We had a great time celebrating the new year. So much fun, in fact, that we celebrated for four days! Salt Lake City has its “3VE” celebration for three consecutive nights. We have learned over the years that the first and second nights are not as packed, but have the same activities. This year we went on Wednesday, December 29, with our friends Kristin and Abby. As with prior years, we took the FrontRunner train into SLC, and then the Trax train between locations. By the time we got to SLC, we were in the middle of a blizzard! Even though we had to walk about a block, we decided it was better than having to drive around downtown in the blizzard!
We started at the LDS Church History Museum. It has been a few years since we have been there, so we had a great time exploring again. They had a couple of fun activities for kids, including coloring a vellum paper modeled after the stained glass window of “The First Vision.”
As we left the Church History Museum (in the blizzard) and walked to the Trax station, we passed a JB’s restaurant. Kristin noticed a big sign saying that kids eat free on Wednesdays! We couldn’t pass that up! Even though it wasn’t the California Pizza Kitchen dinner that Ryan had hoped for, it was a great (and cheap!) dinner.We spent the rest of the evening at the Salt Palace/Convention Center. Ryan and Abby were in heaven in the Bounce Town (set up in the huge exhibit hall). Any parent knows that “bounce houses” are a popular attraction at warm-weather festivals and fairs, but usually cost a couple of dollars each, and have a line of kids wrapped around them. The Bounce Town had about 20 different bounce houses/slides/obstacle courses, and only about 20 kids in the entire place! Ryan & Abby could run between their favorites, and get right on! The event planners thought about parents, and had a corner set up with tables, chairs, and live bands for parents to be entertained while their kids were being entertained. Needless to say, we stayed there until both kids’ faces were flushed from all of the running, bouncing, and excitement.
Across the hall from the Bounce Town was the “Ball Room.” Yes, it was in the ballroom, but it was filled with beach balls of all sizes. A few were literally 5 to 6 FEET in diameter! Again, there were only about 20 other people in the huge room. Kristin and I sat on the floor as we were entertained (and attacked) by the kids.
By this time, the kids were exhausted! But since it was only about 8:30 pm, we dragged them around some more!
We went outside, where there were ice sculptures, praying mantis truck, and (Ryan’s favorite) a Lamborghini Mercielago.
We made our way to the ski & snowboarding exhibition that was held along West Temple, which was closed to traffic for the event. Again, there were only about 20 people watching. (By the way, we watched the news coverage of 3VE on New Year’s Eve, and the crowds were horrendous!) We were standing near the bottom of the hill by the jump, which happened to be right next to the broadcast tower. The announcers heard everything we said! Once they realized this, Ryan & Abby started chanting what they wanted the skiers & snowboarders to do. The announcers would then relay the “request” to the athletes, who would generally comply. Ryan & Abby thought it was amazing that they were in control of the athletes’ stunts! I’m sure that wouldn’t have happened on New Year’s Eve!
Perhaps the highlight was when one of the snowboarders walked by and agreed to a photo with Ryan & Abby. We don’t know his name, but to the kids, he was a celebrity!
On Friday, December 31, we spent some time with Kristin & Abby again, having lunch with our friend, Laurel. Laurel is our world-traveler friend, and has lived in some fascinating places. We always enjoy spending time with her when she is in town for the holidays. We had a great lunch at El Matador, and enjoyed sitting and visiting for a couple of hours.That afternoon/evening, we hung out with Rara & Papa and Alice & Claire. We attended a fun party at the Strands, celebrating not only New Year’s Eve, but also Uncle Randy’s birthday and Gage’s birthday. Alice & Claire spent more time playing with Gage’s new toy than he did! And, as always, Ryan loved spending time with his second cousins, Abby & Josh.
When we got home, Alice & Claire & I had some spa time. I painted their fingernails with color-changing Del Sol polish (this one changes from silver glitter to pink glitter). When I finished Claire’s fingernails, she took off her socks and said, “What about toes?!?!” So we did toes. :)
We helped get the girls to bed, and then Ryan & I went home. We had a great time watching football bowl games, playing board games, eating treats, and banging pots & pans and blowing horns at midnight. (Sorry, Melissa! In the middle of our noise we realized that your house looked pretty dark. I hope we didn’t wake up your kids!)On Saturday, January 1, we were back at the Strands for the annual Candy Bar Train Party. Rara & Aunt Dott have gathered their grandkids together for several years to make the trains. I think they started doing it when there were only 3 grandkids. This year, 7 were old enough to participate!
Uncle Randy had bought a big tub of fireworks, but for a variety of reasons, we didn’t do them on New Year’s Eve. So, after the candy bar trains were done, Uncle Randy took the big kids out and did the fireworks.
Happy New Year!
We went to see the lights at Temple Square on Christmas Eve with Rara, Papa, Marc, Frances, Alice & Claire…
On Christmas morning, we opened a few presents at home…
…and then spent the rest of Christmas Day at Marc, Frances, Alice, and Claire’s house. We had fun opening presents, playing games, and playing with Alice & Claire.
Ryan & I gave Alice & Claire personalized brushes (pink for Claire and purple for Alice), and personalized pillows with handles (Alice in Wonderland for Alice and The Little Mermaid for Claire). They LOVED them!
Our Christmas celebrations ended just in time for our New Year’s activities to begin!
We were assigned to serve a table. The main hall had about 40 tables set up (our table was #35). We are in the back right corner of this picture.
As people would come through the door, they would sit at a table. The servers would get salads from one corner of the hall, and then the main dinner plate from a serving line in the kitchen.
Another guest stayed and stayed, but just picked at his food. We each asked him if there was something else he needed. Finally he told Rara that he didn’t have anywhere else to go, and it was so cold outside that he just wanted to stay in there as long as possible. There were several groups who took turns entertaining, so it was a nice atmosphere to hang out in for a while.
Even though I was getting over strep, and Papa also wasn’t feeling great, it was a wonderful experience. Ryan was touched to see so many families come in. He had an image of homeless people being the panhandlers we sometimes see. It didn’t occur to him that there would be kids close to his age. Sometimes Ryan feels a little deprived. He has a lot of friends whose families have a lot of money. Many of his friends have flat-screen TVs in their bedrooms (we don’t have one at all), or other toys he wants. Seeing most of these people carrying around all of their worldly possessions in garbage bags, or duct-taped backpacks helped him realize how blessed he truly is.