Park City

Woohoo an actual vacation to record! Well I guess camping counts. On Monday (June 1st) I went to Park City with my fam! Dad was still on a business trip but I went up with Mom, Mal (she helped make it feel more Kirkham-y by contributing to severely outnumbering the men), Kat, Kaleigh and Ian (our lone man for a few days). We basically went to Paradise Resort in Park City and had a very relaxing getaway! I kinda wish I was still there...

Here's the general breakdown:
Monday I went to work...then we drove up that afternoon. Park City is amazing. It probably bears the closest resemblance to Garmisch that I will ever find in Utah and I bet in Winter it's even more similar. The resort was beautiful with an indoor/outdoor pool, sauna, steam room, workout room, tennis/bball courts, spa, etc. You could just feel relaxed looking at the place...haha. When we first got there we didn't really feel like going to town or anything so we just chilled around the resort, mainly at the pool (which basically became my favorite spot for these few days...I have the sunburn to prove it). That evening we watched a movie...or two. Both of which I fell asleep in but woke up just in time for the ending.

The next morning I woke up just before 7. Not on purpose, mind you. I happen to have a family full of early birds. I don't know what these kids are thinking, it's summer!(None of the good TV shows are on that early so that can't be it...) But I guess they did just get out of school and aren't adjusted so I'll cut them some slack. Props to Mal though - she slept through everything. Nice work. So my mom and the sibs all went to work out, and Mal was still sleeping, so I read my book and slept a little more too. Reading does that to me.

When they came back and Mal was up we went and did a tour of the Olympic Park place (sorry, the official name seems to escape my memory). Our tour guide was interesting. She made me laugh. Maybe it was the sarcasm? But she seemed to get a kick out of telling us all the bad things that can happen with these dangerous sports. Trying to frighten the little ones.

The ski jumps. An 11-yr old holds the record on the biggest one.


Me and Mal, and Me and the sibs

After our tour we went through the museum. It was cool - stuff about skiiing, the Winter Olympics, etc. They had all these cute, fun games too - one was kind of broken and so when I played it, the ball started before the timer...so when I finished it looked like I had this amazing record time. So if anyone goes and plays the ski slope game with the ball, and the all-time record is 0.6 seconds, that was me. Unfortunately it's not from skill, but strangers don't know that :) I'm a legend.

If you go to the museum you simply must take a photo here. The sign says so. Ian's expressions are my favorite. See the image below...

I don't think I could ask for a funnier little brother.

Afterward we grabbed lunch at good ol' Cafe Rio and then returned to our little home. So of course, Mal and I went to the pool. We just lounged: reading, sleeping, chatting, loving the sunshine. Later that afternoon Mom, Mal, Kat and Kaleigh had to head back for various reasons so Ian and I got the place to ourselves (just for that night, they were coming back the next day -but without Mal, she decided one day with half the Kirkham's was enough...or maybe she had work. Or both).
So Ian and I went back to the pool (I told you I spent lots of time out there...maybe it's because of those high school boys... I'm most definitely kidding by the way. Gross).
But I just played with my bro and of course, read more. I'm reading "A Thousand Splendid Suns" by Khaled Hosseini. He wrote "The Kite Runner," which I have yet to read. It's mainly about women in Afghanistan and just shows over three generations how women rights (and people's freedoms in general) have been repeatedly granted and taken away from them. But even if the law dictated one thing, much of what the woman could or couldn't do was determined by the man of the household. That's what I've gotten out of it anyway. It's good. Sad, but good.
After swimming Ian watched a movie and I read my book and watched some TV and just lounged. I got the massive bed alllll to myself. I love my life.
Next morning I slept in later than the day before and my Mom and sibs got back around 10 or something. So we went outside and played tennis. I wish I had a video. It would be highly entertaining. I'm terrible. It's really been years since I've played. But it was tons of fun, and this is a sport that is just embarrassing for me to play so now I'm determined to get good at it...well decent. I want some good rallies. After tennis I ran a little (I decided I want to do the 10K with Mal in July), then we went to the alpine slides. That was fun. On the ski lift ride up I was mainly concentrating on not losing my shoes...I eventually took them off.

Alpine slides: I beat Ian. But I'm pretty sure it's because I'm like 50 pounds heavier than him.

Kat and Kaleigh on the zipline

Ian flipping like crazy. He's awesome

After, we got some ice cream and drove around Park City a little, then went back because Dad was coming home! Oh and I decided I love the blue houses with white trimming and if I ever get a beach house, those are the colors I want. Anyways I found out my Dad saw one of my friends who is on a mission in Hungary at church last Sunday! So that made me happy - small world. with our more complete fam (well still just half the kids) we went swimming and tackled the tennis courts once more. Which I am feeling today. Guess I just keep rediscovering muscles. Then we swam more and had dinner together. Dinner is a story in itself...which I may or may not tell.

After dinner we went back to home sweet home and I went to the pool. Again. Those sweet little high school boys tried to get us to play tag. I think makeup-less I actually look their age. But I still told them I'm going to be the lame old one who is too tired and does not want to. And honestly I wanted to finish my book. Well it worked and they were able to round up my sis and bro. And one was pretty set on trying to get Kat out...he had a little crush on that girl, was following her around like a puppy dog. Cute. She said no too. We play hard to get. NOT - we're most definitely lazy. We watched a movie/read instead.

The next morning we just packed up and drove home, and I went straight to work. It was like I never left. It was kind of a bummer that Dad only got one day but all-in-all it was a much needed break and it was absolutely relaxing. I loved it and I think the fam would say the same!