Nicole's Special Vacation

Our family has a special tradition.  Whenever someone turns eight years old, they get to spend a few days with Grandma and Grandpa Smith all by themselves = no parents or siblings!  Alison lived in Idaho when she turned eight, so she got to drive to a different state on her trip.  Nicki only lives ten minutes from them now, so we wondered how we would make it extra special for her. 

Boy!  We didn't need to worry!  She had the time of her life!  In fact, a few days after she came home, she confessed that she wished she lived at Grandma's house all the time!!!  One of the best parts of her trip was that she got to share it with her cousin, McKenna!  McKenna turned eight about a month before Nicki and they decided that it would be fun to share their special weekend with each other. 

Here's a few of the highlights:

Grandma Smith picked each of the girls up from school on Thursday, March 28th.  McKenna's school had spring break on Friday, but Nicki's didn't.  We excused her absence on Friday for her vacation.  They ran to our house to pick up some stuff, then headed off for their big adventure.

They stopped at Sam's club to pick out some treats for the Easter Egg hunt later in the week, and got a treat for themselves while they were at it.

Then they went home and got set up.  Here, they're trying out the bed they would share.  The girls played with each other for a while and did each other's hair. 

When Grandpa got home from work, they went to Farmington Crossings, which has a park, shops, movie theaters, and super awesome dancing fountains!

Look at these darling cousins!

They're watching the fountain show.

Then, they ate at Johnny Rockets, a fun diner that has dancing waitresses and home spun milk shakes.  I think they're purposely pulling faces here, not actually angry.

After that, they went home for the evening.  Grandma totally SPOILED them the whole time they were there.  She cooked fun treats and rented great movies for them and gave them tons of gifts! 

On their first night, she surprised them with matching nightgowns.  They were in heaven!

She also gave them matching Webkinz bunnies.

And matching shirts the next day.  She gave them darling hairdos each day (something I don't do much of).  On this particular day, their hairdos matched as well.  People thought Nicki and McKenna were twins.

Day Two:  Grandpa Smith took the day off of work to spend time with his girls today.  In spite of the fact that the girls went to bed way late the night before, they woke up at the crack of dawn!  They ate a HUGE fancy breakfast and watched Rise of The Guardians.  Then, they rode the Front Runner Train to SLC.

Waiting for the train...

First stop was the Hansen Planetarium.  WOW!  This is a cloud machine.  It makes clouds!  It was awesome!

They saw a 3-D I-Max movie about butterflies. 

Then, they went shopping at Citicreek.  At the food court, Nicki got the biggest piece of pizza EVER! 

Nicole sneezed right as this picture was taken.  Bless you, Nicki!

Try again!  Grandma said that Nicole and McKenna were best of friends and NEVER fought at all.  They really love each other!

That afternoon, they went to another park for a while. They're playing on the toy mountain here. 

That night, they had a rousing game of Uno.  I think McKenna was mad about someones move at the time.

The next morning was the day before Easter and we all came over for the annual Easter Egg hunt.  I'll write more about that on another day.  Our little Nicki had the time of her life at Grandma and Grandpa's house.  She felt very special and very grown up.  Thanks, Grandma and Grandpa for taking such great care of our girl.