***Salt Lake City Band/Choir Trip--May 2, 2013***

Playing more catch-up!

Thursday morning I took Benjamin to Grandpa's house & we met at the school at 8 am.  We loaded everything onto the bus (band equipment & suitcases) and headed to SLC.  I sat up front with the "threat" of sitting right by Zane if any misbehavior occurred.    We ate sack lunches provided by the school on the bus.

We headed to the Living Planet Aquarium in Sandy, UT.  There were lots of fun animals there.

Here is the biggest tank--with sharks, 

sting rays, 

and sea turtles.

Plus lots of other fish (another picture of the shark).

Here the kids are at the "petting" tank.

Brienna was brave enough to reach down and pet the sting ray.

It was deeper then you'd think.  You could also pet the small shark--but you had to use only 2 fingers.

Zane, Karina, Brienna & Kyle

this the the octopus.  We couldn't use flash because bright light can damage their eyes.

Mini sea horses

And another kind of sea horse.

I loved the jelly fish tank.  it was by the octopus tank so it was darker.  I could have sat on the bench watching them for a while.  

Zane riding a giant frog

Hanging on for dear life??  I could have spent another hour or 2 there--about every 1/2 hour to an hour, they had a presentation (usually associated with feeding an animal).  

After the aquarium, we headed  to check into the hotel (by the airport).  To save on $ and an extra room, Brienna & I along with Josey & her mom, Jill, shared a room.  Jill drove the bus.

After we checked in (we had to wait for 1 room to be cleaned/ready), we got back on the bus to head to the Gateway Mall in downtown SLC.

I walked around a little when we first got there waiting for Jill to park the bus.  She said she parked on the north side and to walk to the north side (it's an outdoor mall covering a few blocks).  Well, I was over a block and missed her but we finally met & walked around the outside mall.

Brienna decided she wanted her ears pierced--so I called Rusty to make sure he was okay with it & so I went & gave permission.  I just told her that she was responsible for taking care of her ears & not to complain if she gets infections.
After the mall, we went back to the hotel.

 Some of the kids sat in the hot tub.

 Zane is on the left (with the black tank top) and Brienna is on the right.