Trafalga

Since Eric's company became independent of BYU they have solidified company parties to a fall family one and a Christmas couple one. Generally they do something different every year and its pretty nice. This year as well as last year was at the Lehi Trafalga Fun Center. Last year I firmly decided my family was too small to really enjoy it much.

Last year the party was in September (might have to get back with date as all pics were taken with my moms camera and her date function wasn't working) the same day as my mom's Uncle's funeral. Jennifer watched Miriam and Aaron while mom, Rachel and I (which was why I'm in a dress) went to the funeral then afterward all of us including Eric met at the fun center. We checked in then went to ride the outside rides while it was still light. Aaron was devastated to find he wasn't tall enough to ride anything. Miriam went on the boat ride with me where she enjoyed till some other kids out there sprayed us with water then she was done. She also got to ride an airplane and the race car with daddy. I didn't see the race car because at that point Aaron and I went in to spare his feelings of not getting to ride it too.

Thank goodness for the carousel that we all got to ride on! Rachel even got her first ride! I was highly disappointed that they had dismantled the carousel this year, I couldn't tell if it was permanent or just moving it to a different place. We headed in where each of us had a card to use in the arcade games, I was strongly reminded that I'm not into arcade games in the slightest.

Also provided by the company was pizza and drinks at their food court. We took a break and ate. They had the tube area for toddlers, but Aaron got scared up top- we didn't even go there this year. They tried bowling for the first time on their mini alley, enjoyed rolling balls even if they didn't knock down a lot of pins! One of the favorite arcades was a hunting one, they enjoyed shooting the guns even though they needed a lot of help. Thank goodness for Aunt Jennifer and mom holding baby Rachel so I could interact with the other two. The biggest moment of excitement was when Aaron crawled into the stuffed animal claw game to get a toy. One of the workers opened it up, got him out and gave him a Curious George for the trouble. Finally the agony of choosing what prizes we wanted to redeem (I would have said none because its all junk!).

Fast forward and lo and behold we find ourselves back at Trafalga for the company fall party (first time they have done the same thing twice in a row), though this year it was on October 18. That meant by the time we got there it was already getting dark not leaving much time to ride the rides. Aaron was thrilled to ride them this year and it was Rachel and I that were left out (something about being pregnant). First the three of them went on the boat ride and lucky for them they had it all to themselves (no spraying). Miriam got a chance to drive it and enjoyed it a lot. Then Miriam and Aaron became Ace pilots and rode the airplanes. Finally they each took a turn with Daddy on the race cars which I think was Aaron's favorite. As mentioned the carousel wasn't put together which I felt bad on Rachel's behalf. We moved inside where Eric and Miriam went and did laser tag, Miriam thought it was the best thing ever. Eric said she did well enough particularly because being much shorter than other players she didn't get hit much ;).

Aaron and I attempted to bowl while we waited for them but I couldn't get the cards to work so we ended up going to find dinner. This year we also got to have some dippin dots that I had always wanted to try (pretty good). Then we set out to use all our cards up to get the prizes. We did get in a game of bowling (Eric is much trickier than I) and the kids did pretty good. Miriam even got some strikes though Aaron's balls would barely make it to the end. They did get awfully excited with some dancing around.

Rachel decided to get on the action here on the racing car otherwise she and I mostly did the games where you hit a button and that's it. Have I mentioned I don't really like arcades? We were some of the last to leave after choosing the prizes and getting everyone into pj's for the ride home. Wonder what well do next year?