Loving Summer

I am loving Summer this year, and I am NOT ready for school to start in a few weeks?! We got our notice of who Liam's teacher is going to be this year. Her name is Miss Erin. We had requested Miss Farrah, and are sad we won't have her, but we're sure Miss Erin is really nice too. We get to meet her in a couple of weeks, and then he starts on Aug. 23rd. This summer just flew by way too fast. I have been spending a lot of time outside too, and it's pretty crazy because I actually have a tan on my arms! I put sun screen on most of the time if I'm going to be out for long periods, but some sun must be getting to me cause my arms have color! The last time I ever remember having a tan was when I was a kid!

Anyway, last Saturday I took Liam to this new thing they have behind the Dinosaur Museum. It's called Trilobite Treasures, and you can dig for fossils, specifically Trilobites. I thought they had them already discovered and hidden in sand, and we would use shovels and brushes to 'Find' them...but NO!! They are still in the shale/rock, and you use a HUGE hammer to split the rock open and find as many as you can within the time you pay for. We were there an hour, which is plenty long for a 3 yr. old. Liam had fun, but I actually think I had more fun than him. And in hindsight, I think this activity is best for older kids and adults. The smallest hammer they have is pretty big, and really could hurt a small kid if they aren't being careful. Anyway, we found some great trilobites on our own, and with a little help from the experts. Liam found a couple all by himself, I was so proud of him.

Liam's First Play

Last month, on December 12th we took Liam to his first play 'If You Give A Mouse A Cookie'. We had purchased the book to read to him so that he would be familiar with the story, and be excited to go. He had just turned 3, and we have never taken him to a movie or anything like this, so we had no idea how he would do. He was very interested in the new experiance and was very attentive for the first 15-20 minutes, but then he got anxious and wanted to run up on stage, and go down the side isle. Mike had to restrain him for a good part of the play. We tried to distract him and keep him quiet with some snacks, but that only helped for a few minutes at a time. The play was SUPER cute!! And hopefully next year he will have matured enough to sit through a whole play.

Liam waiting for the play to start.


Very cute set for the play.


Liam and Mom


Liam and Dad

After we left, he discovered this interesting metal sculpture.

It was unusally warm for December so before we went home, we took him to the park to play for a bit.

Liam's Day Out With Thomas

Several weeks ago we purchased some tickets to take Liam to go on a ride with Thomas the Tank engine. He has loved Thomas since he turned 2 years old. We decided to leave Rowan with Grandma because we figured it would be easier, plus we thought it would be good for him to have a 'Liam Day' where he gets to hang out with Mom and Dad all by himself! It was a bit of a hectic morning trying to get everything and everyone ready to go, but we managed to be in the car at 9 am on the dot...as we were backing out, I had a sinking feeling that we were forgetting something, but that is not unusual for me...so then we got to the event, and realized that Mike had forgot to grab the battery off the charger to our brand new camera that we got last night! It was a bummer, but thankfully we had our video camera, plus my little camera. The quality isn't as great obviously, but as you can see there is no shortage of pictures of Liam!


Liam playing with the trains.








Liam riding Thomas the Train.























Liam in the maze.


Liam and Dad in front of old locomotive.


Liam and Dad in front of Thomas the Train.




Liam playing with trains...again.

Thanksgiving Point Gardens

Today Liam and I met cousin Madison, and her mom at Thanksgiving Point. We started at the petting zoo, but it was a mad house because it looked like several field trips were there, and lots of other families, so we decided to go to the gardens. It was my first time there, and I was just blown away at how beautiful the place was. We live in a desert, so this was a little oasis. It felt like we were not in Utah anymore.

View of the building from below.

Columns in the garden

Pretty trees and garden arch

Tulips

Secret Garden

Secret garden fountain

Garden stairs

Garden fountain

Largest Man Made water fall in North America

Trees and falls

Liam in the garden

More falls

More falls

Gorgeous purple tree above falls

Noah's ark in Discovery Park

Liam Goes to the Aquarium

We have a membership to the aquarium too, but we haven't been back there since our first visit last November. We tried going a few weeks ago, but it was really busy because it was a holiday, so we decided to go another time. We FINALLY went this morning, although we went before Liam's morning nap, so he was a bit tired, and not really interested, but we had a great time anyway. They also have added a new exhibit from South America, they had an Anaconda snake, piranhas, frogs, turtles, an electric eel, alligators, spiders and other fish from the Amazon...it was really COOL!

Liam looking at salamander.

He perked up to splash in the sting ray tank!

Little Nemo

Red and white starfish

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Liam Goes to the Petting Zoo

Thanksgiving Point is about 5 minutes from our house, so we decided to get a membership. We took Liam over there this evening and there were like 2 other families there, so we pretty much had the place to ourselves!! It was so nice...

Mom and Liam in the tulip garden.

Liam running in the garden...

Liam patting the horse.

Liam on the pony ride! He absolutely LOVES this part : )

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