Lagoon Day!

The company I work for decided at the last minute that we should probably have a summer office party. About a month ago, they sent around a survey asking which of the following we'd prefer:

1) Lagoon with our families
2) REAL Salt Lake game with our fammillies (I like this typo so I'm going to leave it)
3) Bees game with our families
or 4) Lunch at the Sky Box for employees only

The Lagoon option won, so a few days later the party planner came by to ask me how many people I wanted to invite. I literally pulled the number 5 out of the air, but that's how many I actually brought. It was a pretty sweet deal: free tickets for all into the park, free parking, and a free lunch.

Can I just say that it's been a long time since I have worked with a company who would go to so much trouble for its employees? Especially for a non-corporate branch. The last place I worked for didn't even give Christmas bonuses. I am so grateful that I not only like my job, but the company I work for seems to like me, too!

I invited my parents and my older brother's family. They are awesome. We had the best time! Adam took the day off on Friday (the day of the party) and his family picked me up on the way to the park so that I could work for two hours in the morning. The G-unit was pretty excited. He had never been to Lagoon and I think he was glad to get to go with his Grammy, Boppa and me. I gave him a present I thought was pretty cool: a water bottle that has a built-in dry compartment which I filled with honey nut cheerios. I bought a Cars-themed bottle for him, and a Disney princesses one for me. G-unit ended up eating most of the cheerios from both. The best part was that the water bottles had a strap so he could carry his own. He was pretty resistant to carrying it at first, but after a few hours of persistence on his mom's part he accepted the responsibility as a given. Good kid.

We ended up arriving at the same time as my parents, who drove separately (and by "at the same time" I mean they happened to be the car in front of us at the parking lot toll booth).

I haven't been to Lagoon in 5 years, and I was really surprised by how much it has changed. There is a whole "kid land" section in the middle of the park that hadn't been there before! In fact, a lot of the rides were unfamiliar.

We started with the Log Flume ride, which had issues while we were in line, so we waited for nearly an hour. But when the ride was working again and we all took our turns, we succeeded in getting very, very wet, which was our goal since it was about 90 degrees that day.

Unfortunately, the long line apparently kept me from winning a prize in the raffle at lunch. Pretty much everyone stopped by to tell me my name had been called but they gave the prize away because I wasn't there. Even my NEPHEW told me which was funny because he had been in line with me. He must have overheard my mom tell my dad or something.

The boys and I decided to head over to Lagoon-a-beach for awhile and take advantage of all the water. We decided later it wasn't a great idea, since water and the extra exposure to the sun seemed to sap us all of our energy (by "all" I mean the adults -- G-unit seemed impervious to the sun). Meanwhile, my mom and Lindsey took the girls on the carousel and another ride. 'Twas nice to have an excuse to put on the bathing suit for the FIRST TIME THIS SUMMER (seriously, where did the summer go?) and fun to see the G-unit get excited about some of the water slides.

The park was PACKED. I think since it was the last Friday before most school started up again, everyone decided to get in their last hurrah. Consequently, the lines for everything were ridiculous. This did not keep us from standing in plenty of those lines, but it kept us from trying most of the new rides, like Wicked, Tsunami, and the Spider.

By the way: the Bat was a HUGE disappointment. We waited in line for just half an hour, but I would be shocked to discover that the ride itself was any longer than about 20 seconds. It felt like it was just getting started and all of a sudden it was over. Lame, lame, lame!

But the Tidal Wave, Music Express, Turn of the Century, Collossus, Centennial Screamer, and Jet Star 2 were as good as I remembered. Even better was the fact that my dad and the G-unit loved them too (well, G loved the ones he was big enough to ride, especially the Tidal Wave). My mom and Lindsey took turns watching the girls while the rest of us rode the rides.

About dinnertime, Lindsey took the tired babies home. They had played hard and won the hearts of hundreds of passersby (including my coworkers) and having conquered the park had had enough for one day. The rest of us ate a quick dinner, then split up for some more crazy adventures. Adam and I went on some of the wilder rides while Mom, Dad, and G-unit discovered the fun located in the aforementioned new "kid land." Adam and I were pretty suprised when we rejoined the others at 9:30pm to discover that G-unit was still going strong. The rest of us were exhausted and didn't want to fight the crowds any longer.

Not surprisingly, G slept the entire way home.

So, is Lagoon really "what fun is?" Sure. Definitely not as well-run or well-supplied as Disneyland, so we were disappointed there, but my family had a great time together. We didn't push ourselves too hard, and we loved getting a break from the regular routine. I am so glad I invited them!

Saturday morning, I slept in as much as possible, then went in to work for six hours. Not really fun, but definitely necessary since I hadn't managed to finish my project before that paid Friday holiday. I am grateful for my office which made Friday possible. So many people hate their jobs or are out of work and looking for a job. I am so blessed. It's good to be employed by people who care and to be doing work I don't mind doing!