One Last Hurrah

Last Thursday, immediately after Hannah's last swimming lesson, we dropped her off at Chad and Ashley's and headed out to Wendover. Wendover is right on the Utah/Nevada border, about an hour and a half west of Salt Lake. It's a big gambling city, so to lure people in, they have great deals on hotels. We stayed at the Peppermill Resort Hotel. It was pretty cheesy, but fun. There was a jacuzzi and sauna IN THE ROOM!

Of course the first thing we did while we were there is sit in the hot tub and watch TV. Then we went to a buffet, which wasn't very good and was too expensive. They had good dessert though. I had an amazing piece of caramel cheese cake. When we left I was too full to breathe. Devan wasn't though.

He said, "That wasn't good. I left without stuffing myself."

I said, "What about the cheesecake, that was pretty great, huh?"

He said, "No, I've had better."

"But you ate 3 pieces!"

"Yeah, but normally I would have had 5."

After dinner we hung out in our room for about an hour and played cards. Look at those lights. I told you it was a fun place.

Then we took a walk out on the salt flats.

We walked for an hour and then turned back when it started getting dark.

The trip back took a little longer because Devan had to keep stopping to collect these huge bullets he found.

Just for size comparison, there's one in the salt right in front of me.

The next day we ate lunch at this fine establishment...

and then went around to all the casino gift shops. Devan decided he's going to start collecting the used playing cards they sell at casinos. We got four decks.

Devan on the Utah/Nevada state line

And lounging on a beautiful lawn of astroturf outside of one of the casinos.

We had such a fun time. I missed my little girl like crazy, but I was glad to get away while I still can. When we arrived to pick her up, she barely looked up from her lunch. She didn't miss us at all. I think our relationship is a little one-sided.

Swimming Lessons

Hannah and I took "parent-tot" swimming lessons for two weeks. She actually learned a lot more than I thought she would. If you hold her up in the water, she'll kick her legs, scoop her arms, and blow bubbles. She's put her face in the water if you bribe her with the right bath toy. She'll jump off the edge, even if the person who's supposed to catch her is quite far away. She can get wherever she wants in the pool if she's holding onto a swim noodle. And, by the very end, we made up a game where she'll swim off the stairs to me. She always ends up underwater, but she's never breathed in. She does not enjoy floating on her back.

The very last day of swim lessons they have a play day and all the kids are allowed to go down the waterslide, which they normally wouldn't be allowed to do until they were better swimmers.

Turns out, the slide was a lot faster than I thought it would be and our first trip down wasn't too graceful.

But as soon as we got out the the water, she went straight back for the waterslide, over and over. We went down 8 times in the half hour we were there. She quickly learned that she could get to the top much more quickly if Mom carried her. We also got better at our landing.

And she was a good girl and showed off her swimming for Dad.

We already miss swimming lessons. I thought about signing her up for the next session, but I think she's learned all she's going to from the parent-tot class. So for now, we're spending as much time as we can at our apartment pool.