This Week...So Far

We've been doing a lot of swimming lately. Above is a picture of Hayden with his friend, Abby. We've also been doing storytime at the library and visiting the park, too.



Discovery Gateway

Tuesday, July 27 was our day to finally visit Discovery Gateway this summer. Above is Hayden doing some pretend grocery shopping (who thought groceries could be so much fun).

Hayden's ringing up his food like $9 for a piece of bread and $0 for the apple--wait until he gets into the real world (hmmm, a slice of bread might cost that much by then).

Since it was Dinosaur week, I signed Hayden up for the 11am class. He made a dinosaur egg out of paper bowls attached with a brad.

Then he got to pick out a dino to put inside along with a dinosaur ring.

Of course he had to play with the dinosaurs.

So there was a commercial being filmed to promote not only Discover Gateway, but to highlight a variety of things you can do in Salt Lake. This is one of the spots where Hayden was playing while they were filming. I had to fill out a permission waiver just in case he makes it on tv--we'll see, though.

Here's our ball ladder we built on the magnetic wall. Hayden was also filmed here, too.

Cecret Lake

The next day (Wednesday) we went with some friends on a hike to Cecret Lake (up Little Cottonwood canyon past Alta). The hike is about 1.5 miles roundtrip and hiking up for the first half and down for the second half. Here's Ella, Nathan, Ty, Abby, and Hayden.

Still hiking up, but we stopped to take a rest...and just in time for what we were about to see next.

Holy cow...I mean cow moose. This is what was coming down the mountain as we were hiking up.

This picture shows how far the moose was away from us...at first.

Then...

This is how close we got to it without the zoom being used on my camera. Eventually, he/she (not sure which) hiked down and away from the trail.

Not sure anything or animal could compare after that. Of course, if you're a kid, then this next animal is pretty exciting, too.

We got close to a lot of squirrels, saw some salamanders in the lake, and saw a weasel (?) scurry across the trail with a dead animal in it's mouth.

Finally, we made it to Cecret Lake. Yes, it is spelled with a "C."

Here's our group during our picnic lunch by the water.

A fun pic of the boys. They were trying to feed a squirrel, but stopped long enough to look at the camera.

Hayden by the water...no, he's not actually in it, but he's pretty close.

The kids had a little snowball fight during our hike down.

What We've Been Up To

Hayden got a new bed last week, an ikea loft bed, that I found on ksl. I knew that I wanted to get this for him eventually so we could create some extra storage space in his room, but I was holding out for a good deal.

I added some extra cubbies for him underneath along with a chair and a little table.

Here's more storage and room for toys.

The 24th of July

I had to make some kind of treat--big and little patriotic cupcakes.

I also experimented and put some cake batter in these baby icecream cones. I had to teach a kids fit class that morning, then Hayden and I went swimming, made the treats, went to my Mom's for a BBQ, and then met up with Dan's family for fireworks in the Cottonwood Heights area. The show was great and it actually started on time.

Snowbird

While Hayden was visiting his grandparents and cousins, Dan and I took a trip up to Snowbird. Above is a picture of us waiting to ride the zip line (we got to go on it a couple of times).

Riding the chair lift to the slide.

Dan's ready to go!

Here's a picture of part of the slide. I actually took it while riding the chair lift up.
I had never done this slide before, and I have to admit that I was a little nervous--especially since I saw a kid fly off the track before I went down. Luckily, it wasn't hard to control, and I didn't have any misshaps.

Riding the tram up the mountain.

We had to a get a quick pic before we hiked down a little bit.

Another pic--it seems like we had a lot of similar pictures. I guess we'll have to pose more creatively next time.

I tried to take a picture of the Peruvian chair lift that we hiked down to and took the rest of the way down. I have to say that we picked a pretty good day to go up. The temps up at the top of the mountain were perfect.

More July Fun

Saturday, July 17 was the last day of Draper Days (the big day) so my day started off with the 5K race at Draper Park. My time wasn't the greatest, but it was still fun and a good way to start the day. Then Hayden and I went to the Treehouse so I could teach a class (which means that we had to miss the Draper Parade), eventually made it back home, and got ready. That afternoon we went with Dan, his sister, and his nephew to a fundraising event that one of his co-worker's was hosting in Fruit Heights. There were lots of fun activities for the kids to do including this fun fishing game.

These funky glasses are what came off Hayden's fishing line. I should mention that when we first got there, the people from Scales and Tails were there showing off a bunch of cool animals. Sadly, I didn't get any pictures of it or even a picture of Hayden petting the huge python--just know that Hayden's pretty brave when it comes to snakes.

More bounce houses! I don't think that Hayden (or any other kid for that matter) can get enough of these.

After having dinner, the kids went and played at the park. More of Dan's family came too so there were more kids for Hayden to play with.

Hayden requested a flying duck balloon animal from the clown.

This is it! However, you can't really see the eyes--oh, well. The poor duck didn't even last through the rest of the day. That night the boys (Hayden and Trevor) decided it was fun to squeeze different parts of the animal to see if they could pop the balloons. What a sad way for a duck to go.

Hayden also had a dinosaur painted on his face. After the fundraiser, we drove to Draper for the firework show. The fireworks ended up starting late (10:30) so the kids were pretty tired when it was time to go. However, I must mention that it was a great show.

THE ZOO

Since we go to the zoo pretty often, I don't always take a bunch of pictures. However, when we went this last week we discovered something new. Near the big cat area (tigers and leopards) there was a room that was hosting a storytime. We happened to be there at the right time so we thought it would be fun to try it out. Above is a picture of the kids listening to a story.

After the story, the kids played a dice game (of course, I don't remember what it was called). It was fun and nice to do something a little different at the zoo.

Independence Day Celebrations

So we did most of the traditional 4th of July celebrating the day before since it was Saturday and all. Friday (July 2nd), Hayden and I went swimming and then headed to Gateway to pick up my race packet for the following morning. He played in the fountains for a bit before I got my packet--which took longer than it should have. Then we picked up dinner and took it to my mom's house where we spent the night. The next morning (July 3rd) I headed to the state capitol around 5ish so I could load the bus in time for the Freedom Half Marathon. It started up in Emmigration Canyon, then we ran through This is the Place, Research Park, and eventually made it back to the Capitol Building. I was feeling great for most of the race--in fact I thought that I would set a new PR until I reached mile 6. As soon as I entered This is the Place, things started going uphill (literally). Miles 6 thru 10 or so had quite a few dirt hills and I didn't realize that I'd be hiking up mountains, too. It was, of course, all worth it in the end. I don't feel drained or unable to move after a half marathon so I felt pretty good coming through the finish. My time was 1:46--which I felt good about considering the hills I encountered during the run. After I stretched, I tried waiting for my friend, Cathy, to come through the finish. I had to leave just before she crossed the finish so I could get Hayden.

Later on in the day, after getting ready and assembling 2 flag cakes, I took Hayden to the little Sandy fair that was going on near South Towne Mall. He played on the bouncy stuff for over an hour, then we got a sno cone and free pizza (which I took up to my Mom's house right afterwards).

We went back to Sandy for the parade and dinner, hung out with Dan's family, and then enjoyed the fireworks. Unfortunately, I didn't take more pictures of the evening/night time stuff. I did take a picture of one of the cakes I made and brought that night and the inside of it, too.

It was supposed to look like a flag when you sliced into it. It looks a little messy, not a perfect cut, because I had to use a plastic knife to slice the pieces. At least it tasted good.

The next day (actual 4th of July) we had a BBQ at my mom's house. It was casual and fun and the food was yummy. Oh, btw, it was an indoor BBQ but still good.