One of our favorite birthday traditions is doing a birthday date with our kids each year on their birthday. They get to pick the activity and treat, and we always have a lot of fun with it. When they turn 8, they get a special date out to the city. When they turn 12, they get an overnight to the city doing something bigger—something like Lagoon with Mom or a water park with Dad.
Ashtyn is turning 12 this year and she wanted to do Lagoon with Mom. We were both super excited for the trip and ended up having a blast!
We woke up early to drive out. On the way out, I realized I had forgotten my purse so we stopped in Heber and figured that out. We were really grateful to figure it out. That set us back a little, but we made it to Lagoon around 10:30.
Ashtyn wanted to start off with some of the "kid" roller coasters, so we did The Bombora, the dragon roller coaster, and Lady Bug Bop. Then we walked over and did Wicked and The Cannibal. After the Lady Bug Bop, Ashtyn decided she wasn't ready for The Rocket. The weather was really nice, warm but not sweltering, and it was not busy at all. There were hardly any lines, we were just walking right onto them. It was so nice.
After the couple of bigger rides, I was feeling a little sick, so we decided to do the haunted house rides and then grab a snack.
After getting some food, we did the bat and made our way over to Rattlesnake Rapids, as it was getting warmer.
Wet after Rattlesnake Rapids! You can't tell in the picture, but we got pretty soaked.
After that, Ashtyn wanted ice cream, so we went over to Pioneer Village.
Ashtyn loved the peacocks. They were probably her favorite part of the day 🤣
I let Ashtyn pick the ice cream flavors 😂
In addition the peacocks, we also saw a squirrel!
After that, we went and did some more rides. The Collosus was closed, which Ashtyn was really disappointed about, but we did the white roller coaster a couple times, the Tidal Wave, and Ashtyn did the Bombora by herself while I had some lunch at our pavilion (she wasn't hungry after her ice cream XD).
After the rides, Ashtyn wanted cotton candy and I was feeling tired and a little nauseas, so we got her cotton candy and I sat and watched it while she did the white roller coast by herself, coming and eating her cotton candy in between rides. She loved to look for girls who were going by themselves so she could make friends with them.
It was pretty hot, so we decided to go over to Lagoona Beach. We swam around a little and then Ashtyn did the water slides.
I was hungry, so we walked over and bought some dinner. Ashtyn wanted chicken fingers and French fries and I decided to have us just share it because I was suspicious she wasn't going to eat much. I was correct 😂 she wanted to take our food back to the table we'd been at with her cotton candy and ate her dinner between rides on the white roller coaster.
After dinner, there weren't any more new rides Ashtyn wanted to go on, so we decided to hit some of her favorites again. We did the Tidal Wave, The Bombora (and she did it by herself again a couple times), Rattlesnake Rapids, and the white roller coaster multiple times. I let her do the white roller coaster by herself a couple times again and then it was time to go. We left a little earlier than the park closed because I was feeling tired and it gave us a chance to visit with Grandma Dee and Grandpa Luke, where we stayed the night.
In the morning, we woke up and drove right home. We stopped at a gas station so Ashtyn could buy a yogurt parfait for breakfast, something she really wanted to do. For the car ride, Ashtyn wanted to pick an audiobook to listen to together. She ended up picking three short ones by Brandon Sanderson—Legion, Emperor's Soul, and Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell. She liked them all, though Legion was her favorite.
While we were gone, Ben's cousin Makenzie watched the kids for us while he was working, which was super nice of them! She sent this cute picture of Parker.
Parker bringing Leah home to Ben for Leah's nap 🩷
I'm so glad I got to go out and make those memories with Ashtyn! It was so fun, we both wish we could go back out and do it again.
