My Little Art Lovers

In an attempt to put off coming back to Scottsbluff for as long as human possibly, we were lucky enough to get to spend an extra day with my parents and attend the Shakespeare festival down in Cedar City.  There was a play the kids were interested in seeing, and a musical I had never seen before (shocker) so we decided to add the extra time to our trip home and add some art appreciation to the summer.

 For some reason the kids thought the Juliet statue was much prettier than Falstaff or King Lear.  Go figure.

 Waiting for 'Peter and The Starcatcher' to start.  The kids and I were alone for this one. The usher(ette ?) was very nice and gave the kids cushions to sit on and some words of encouragement for parents who brought kids.

 Although minimal sets, and deviations from the plot of the book the kids and I read, we all loved it.  I was a little worried about Livi, but she had a blast and especially loved Black Stache (Captain Hook before the hook).

Waiting for the Green Show.  Livi and Ella liked the Green Show almost as much as the play and were dying to get up and dance with the actors.  Dad was nice (brave) and took my kids back to our hotel in the ghetto while Mom and I went to 'Anything Goes.'  Amazing.  Truly AMAZING.  Too bad we couldn't have stayed for a week.  I'm still not ready to be back in Scottsbluff and I've been back for 2 weeks.

Supplies!!! - Updated!

My sweet sister has been in so many musicals and plays but I have never been able to see her act... Until now! My parents and I snuck up to Oregon and saw Julia's play, surprising her afterwards. She was awesome, the play was hilarious and my debilitating guilt at leaving my kids for the weekend (with Livi promptly throwing up after I left) was briefly assuaged while watching the magic on stage! Not only is Julia as good as everyone said, but look who I spotted in our hotel lobby!

UPDATE: a close up of the "visitor"

Random Vacation Moments

Suffering for beauty.  I borrowed THE most awesome pair of my mom's shoes.  Because of the heat they seemed to have melted onto my feet.  It took DAYS to get it all off!

Excited to go to Dry Town!  Super fun but the sidewalk was SOOOO hot.  Note to Dad - buy sandals!

How Autumn watches T.V.

Nap Time

Bailey was cuddling with Livi during nap time.  She was also cleaning unmentionables right before I took the picture.  Loving, but so gross!

Some how this lady had a mullet which she was wearing in pigtails.  That is some fancy hair do!

Visiting Lincoln Part 1

 Eric had his last meeting for his "young professional lawyers the BAR wants for leadership, who want to do other stuff good too" in Lincoln, and I thought since it was the last time (I think) someone would pay us to drive out to Lincoln we should take everyone along and have a family vacation.  Most people don't think of Lincoln as a great vacation spot, but coming from Scottsbluff where the most exciting thing is the annual corn husking competition, if is a veritable paradise.

The first day Eric had meetings so the kids and I were on our own for entertainment.  Everyone wanted to go to the Children's Museum, but it didn't open first thing, so we went to Barnes and Noble, and the mall first.  This was the "Merry-Go-Round-Of-Death" that was at the mall.

notice Ethan with his Starbucks hot chocolate!  He is my true chocolate conisuer.

I have never been on one that sped up and stayed quite so fast, lasted so long, and took forever to slow back down.  Basically in the first 10 seconds I was trying to keep down my breakfast, and that lasted another 400 minutes. 

At the Children's Museum (which is most definitely the coolest one we have ever been to) we were a little disappointed that the water section was being remodeled, but still managed to spend 4.5 hours playing with: prairie dog tunnels,

 face paint

Ella wanted me to do it too.  We were fairies.

puppet shows,

fighting over stage sounds,

 large chairs,

small grocery stores,

and of course the space area.

I know they are space suits, but every time I see this I think "We are the knights who say 'Ni'!"

We finally finished up and went over to meet Eric.  His meeting was right across from the state capital, so we spent a few minutes seeing where Eric has gone to argue in front of the state Supreme Court and Court of Appeals.

Supreme Court

Seeing the Court of Appeals (kind of)

Where the state legislature meets

On the outside of the building all the county names are inscribed, but we had never managed to find ours.  Ethan had sharp eyes this time and we managed to find it while we walked around the grounds.