Provo MTC expansion open house tour

We were able to go tour the new Provo MTC and expansion.  It was really fun to be able to go inside and walk around and see the new spaces.  It is such a beautiful place with such a beautiful Spirit.  It was fun to walk around the buildings and see the cafeteria and dorm rooms as well.  The new buildings are beautifully designed.  There is a lot of natural light and quiet areas for study.  They artwork was breathtaking as well.  There were huge murals on all the big walls with different scenes from the Saviors life.  They were amazing.  Evan, McKinley, Kim and I enjoyed our tour a lot!

Mama Mia it's hot at Tuacahn!

After our hike and a rest we headed out to Tuacahn to see Mama Mia!  It is one of our favorite movies with all of the wonderful Abba music.  And it was excellent at Tuacahn...they did a great job.  It was 101 degrees at 9pm, but without the sun it wasn't too bad.  I guess that's why they start the show so late!

The next day we went to church, checked out of our hotel and spent the day at the park before dropping McKinley and Sunny at gymnastics camp for the week.  A fun, quick trip!

Kanarraville Falls hike

Since we were headed south to drop off McKinley at SUU gymnastics camp we decided to go a little earlier than usual and make a little trip out of it.  So we left Saturday morning and made our way to Kannaraville Falls for a fun water hike.  It was a really fun hike and we enjoyed all the water and beautiful scenery.

The hike started on a dirt road and took us into a canyon, hiking along and in the creek bed.  Then it came to a slot canyon that was created by the creek we were hiking in.  It was nice to have the water to help keep us cool and the shade from the slot canyon helped as well.

There were fun ladders to climb up the canyon and areas with natural waterslides as well.  We explored and loved all of it!

After our hike we headed to St. George to check into our hotel and rest up for our evening activity of attending a play at the beautiful outdoor amphitheater, Tuacahn.

Kennedy Space Center

Our flight home wasn't until the evening, so on our last day we checked out of our condo and decided we could spend the day at Kennedy Space Center.  It had been years since I'd been there and the kids had never been there so it was fun to show them a glimpse into our space program.  It was a really rainy day, so we were glad most of the exploring was done inside.

We learned all about the Apollo program, the shuttle program, and the new Journey to Mars initiative that we have now.  Lots of learning and fun was had before we headed to the airport and flew home.  Phew...what an amazing trip!

St. Augustine beach and a fabulous dinner

Our next stop was St. Augustine beach for a quick stroll before the impending storm set in.  St. Augustine beach is a pristine beach with beautiful white sand and blue sea water.  It is also dog friendly and cars can drive down to park on the sand.  It was a beautiful place and I wish the storm could have given us more time there.

After cleaning up and visiting a bit at the house, we headed out to a wonderful dinner on the beach.  We tried some fried gator tails and all had amazing fresh seafood.  Oh...soooooo good!  It was so fun to continue catching up and sharing stories and good food.  Really the highlight of our trip...family is the best!!

Then it was time to say goodbye and head back to get ready for our last day and trip home.

St Augustine and visiting family

 One of the reasons we decided to go to Florida was to reconnect and visit with my only paternal uncle that I hadn't seen in years.  We were very excited to spend time with Barry and his wife Terri in St. Augustine.  St. Augustine is the oldest city in the United States and Barry was a great tour guide showing us all around.  We enjoyed St. George avenue with the quaint shops and yummy treats.  We then explored the Castillo de San Marcos fort on the shore in St. Augustine.

We then continued our walking tour through Flagler College and other historic buildings and hotels in the area.  We walked down Aviles Street...the oldest street in America!

After finishing our round trip walking trip all over downtown St. Augustine in the humid heat of the day we headed to the St. Augustine lighthouse to climb the 219 stairs up to the top!  It was quite a hike up there and it was super hot inside that tower, but up top was a welcome breeze and beautiful views of the area.

St. Augustine is a very fun place to explore and we got a great behind the scenes and informative guided tour by Barry.  It was so good to do some catching up and there was still more to come....

Kayaking the Indian River and Cocoa Beach time

 After leaving Orlando late Monday night, we arrived to our condo in Cocoa Beach for our next home base.  The following morning we had a guided Kayak adventure planned that was really fun.  We weren't able to take the camera with us, but we snapped a few photos before we left and one with our phone on Party Island.  We loved exploring this natural area and learning about the birds, the fish, the dolphins, the plants, and the creatures that are all a part of this partly salty inlet.  Our guide Mike was amazing and we learned a lot!

After our morning kayaking we had lunch and headed to the beach!!  We enjoyed the warm Atlantic ocean and jumping all the waves.  It was perfect weather and the beach wasn't crowded at all.  It was a great relaxing and renewing time for all 4 of us!!