Day 2

Day two in Utah- still outrageously hot- we spent most of the morning indoors.  The last few times we have all gotten together, my mom wrangled us into recording a cd.  My family grew up singing and Mom has always been our biggest fan.  She loves these cds so that she can listen to us whenever she wants since we aren't there in person.  Before this vacation we had done two previous cds:  one of Christmas music and another of showtunes.  This year after much debate (via email and phone) we decided on spiritual music.  Keri, our family organizer, ordered and sent out music and practice cds a month or so ago so that we would be prepared for our first rehearsal. This morning was our first practice.

Almost 3 hours later...

The kids, non singing spouses and even most of us singers were beyond done. The kids jumped in the pool to get rid of some extra energy while we got lunch ready then it was off to the dinosaur footprint museum.

Several years ago one of the local landowners had been turning over his land getting ready to plant and had discovered the single largest group of dinosaur trackways- so now there is a museum in St. George.  James is totally obsessed with all things dinosaur so this was a special request from us.  Of course, when you think of a museum you think of several floors and wings where you could spend days getting lost looking at all of the amazing artifacts, art, etc.  Nope.  This is a small building that takes about 20 minutes to look at all of the prints on display; perfect for the attention span of our group.  It was pretty cool, though.  After the museum we headed back to the house and the pool.  After a couple hours of swimming we got the kids cleaned up and fed and the adults headed up to the Utah Shakespearian Festival in Cedar.

I have been going to the festival since I was a kid.  This was my first time back in about 10 years.  Before the evening performances there is a Greenshow with singing and dancing and juggling and jokes while strolling vendors sell fresh tarts and fancy programs.  My sister, Lisa, actually performed in the Greenshow when she was in college- it was an internship that she had set up through Bryn Mawr.  The Greenshow has definitely been downsized since I was last there.  Instead of the traditional three stages of performers with live musicians.  There was only one stage with prerecorded music and a fiddlist hooked up to a mic.  Still fun though.  The play we saw "Much Ado About Nothing" was spectacular.  They really played up the physical and literary comedy of the show and Benedict and Beatrice were perfect for their roles.  The guy playing Prince John (a role played by Keanu Reeves in the movie) was wearing a black leather coat straight out of The Matrix.  It cracked me up!  The play was performed in the outdoor Globe Theater: a replica of Shakespear's famous Globe Theater in London.  John was even impressed- which really says something.

On the ride home from Cedar (about a 45 minute drive) TJ and Henry, my two oldest nephews, were riding in the car with Mom and Dwane and Lisa, TJ's Mom.  Henry was telling jokes and reciting silly lines from the show to make TJ laugh.  Just as TJ took a drink of water Henry told a perfectly timed line.  TJ choked on the water and threw up all over himself and the back seat.  He spent the rest of the time trying to blow chunks of raspberry tart out of his nose.  Lisa and my Mom spent the rest of the drive trying not to crack up while Dwane drove the car ever faster with each noise from TJ (who was sitting right behind the driver's seat I might add).  Mom, Lisa, Keri and I had a good laugh about this after we all got home (and cleaned the car out).  Actually we were doubled over laughing until tears rolled down our cheeks.  I love my family!