For this week’s cousin adventure we took the boys out to Antelope Island. I hadn’t been there since my dad took us when I was in High School, and I was excited to go (though I was not so excited about going in the extreme heat). All morning while we were getting ready, Kyle walked around saying, “My go play in water?” All three of them were so excited to go!!
First we stopped at the visitors, and right as we got out of the van there was a buffalo standing in the field next to the parking lot. The boys thought that was AWESOME! It was funny though – my boys have been to Yellowstone so many times that as soon as they saw the buffalo Zach and Preston started saying they wanted to go back to Yellowstone. That’s what a buffalo is to them… just a part of Yellowstone. Between that and the giant spiders all around the visitor’s center, the boys were fascinated!
Anyway, after the visitors center we decided to start the day out with a hike before it got too hot (though it was toasty enough already)! The ranger had suggested the Buffalo Peak Hike. It was only about a mile (though parts were a bit steep for the little ones), so we figured it would be good for the little boys. The only problem was that as I was rushing around getting the boys dressed that morning all I was thinking about was the beach. So, all four of us Ovesons had our feet clad in flip flops. Not the best hiking shoes. But, it didn’t seem to slow the boys down! The older boys raced to the top while Liz and I made it up the hill at a 2 year old pace. Kyle kept seeing Nick being carried on Liz’s shoulders, so then he would say, “My ride on your shoulders.” But then after a minute he would say, “My do it myself” and want to walk. Needless to say, it took us awhile to make it to the top of the hill. At the top we found a boy’s paradise! It was covered with all sorts of giant rock formations for the boys to “rock climb” on. They had such a blast climbing the rocks and jumping from rock to rock. One of Zach and Preston’s favorite things to do is to “rock climb” as they call it. And Nick and Kyle were right there with all the big boys climbing all over. “My do it!!” was Kyle’s motto each time I tried to hold his hand or help him. Stubborn boy! Now remember, we were all in flip flops. So Kyle’s flip flops were constantly falling off as he was climbing, and then he would scream until we found it. Oh, two year olds!! :> But all in all it was a very fun hike! And what a view we had from the top! Awesome!
After the hike everyone was tired, HOT, thirsty, and did I mention HOT?!? So we decided to head to the beach to play. That walk from the parking lot to the beach through the hot sand burned our feet and seemed to take forever with all the little ones, but we finally made it. Zach had run ahead of all of us to the beach, but quickly came running back to warn us that we can’t go to this beach because it’s COVERED in flies! He’s said, “It’s like a solid wall of flies, and there’s no way through them!” Luckily, Uncle Mike had joined us by now, and he showed the boys how if you walk toward the flies they move out of your way in a big wave. So then they thought it was pretty cool, and decided we could stay. Originally we had planned on eating lunch down there, but everything you put down for even a second is covered in brine flies, and the smell leaves something to be desired, so the boys decided they could wait for lunch, and they headed out to the water.
The look on Zach’s face here says it all. Picnicing here was not a great idea!
And Preston took his flip flops off and within minutes they were swarming with flies. EVERYTHING was covered in flies!
One nice thing about the Great Salt Lake is that the beach is awful, but once you get to the water there are no more flies and it’s quite enjoyable! The other nice thing about the Great Salt Lake is that you can go out super far and it’s still very shallow, so it made a nice place for the little boys to play. The big boys immediately headed out to practice floating with Uncle Mike.
Unfortunately, shortly after they got out there Preston went under and got a mouth full of water… SUPER GROSS WATER! It took awhile for him to calm down and decide to go out and try again, but eventually he did and he had a great time.
This is what a mouth full of salt water looks like!
Kyle was so excited to “go swimming” and was having a blast until he too went under. I was taking a picture of the Staten’s and saw out of the corner of my eye that Kyle was floating face down in the water and flailing like crazy! Because he was so buoyant he couldn’t get his feet under him! Scared me to death, but we got to him and all was well. But then it took awhile for him to calm down and want to play more too. **sigh**
Kyle… swimming out to sea!
He decided playing in the sand was much easier!
Eventually everyone had a great time at the same time! Zach loved the whole thing and could have floated out there for hours! He’s such a water rat!!! Both he and Pres had fun catching brine shrimp with their cousins. Uncle Mike even paid Matt $1 to eat a pair of mating brine shrimp, and he actually did it! Yuck!! Boys!
Soon Kyle, Isaac, Lucas, and Nick decided they liked the sand better than the lake! But the big boys stayed out and floated until the end!
Eventually Kyle was past the point of needing a nap, so we decided to head home. The saddest part of the day for Zach was when he lost his special ring on the way back. He had actually lost it in the water once, but Uncle Mike found it for him. Unfortunately, when he realized he lost it in all that sand there was no way to find it. He was pretty bummed.
Searching for Zach’s lost ring
Preston the “sandman”
After showering all the caked on salt off our bodies, I loaded up 3 exhausted kids and 1 exhausted mom and headed for home! The boys had had WAY too much sun, and all 3 were pretty sun burnt. The night we had quite the scare with Preston. He had thrown up in his sleep because of having too much sun, but he didn’t wake up in time and he aspirated some of the throw up into his lungs. I was already asleep, but luckily Mike was still awake doing homework and heard him. As soon as he got upstairs I woke up and rushed out. I had pretty bad asthma growing up, but I have NEVER, EVER seen someone not be able to breathe like that. It was extreme. I’m not usually a “freak out mom,” in fact sometimes I’m too calm, but I was starting to really worry! I was trying to figure out how long it would take to get to the hospital, and I was really worried that we wouldn’t have enough time to get him there because he was really not getting much air in at all. It was so scary! I grabbed an inhaler that I had too see if it would help at all, and Mike gave him a quick blessing, and luckily he finally started to breathe a bit better. As soon as he started to get a bit more air in he fell asleep in my arms, and I took him to our bed to sleep with us. I was still pretty freaked out, and didn’t want him too far away. He still wheezed way bad all night, which means I was awake listening to him breathe all night, but at least he was getting some air in! By the afternoon of the next day he was no longer wheezing and coughing and all was well. Thank goodness for the priesthood!
