Fall Break

There was no school on Thursday or Friday.  It was Fall Break.  You would think that would mean I would have plenty of time to write on my blog, right?

Um. Yeah.

My days were so busy that I wasn't able to write.  Sorry.  So, instead, you'll have to make do with a quick sum up of the four day weekend.

Here we go.

Thursday

Um.... What did I do on Thursday, anyways?  Well, how embarassing.  I've lost a Thursday.  I honestly don't remember what I did all that day.

However, we did discover on Thursday that Bill did not, in fact, leave his debit card in the ATM at the bank.  It was well and truly lost.  We had to put a block on it and will be working on a cash only basis for the next couple of weeks while we await the replacement cards.

Friday

That morning the kids and I headed out for the University of Utah, so that Helena could take an 11 am tour of the school.  When we arrived at the school and walked into the high school recruitment office, Helena wondered aloud if we had found the right place.  I just smiled and pointed at the young man standing in front of the counter.  It was her good friend, Daniel A!  She surprised him with a hug from behind.  He had just finished the 9 am tour.  That was too bad, because touring the campus with Daniel would have made it so much more fun for Helena.  Still, we had a great time and it made Helena even more keen for college.  It made me wish I could have had a different college experience, too.  BYU is a different environment than the U.  UofU is very plugged into the community, with buses and Trax (light rail) connecting it to all the downtown districts.  A student ID acts as a public transit pass and opens up not only the city to students, but the nearby ski resorts, as well.

We also rode the on campus shuttle bus up to the residence halls, which were originally built to house the athletes for the 2002 Olympic games.  Then it was called the Olympic Village.  Now it is just on-campus housing.  However, it is some of the nicest on-campus housing I have ever seen!

These historic houses used to be officers quarters at old Fort Douglas (which stands just to the South of the campus) and have been converted to student housing.  Each can hold 12 students hand selected from the major sponsoring that house.

After the tour, Erik met up with us and ended up joining us for lunch at the Pie Pizzeria.  Erik (my brother), works for the U in the Athletic Compliance office.  He works to insure that all the student athletes follow NCAA rules and guidelines.

The Pie is... well, just the most amazing pizza on the planet.  Period.  It is a little basement dive underneath a pharmacy just half a block west of campus.  The only thing that Bill truly regrets about having Ciliac is that he can never eat at The Pie again.

If you are ever in Salt Lake City, I recommend putting The Pie on your list of 'must dos'.

We were only back home for a brief respite before the whole family piled into the car to head down to BYU for the chemistry department's 'magic show'.  Will can earn extra credit in his chem class by going.  We were hoping for the fun show we have seen broadcast on KBYU television.  It was supposed to be the same show, but it didn't live up to its reputation, unfortunately.  The presenter was not much of a showman and couldn't keep the audience riveted on him.  In fact, the audience was HORRIBLE!  Oh my gosh!  Is it just that I don't have any little kids at my house any more?  I seriously doubt that, because even when my kids were little, I would NEVER have let them carry on like the kids in that audience.  It seemed like every family there had 6 kids under the age of 10 and the parents weren't enforcing any kind of public behavior discipline.  And the adults in the audience?  They were as bad as the kids!  They were talking through the entire performance.

After having spent such a fun day on the campus of the U, BYU was a huge disappointment.  Not the 'magic show', but the general feel of the people there.  Lots of young families with too many kids to keep track of or discipline properly.  Even the adults there without kids were disrespectful.  Bah.

We finished the day with a family dinner at... where else?... RUBIO'S!

There are the first two days of Fall Break.  I think I will break this post into two segments so it doesn't get to big and cumbersome.  So, stand by for part 2!