Trip to Idaho: Blast Off

Well, Angie and Cynthia returned first, but then we waited and waited and waited. Finally we made plans to go eat and then head over to a fun center called Blast Off where everyone else would join us. As soon as we walked in Blast Off, we saw this climbing wall. Madison and Ryan wanted to do it, so of course Shelby and Taylor had to as well. Now we've been to a park at home that has tower with a climbing wall along the side to get to the top. Taylor got to the top with no problems and continued to do it while we played. Shelby tried and got SCARED!! She never made it to the top. I told the girls that, since we had to pay money for them to climb the climbing wall, they could not chicken out. They HAD to climb it and give it their best. I especially emphasized this to Shelby.

Well, maybe having Madison and Ryan do it first gave Shelby some courage because she was AWESOME!! She didn't quite make it to the top (3/4 of the way there), but she was high. It took her a bit to find her footing at first, so in trying to start, she got off and on the wall a bunch, but once she found her footing, she just kept climbing. I was really proud of her.


What shocked me the most was that Taylor, who's done this before with NO problems, got really scared. She started off just fine, but about halfway just wouldn't go any more. I was proud of both the girls for giving it a good try.


While Shelby and Taylor had been climbing, Declan and Payden were playing in a big area full of balls, tunnels, slides, and whatnot. This was one time I was grateful that Declan, age 14 months, couldn't walk. Because he wasn't a walker, I didn't have to pay for him. Sweet!!! He just played in these balls the whole time anyway.


Payden decided not to play, but rather that it was her job to find all the stray balls and put them back in the ball pit. I had her go in the tunnels for a bit, but that didn't last long at all and soon she was back to picking up loose balls. Funny girl!


Shelby and Taylor had a blast sliding down slides . . .


going down this zip line . . .



and climbing through the tunnels.



While in the ball pit, Declan would "swim" in the balls. It was hilarious!


He then realized how much fun it was to pick up the balls and chuck them out of the pit. The other kids would go out to catch them, and he had a blast playing this game.


He even got to a point that he'd chuck the balls even before he'd stood up.


Here I had finally convinced Payden to try the fun tunnels. Notice the lack of pants . . . she waited too long to go potty and peed her pants. Fortunately her shirt was actually a dress. Potty training . . . such a fun thing!!


Payden climbed up to try sliding down. Unfortunately because her legs were bare, they got a friction burn when she slid down. This really did for her, and she was done.


She was willing to play in the ball pit a bit. Can you see her?


Since we were still waiting and the girls felt they'd explored the tunnel area enough, they came back to the ball pit to play with Declan and Payden.


Finally, the Sprenger boys arrived, and so the big kids headed over to the mini-golf area to play. We took the kids over to the arcade area to play games. Declan LOVED the lights on this game.


Payden had a blast stomping in this game. It was fun watching her try to find the light and stomp on it.


Of course, we had to go drivin' in this truck.


Meanwhile, Shelby tried her hand at the stomping game at a harder level then Payden's.


Dylon had been wearing this headband and decided Declan needed a turn. I love how it shows his bigger, floppy ear.


At some point during the miniature golfing and arcade playing, Tom and Jeremy finally arrived after a long day working on those people's house. After the big kids finished golfing, Tom and they headed into the Laser Tag room, so my kiddos and I headed over to play miniature golf. We let Declan roam around for a bit, and he loved crawling all over the golf course.


We have never taken our kids miniature golfing, and they had difficulties using the club, especially Taylor. I tried and tried and tried to show her how to hold it, but she couldn't quite get it.


By this point it was LATE - somewhere around 10 - so we headed back to the hotel and quickly got the kids to bed. Of course, they were conked out in no time.

The next morning we woke up, got ready, packed up, and headed home. Cyn and Jeremy were going to Mike & Angie's, but I decided to head home because it was Declan's naptime, and I was hoping he'd nap in the car. When we got to Pocatello, Angie called and so we decided to head back to their house. We stayed there and played and talked and enjoyed time with them for awhile until we absolutely had to go in order to make it home in time for bedtime. Of course, Declan ended missing his morning nap; fortunately he did conk out a bit on the way home, but we definitely paid for it that night as he woke up in the middle of the night for a couple of hours because he hadn't got his morning nap. Despite that unpleasantness, we were glad to visit with Mike and Angie and boys one last time. It was a really good weekend and a really good break from reality.