This Is The Place-Heritage Park

We did it! We successfully made it the 3 hours to Salt Lake! No one died.  Estelle slept the whole way. Poor Indie, despite being in the sun for the entire trip down, didn't start to loose it til the last hour. I was able to keep her mildly tolerant of her car seat situation by telling her made up stories.  Then we parked. I woke up Estelle and fed her. Indie was dismayed that even though we had arrived, we were still sitting in the car.  It was a mean trick for her. Poor girl. She said, 'Mom, all my cousins are waiting for me in the park! We need to go!' 

Tired from all the sleeping. 

Indie and Jane playing around. The view up there is marvelous!  I can't imagine the disappointment the pioneers must have felt, finally arriving at their destination and looking out at a completely desert, barren land. It's not barren anymore though, so beautiful!

 The girls. 

Here's Indie in school. They did pioneer reenactments at the park of what a school day would have been like.  Indie watched all the big kids raising their hands and answering questions. So she rose her hand too. I think she was a bit shocked when the teacher called on her.  Indie just smiled shyly.

   

 My Grandma and a few of my cousins were part of the park's reenactments.  Grandma made authentic pioneer clothing for those who were to take part in the reenactments. She liked it so much she has made clothing for most of the grand kids and is still making more.  She did an amazing job.  So talented.  

 Indie and Phillip, holding hands.  They really just adore each other.  When Indie spied Phillip for the first time she squealed with delight and laughed and stomped her little feet.

I was a little apprehensive to go solo with two tiny girls all day. Especially after the huge meltdowns Indie's been having lately.  Cousins Aubrey and Rebecca were like little Mommies to Indie & Estelle though. Watching out for them, Ooo-ing and Ahh-ing them, wanting to hold Stellie, and taking Indie to different activities and entertaining her. It was like I had no kids that day.  They were so sweet and great!

They love each other!

 Horse riding! 

 'Mommy, I go around and around and around and around!'

 She never wanted to let go of the baby chick.

They both wanted to push the stroller. So, compromise. One handle each.  Well, then they realized they could run. Laughing and screaming they ran down the sidewalk, so tickled. Cora had no idea how close she came to dying that day haha. Lauren is in hot pursuit, trying to catch Cora before they topple her or run her into something.  Don't mind me. I'll just take a picture rather than save the baby. Priorities folks. 

 A tiny little play village. It's weird going out and about with Indie and Estelle. Before Estelle, I would have been following Indie to every little house and making sure she was okay, having fun, and not being abducted. Now, I'm a lot more lax and have a lot more moments of... 'Oh crap, where'd she go? Oh, there she is. Okay.'  5 minutes later 'Wait where'd she go?!'  To be fair, there was a lot of family around and it is a pretty safe environment where she can have some roaming room. It's just...she's never had roaming room before. She was my whole world.  She still is, but not in a crazy hover Mom way anymore.  Can't hover and change a diaper... 

Indie adores her cousin Cora too.  Cora is seriously the happiest baby that ever happened. It's impossible not to love that beautiful face.  She likes to kick her feet when shes happy. Which is always. So Indie was sitting in front of the stroller. Talking to Cora and being kicked repeatedly in the face. Indie just giggled and thought it was great fun. Then she got clocked in the nose.  'Baby Cora, that's not very nice to me!'

Grandma & Grandpa Great bought everyone ice cream! 

It was a bit of an ordeal, the toddlers and their cones.  The ice cream melted so fast.  They were dropped a few times in the grass. Indie's cone started to get soggy and bend like the leaning tower of Pisa.  I was nursing Estelle, and trying to keep my own ice cream from melting all over the baby and I.  Trying to control the Indie ice cream situation as well was almost impossible. Poor Lauren did her best to lightning fast help one toddler before attending to the other toddler's ice cream emergency. So fun though!

 On the train, Indie and Phillip were very confused about the PA system and where the noise was coming from.  They sat with stumped expressions on their faces for quite a bit. 

 Watching an Indian dance

 Indie and Phillip with their new Mommys. Seriously. These girls were amazing. Aubrey adopted Phillip, and Rebecca adopted Indie. 

'But first, let me take a selfie'

We are the cutest...

Grandpa Great and Cora girl.

Tiny baby stretching out.

A bit of shade and artificial grass, what more could you ask for?  There was a little fake river you could pan for gold in.  Indie and Phillip spent a long time playing in the water, chasing each other around and giggling. 

Indie fussing over Estelle.  Helping the blanket be just so. 

Leaving the park.  It was a short trip, but we were all so tired!  Indie and Estelle were asleep before we had even hit the main road.  I stopped for gas and they both slept through it.  It wasn't until we had been in stop and go traffic for an hour near Ogden that Estelle started crying...and wouldn't stop.  We ended up pulling off, I fed and changed her and gave her snugs. (felt so bad she cried for so long) Once I turned on the car to get back on the freeway, Indie woke up. Getting back on the freeway took way too long. As my GPS decided to break and all the intersections were under construction. I had no idea where to go or if I could go down certain roads.  To boot Indie and Estelle were screaming hysterically.  That was stressful. But once we made it back to the freeway, we were good. Estelle slept the rest of the way home, and Indie was tired happy.  We even did a side of the road potty trip! All in all totally worth it.