer. Were it not for a pick-up deadline, we could probably have stayed to enjoy the place for another hour or more. LOVED it!

Destination: Parley's Historic Nature Park and the Kol Ami Synagogue 

Time: 3-4 hours - the Nature Park would be terrific any season, and check with or call the synagogue before going

Cost: FREE

Review: Once again, these are lumped by proximity - the synagogue is a stone's throw from the nature park. However, we did not do them on the same day. The nature park is a fun and flat city hike (outside of the incline to get into and out of the Nature Park.) We enjoyed the fun trails and the adventure and discovery that came with it. It IS an off-leash dog area which is something to note if you have little ones afraid of being discovered by a fast moving, large canine. (Also, some dog owners apparently think their dogs' "business" left about in public places is cute. I'd like to find these owners and leave my kids' poopy diapers on their lawns. Be aware of the possibility of these "mines" and give your little ones a heads-up.) One final note: restrooms are a good walk west of the nature area trail head (100 yards-ish), so go before you head down.

       Anytime I can get an informative tour geared to the interest and pacing of my little kids, I'm going to give it two thumbs up, and I must say, we LOVED Kol Ami. Our tour lady (whose name over a year later I don't remember) was fantastic and we learned so much about the Jewish faith which I found beautiful and inspiring! We did just happen to show up one day with our Culture Club so we lucked out, but if you don't want to chance it, call to be sure someone will be there and available to show you around.

        (another field trip grouping suggestion for older kids: check out the Imax film "Jerusalem" on the same day as a trip to Kol Ami. Cool!)

Destination: The Leonardo (Museum)

Time: a lot to get your money's worth

Cost: Adult $8, kids over 12 $8, kids 6-11 $7, kids 5 and under FREE

Review: Museums have a hard balance to strike. They need to engage all learning types, all ages, and offer enough to see and do to make a visit worth it, but not so much the mind goes on overload and doesn't retain any info. The Leonardo is a newer museum, and MY take is it's still working on finding this balance. On hearing positive reviews, we got our family memberships without having gone ever. I hope at the end of one year it feels worth it. The upside of a membership to this museum is that you have more time to explore. And being named after Leonardo da Vinci, one would expect a lot of exploration and hands-on fun. MY challenge was accompanying multiple children who all have a different idea of where they would like to spend time. The hands-on areas were also well used and messy - this didn't bother the kids, but my feeling was that SOMEBODY was a genius to charge all this money so kids could play with other people's garbage scraps. And the less interactive displays were way too wordy to bother with if you go with anyone under age 10. (Who wants to stand there and be read to when there are cooler things to see and do? Probably why I equated the word Museum with BORING 'til I was in my teens - because some well meaning teacher was trying to help me learn something by standing and reading to ME. Yeah. Boring!) So, if I didn't have a membership, I think this would fall in the NOT worth it category. THAT said, the kids had a lot of fun, and we DO have a membership, so we will be back for more and I hope to report we missed a lot and I was totally wrong.

           One final note: We totally lucked out and went to check out the Leonardo exhibit Animals Inside Out on a day when admission was just $2.50. Totally worth it at that price. The kids thought it was very cool! However, regularly it would cost us members $10, and $15 for an adult non-member. It was worth the $5 I payed for my crew to go through. It would NOT have been worth the $20 it would cost the same people to go. BUT my 11 year old missed out, and I WILL pay $7 to have him check it out when we are there next. It's all cool. But there just isn't $15 worth of cool. Certainly not for kids much younger than 7. I guess I'm basing that on the fact that I did spend time and energy to engage the kids and we learned a bunch. Still, there isn't more there than about an hour of stuff to see and learn. So for a family, it's a really pricey hour.

Destination: Memory Grove

Time: 2-3 hours, Meditation Chapel opened summers on Wednesdays from 12-3

Cost: FREE

Review: This sweet spot with the creek that becomes THE creek of the City Creek Mall is so fun. Next to the International Peace Gardens (see above), it is my second favorite. But I'm a history junkie and have an incredibly soft spot in my heart for those who have lost their lives in the armed forces. So I loved the Meditation Chapel and the other monuments. The beauty of the park was not lost on my little ones. And there is a nice tranquility there, maybe because it's off the beaten path. On the far north end of the park (look for a small cement and stone bridge spanning the creek) there is a trail head for a well shaded path that winds through the ravine. We didn't make it far at little-people pace - which I suppose means there is a lot to explore and lots of "doggies" to stop and pet and shy away from.
            We had come on a different day of the week and came back on Wednesdays with the purpose of checking the buildings out. We only saw the chapel, but there was a sweet woman there who explained some of the building - who built it, when, with what, and why - and gave the kids a sheet of photos making up a scavenger hunt of the rest of the park which was perfect to engage them in what else was there. (We missed the carriage house, but usually it is also open for tours on Wednesday afternoons.)
         There were a few picnic tables, but no bathroom that I am aware of, so go before you go, if you know what I mean. Also, you can park on the street approaching the park. It is zoned for a 2 hour time limit, which should be plenty to do the hike, or take all of the monuments in. But may stretch it if you want to do both. However, if memory serves (and it may not!) the parking across the street to the east of the State Capital Building has no time limit and is in good supply. There you will find a trail and staircase that descends into Memory Grove.  (If you only have 2 hours on a hot day anyway, park below where there is shade.) The gates to Memory Grove itself are usually closed, which is fine because parking inside would ruin the feel, and be incredibly limited anyway.
          Final note: You can also grab a free sack lunch from the government near this park from 11:30-12.

Cucumber Punch Recipe - For Your "Trying-Something-New Muscles"

I can't believe how wildly popular my sugar cookie recipe is. I mean, I SHOULD believe it, because sugar cookies are awesome in general. And the ones on my blog are TO DIE FOR.  But if you've hit my blog hoping to find MORE great recipes, you are just in time!

My last post was about building our muscles so we can move from having to think of all the how-to's to living in automated habit, or mastery, mode. Of course, there aren't "biking muscles," or "ballet muscles," or "homeschooling muscles." My point was that every time we try something new, including homeschooling, it will feel a little awkward at first, like the pain of working a new muscle.

UNLESS, that is, we've worked out our "Trying-Something-New Muscles!" Of all the muscle groups, getting a regular work-out of these may be the most beneficial in life. AND we don't need to do anything as drastic as pull our kids from public school to get those muscles working. We can begin with trying new food.

So here you go! This is a great punch recipe. Cucumber Punch is my go-to entertaining punch in the hot summer months, so jump in (not literally) and enjoy it right away. I love serving it when I entertain because it gives guests something to talk and marvel about. In all of my sharing, I think I've only had one person not like it - my brother Matt, but he doesn't like anything, so don't let his hesitation hold you back!

Cucumber Punch
6 cucumbers, peeled and sliced (I like to slice them about as thin as a stack of 3 or 4 quarters)
1 can of frozen limeade (partially thawed)
3 2 liter bottles of 7-Up
1 large bag of deli or "Sonic" or pellet ice (this is the hardest ingredient to come by, I've found, on the go) Sonic, the drive through fast food joint, does sell it, but some employees aren't aware of that fact and they don't sell it during certain busier hours. I've had better luck hitting my grocery stores and asking the people in the meat department or deli if I can buy a bag of the ice they put in the display cases. Often, they don't know what to charge, and each store handles THAT challenge a little differently, but be persistent and you can usually walk away with a bag of the ice you want. See, you didn't think this punch would be as easy as drinking something new did you!?

So! Mix it up in a punch bowl, allowing about 30 minutes for the cucumber flavor to absorb into the punch. When it comes to mixing, I'd begin by adding 1 bottle of 7-Up, all of the cucumbers, and 1/3 of the limeade and ice, adding more of both if you have room in the bowl. You can keep adding limeade, 7-up and ice as the punch is attacked, and assuming the cucumbers don't disappear. (They may, as they are super tasty after sitting in the punch for a while.)

Give it a whirl and let me know what you think! And do share in the comments below any recipes you enjoy that similarly strengthen our trying-something-new muscles!

Travel Report: The BEST Souvenirs

We've been back from Florida for around 2 weeks now. I'm past telling everyone the trip was a bust - a view likely fueled post-trip exhaustion. But the highlights have also had time to settle out. And the ever-present critic inside has a list of the things she'd do differently for next time. So it's time to write and get a bit of all of it off my chest.

First, the background. While my hubby and I were regular world travelers in our BC lives (BC being Before Children) the most we'd done with 3 kids was a road trip. This was a 12 day trip with 4 kids in tow ON AN AIRPLANE. Whoa!

A few weeks before we left, the magnitude of the disaster we could be in for hit me. It hit as my not-yet-two-year-old was throwing the food he wasn't interested in anymore on the floor. Another wave of it crashed as my 4 year old whined for hours about a host of minor issues. And still another wave came on as I watched she and her older sister bicker about ridiculous things, and observed how I, with my small portion of patience, dealt with it all.

Fearing the worst, I enlisted my best parenting practices and constructed a count-down chain. On each link I'd written the behavior we would be practicing for the day - all behaviors attempting to lead up to children who would not bring shock and horrific awe to the lovely folks in the east who feel 4 children is a lot. I didn't want to confirm their biases with MY kids.

Anyway, among other things, we practiced:
Living on a schedule: The schedule was geared to keeping a routine for the trip. "School work" WAS required. It was brief (as always), anticipating that on the trip, I would have them do SOMETHING, like record what they did for the day and why they liked it. We also scheduled and practiced quiet time. That was to not only to give hubby and me down time, but so that they could grow in self-entertaining abilities in a confined space. (They self-entertain GREAT at home, but it isn't necessarily quiet or in one spot.)

This payed off. I did not, as I had anticipated, hold to any specific schedule OR require anything resembling school work of them. (Though I did suggest from time to time that they could write in their travel journals.) Anyway, this practice DID make the trip smoother, but, the added bonus was that it made the time leading up to the trip smoother too. When I get deep in projects (like prepping 6 people for a 12 day voyage across the country) I can tend to let our daily routines go to pot. That usually leads to the kids' needs being neglected (school needs, but eating, sleeping, and cleaning needs too) and the result is chaos. The chain and our decision to adhere as closely to a schedule as we could (after all, we have very little practice) payed off in pre-trip peace.

We also practiced increasing our gratitude expressed AND our complaints minimized, and taking no for an answer. (This too payed off as the sincere thanks the kids expressed DID make a lot of headache worth it, and we bypassed much of the energy-depleting pleading and griping.)

Finally, (and closely related to what I've just mentioned) we reviewed the concept of letting go - being at peace with what is. I explained that sometimes our trip would be fun, sometimes boring. Some things would live up to our expectations, and other times they would't. I told them we can be happy anyway.

I tried to practice this attitude before we left with my mantra: the adventure starts NOW. I found myself feeling a lot of stress as preparations intensified. (I imagine even seasoned travelers have situations arise where they aren't completely familiar with the rules/how to navigate the literal or figurative lay of the land.) Being absent from Orlando for 20 years, having never gone with kids, I worried. Would I find all the right hotels? Would my efforts to save money pay-off or wind up costing us MORE? Would I pick the right days to hit the right places? Would the weather cooperate? Would our fellow travelers look with admiration at the ear-piercing volume my baby can hit, or would there be daggers in their eyes? These worries dominated my conscious mind. They took energy to juggle and stress over.

Then it hit me: I WON'T maneuver every obstacle, challenge, and decision point perfectly. Period. There will be less than ideal moments. Some I will create. Some will be out of my control. And they are ALL part of the journey. ALL the ups and ALL the downs will be a part of our adventure together, and I can embrace it all IN the spirit of adventure, even before we leave the comforts of our home....

So?

I am pleased to report that the kids were amazing!!! My whiney one rolled smoothly with puking on the final leg of the trip out! All the kids were total troopers in their plastic ponchos in the rain for every Disney day. They even pleasantly suffered with the stomach flu, conveniently hitting only at night when we were on our cruise.

I, however, for all my mantra-ing, didn't fair so well. I just shifted from worry to disappointment. "Seriously? We ALL have to get sick on the cruise?!" "Seriously, it has to rain every stinking day we spend at Disney?" "Seriously? There are STILL lines MID-WEEK IN FEBRUARY IN THE RAIN!!!!?" "Seriously? I'm getting the pat down because there may be a chance this white, middle-aged woman traveling with 4 kids poses a terrorist threat!?"

Okay. So maybe it was less disappointment and more disgust. But I learned from that too!

Related to Disney, I learned, despite all the hype, IT IS AN AMUSEMENT PARK - ergo there is a bunch of over-priced merchandise and food around every corner AND yes! there are lines! Disney is not a life experience - unless theme parks are your life. No judgement if that's you. MY most magical place on earth so far is probably having a whole jungle island to myself and hubby off the coast of Taiwan.

I realized it was foolish, theme parks NOT being my life, to plan a vacation with one primary destination being a theme park. In the future, our family trips might seem more magical to me if we are somewhat remote, surrounded by nature and/or immersed in another culture. And there needs to be plenty of unscheduled down time to explore. This trip's highlight for hubby was a walk we went on to find food on Sunday. Along the way we saw a bunch of cool trees, relaxed with the kids, and saw a bird stalking and having for dinner an unfortunate lizard. So unscripted and in nature seem to be key for him too.

In the end, despite my late Disney revelation, AND despite our various misfortunes, the trip was a smashing success! Why? We benefited from our travel in the best possible ways. Though I thought we were vacationing to get away from the Cache Valley winter, or the post-holiday slump, or to take a break from our routine, or to do something fun, I learned by my experiences what travel really means, and why we need to keep traveling.

First, now I've got a trip behind me, I'm all practiced up and I think I can worry a lot less going into it. But there are more significant reasons than that.

Travel, when we take on it's challenges just right, means we grow in grace as individuals. As we see and know more of the world, we understand better what it means to be American, Mormon, human. We saw so many different people. We heard so many different accents and languages. We ate new food. We tried new things, experienced different climates.

When I was a missionary preparing to go to Taiwan, from time to time I would run into negative reports about the country. It was stinky. It rained a lot. It was so humid. When I arrived, I reported home that it smelled like New York, it rained like Seattle, and was as humid as Florida. Because I had been to all these other places for other adventures, I didn't need Taiwan to be like Utah. My acceptance of Taiwan for how it was didn't miss a beat, nor did my personal confidence to maneuver the uncertain. (Though it was certainly tested.)

I think of grace, among other things, as a confident approach to the unfamiliar, whether it be people, circumstances, or places. Growing up studying ballet, I was blessed to be so repeatedly thrown out of my comfort zone that being out became it's own comfort. The trip was a success, first, because I remembered this aspect of grace. And my children had the opportunity to grow in grace too, making the trip SO worth it because THEY DID.

PS: Other practical points:
Two year olds are too young for cruises. Unless perhaps yours is an only, or the only one traveling with you. Otherwise, cruises are AMAZING with kids. And be sure to order one of all the adult entres on the dinner menus to increase your dining prowess and skip the kid food they will kindly try to provide for your kiddos.

Tourist traps ARE great places to get little tastes of the whole world.

When everyone says "Stay IN Disney World - it's worth it," what they really mean is, "It is so miserable getting in and out of Disney World that even though your hotel has a free and convenient shuttle, it is crowded, not a brief ride, and your young kids, ripe with exhaustion will have their best melt downs there. In reality, what IS 'worth it' is to END the suffering of standing, waiting, and moving in a crowd." Could Disney have come up with such compelling reason? I wouldn't put it past them.