Our school district had a first-ever "winter break" (not Christmas break) back in February (that's when Ben and I took Jonas to Whistler) and so it pushed out our spring-break to mid-April (as opposed to late March as it usually is), which turned out to be quite nice as it actually felt spring-ish!
It's a bit difficult to get our teens to agree to do much with us (sigh and cry), but we came up with a plan that at least the girls agreed to - yay. (Jonas went up with a friend to Rexburg for the week and seemed to have a good time.) We didn't take up the entire spring break - which is key to planning a trip with teens, at least our teens.
Ben and Jonas actually had the same weekend for drill and so they drove up together on Friday night. Then on Sunday, we girls left after church and met up with the boys in Salina. Ben came with us and we drove on to St. George. Jonas drove the rest of the way home and then headed up with his friend on Monday.
The main purpose of St. George was for Ben to check out the Ironman routes. Plus, it's always lovely to go to St. George and so it worked out great. Monday was the bike day. Ben and I headed out (twice as I forgot the bike rack key the first time - ugh!) to Sand Hollow and got on our bikes and went. I was with Ben for about 16 miles and then I headed back to our car - giving me a total of 25 miles. Ben continued on with the route, which pretty much brought him back to my parent's place and so that was handy! Ben biked 56 miles and said it was the toughest ride he's ever done! The last section is in Snow Canyon and the last 10 or so miles is about the worst - a huge climb. Ben said he even thought he'd have to get off his bike a couple of times because it was just so hard. Aiyiyi. So it was good for him to now know exactly what to expect! While Ben was finishing his ride, I took the girls thrift shopping and each girl found a few clothing items and so that was fun. That evening we all went to a theater production at the St. George Theater (located in the old Opera House) of Legally Blonde. It was super fun! Oh we also got frozen yogurt beforehand because that was one of my main purposes of going to St. George: eating froyo!
Tuesday was the run and swim day. Ben and I started the morning running the run loop. We only ran it once (6 miles each loop) - but Ben will be doing it twice for the Ironman. It was a decent run with some decent ups and some decent downs. :) After the run we came back and all got ready for the temple. We went to do baptisms at the new Red Cliffs temple. It's a gorgeous temple and I just loved the inside - so pretty! We had a nice time doing baptisms with the girls.
After that we headed out to Sand Hollow again. This was to be our first try at open-water swimming. And it was a doozy! The water was freezing - about 58 degrees. We had wetsuits on, but still. Ben's suit is long sleeves and mine has no sleeves (my triathlon is in late June and will be in warmer waters). Ben took off to swim with the girls following on the paddleboard. I tried to get the courage up and finally did - but lasted about 10 strokes, haha. My arms and face were freezing! After a few minutes, I checked on Ben and the girls and saw Ben holding on to the board. The girls eventually towed him back to shore - turns out Ben got super-duper nauseous. In fact, he was sick for like the next hour. Such a bummer! He was so bummed and worried out his race, etc.
The girls had fun paddleboarding while Ben tried to recover. I wanted to get my wetsuit off but I also wanted to give the swim another try. So, finally, I did. I swam for maybe 5 minutes. But, hey, I did it! I didn't love the open-water feel . . . Ben decided to give it another try, too, and he was able to swim for about 10 minutes and didn't feel awful. So that was good. (Later on I checked online and found a lot of people said ear plugs were the trick to not feeling nauseous! I guess the cold water does a number on your inner ear, etc. Plus, Ben also had decided to take a half dramamine the next time he went out.)
After Sand Hollow we went home to rest and shower and then went out to dinner that night. We had a good time and finished the evening with, yes, froyo, and watching Grease at the house. It was the girls' first time and Lucy thought it kind of didn't make sense and Emmy seemed a bit bored. Haha.
Wednesday morning Ben and I got up early and went to the "new" St. George temple for an endowment session. The temple itself is beautiful! (But the inside is not as pretty as Red Cliffs in my opinion.) We had a nice morning there and then came back, got packed and ready, and drove home. And that was pretty much the end of the parents spring break - Ben and I were back to work the next two days.
On Saturday, Ben did an olympic distance training triathlon (just on his own) and we went to Taviwach. Ben felt the water was even colder there, but he was able to swim for 30 minutes (with ear plugs and 1/2 a dramamine). He didn't get sick, but did say it was so very hard. (Ugh, I don't want to do an open-water swim anymore!) I paddleboarded next to him while he swam just to make sure he was safe. Then Ben headed out for his bike and run and I came back home.
The kids have one more day off (tomorrow) and then back to school and real life again. But just for another month or so - then summer break! Crazy!
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