July 4th Weekend

I LOVE having a 3 day holiday weekend! My fun adventures actually started the weekend before when I went to Lagoon with my brother for his work Lagoon day. At lunch time they played bingo and his friend's dad won a free pass on the catapult. They weren't going to use it so she gave it to us. My brother didn't want to use it but my younger brother did. He actually had done the catapult before but had never done the sky coaster, so they got someone to buy the ticket from him so he could buy a ticket for the sky coaster. I thought it would be fun to go but didn't want to pay, so I took my nephew on the bumper cars while he got in line. I got off the ride and the next thing I know my brother had purchased me a ticket and I was going with him. I was so scared! But he didn't give me a chance to back out...so there I was, being strapped into a safety harnesh ready to freefall through the sky!Talk about a thrill ride! It was exhilarating! I have never felt anything like it before. I have never thought about skydiving (I've always been too scared), but after this adrenaline rush I think I could do it (strapped to a cute instructor, of course.) tee hee

For the 4th of July weekend I refused to stay home and do nothing. The last couple of years had been pretty dull, so I refused to let that happen again. Especially since this was a 3 day event. On Saturday, my mom had a great idea to go up to Park City, walk around Main Street and go to Park City Resort and go down the alpine slide. The last time I had gone on the alpine slide I think I was 9 when my dad's family went up together. My how things change in 20 years. Not only do they have the alpine slide, now they have the alpine coaster (basically the slide on a track above the ground), a zip line, mini golf and tons more.
We had a great time. My dad, brother and I did the slide and the coaster. I was a little apprehensive around the corners on the slide. My brother told me the last time he rode it he ran over a gopher and fell off his slide! I don't like to get hurt so I went a little slow. But not too slow that I was holding people up behind me.

The alpine coaster was great. You're on a track so you can't fall off but you still manage the speed. I held down the bar as far as it would go. Even though it felt like I was going to fly off around the turns I refused to let the boys make fun of me. You do get a little whip lash (just a warning).

After, we decided to go to Main Street and have dinner. I'll be honest, this was my first time walking Main Street. Not sure why I've never done it before even though I've lived here most of my life. But it was great. It definitely has a small resort town feel. I kept thinking I was on vacation shopping.

That night we went to my brother's and watch the Sugarhouse fireworks. They live right by the park so we were able to watch the fireworks from his backyard. On Sunday night my older brother and I, with his 5 yr old son camped out for the Provo parade. I LOVE camping out for parades. I've been doing it since I was little. My dad's family would camp out for the 24th of July parade downtown. As we got older, people camped out less and less until there really wasn't anyone left. I'm so glad my brother still likes to camp out because it is a blast!

This was my first time for the Provo parade, but it was pretty much the same. People lined the streets with their chairs, blankets, air mattresses, couches...you name it they had it! I could not believe how many blow up screens I saw with people playing games all night. I was a little jealous because one group was playing guitar hero. It was crazy! I've always had a hard time convincing friends to come with me. They just never understood why I would want to sleep out on the street. You DON'T sleep...it's just an all night party! People drag the street all night, there are police everywhere so it is safe and you just have fun. I could not believe how many pedal bikes there were. The 7-Eleven parking lot was completely packed with people and their bikes. My favorite was this guy who had two huge speakers strapped to a basket on the back of his bike and he would ride up and down the street with his posse. People would join in (even on foot) while they rode up and down blaring his music. It was hysterical!

(not the best pic...but you can sort of make out the bikes)

We were camped out across the street from a tuxedo shop. The lights were turned off, but suddently I see this teenage boy pop out of the door in a top hat and cane. Then another, and another. They pranced around the entrance of the shop. At first I wasn't sure what they were doing. I watched as they went back in the store. The next thing I see, they turned on the spotlight in the shop window, removed the jackets from the mannequins, moved the mannequins to the floor, then got up in the window and posed. It was hysterical! There had to be about 6 guys and they each took turns in the window. Some of them had just jackets and top hats on. Others were decked out in the entire tuxedo. They would stand there motionless until people would walk by then freak them out by doing some crazy move. It was great entertainment. Eventually the cops showed up, made them come out of the shop and verified that they were in there legally. I thought the cops were going to tell them to stop, but they let them go right back to what they were doing. We had a good laugh.

The parade was fun but freezing! We were cold the entire night. And it didn't help too much when the sprinklers turned on about 4am. We didn't mind though because we weren't asleep like our neighbors. We watched as this older couple sprang out of their comfy air mattress and tried to get all of their stuff off the grass before the water soaked everything. I think they had enough stuff for a small apartment! The man was SO mad. Their son actually broke the sprinkler in front of our section of grass trying to stop the water with his foot. We just laughed.

That night I went and saw Eclipse with my sister-in-law and her sister. Definitely the better movie out of the 3. I still wouldn't buy it, but it was entertaining. I crashed as soon as I got home, only having a 2 hour nap after no sleep the night before. It was hard getting up for work this morning but it was worth it! What a great weekend!