Cram It All In

Many of you may know that the kids and I will be leaving to spend a month or so with my family in Washington State. Unfortunately, Brigham has to stay in Utah to keep a paycheck while we are gone. Because we're going to be gone the majority of summer I feel like we need to cram in a bunch of family activities before we go so Brigham can have a sense of family summer fun.  This weekend began the cramming. Not only did we do a lot, but I took A LOT of pictures (I love pictures). So not only am I cramming in activities, but we'll see how many pictures I can cram into one post :)

To start out the weekend, on Friday we went and fed the ducks with Aunt Caitlin and baby Abby at the Jordan River Parkway and then had a picnic.

I couldn't believe how hard it was to feed the baby ducks. Even the mommy ducks would steal the bread away or peck at the babies if they happened to get to a piece first. It made me mad, sad, and determined to feed the little babies. My mother bear instincts definitely came out.

Throwing bread, cheesy grins, and playing in the grass after eating.

Despite the mean big ducks, it was a great time! We're going to miss the Tappana family this summer.

Saturday morning we packed up and headed to Liberty Park. One of the things I love about Liberty Park is that there is so much to do there! We were entertained for hours. First we romped around the playground.

Sliding and swinging - our favorites.

But soon the excitement of the playground was dimmed by the thrill of the splash-pad nearby. So a quick swap into a swimsuit for Lydia and we were off to activity number two.

Lydia's uncontained joy splashing around, Ammon's wet bum mark from falling, and his favorite approach to water - contained and in a sippy.

Lydia couldn't help but scream constantly with excitement while running around at the splash-pad. Ammon would bravely run to the water, feel it splash on his head, and zoom back out - running faster than I've ever seen him go. Over and over again, he went.

After Lydia was properly soaked we decided to head over to the part of the park that has water running down little trails that you can wade and splash in.

Drinking the water, siblings, wading, and family foot picture

Ammon loved this part of the park. I guess water that he can splash in and suck off his fingers is much more preferable to water being sprayed over his head. Lydia was all over the place, jumping from path to path and fountain to fountain. Brigham kept his eye on Lydia while I stopped Ammon from eating the bugs on the rocks and nearby mud.

A bit water-logged, we changed the kids back to dry clothes so we could continue on.

Next activity: feed the ducks.

Throwing bread and a tuckered out little boy.

Lydia has become a pro duck-feeder by now since she's been three times in the last week. Ammon still only wants to eat the bread himself, but this time he was worn out and slept instead. These ducks didn't seem to care very much about our bread which was a real change from the ducks the day before. 

Once the bread was gone we went and checked out the new City Creek Mall walking around for a bit, got lost in the underground parking garage, and tried out some Mexican food for dinner at Blue Iguana. 

Then we headed home for baths and bedtime. Boy were we exhausted from our fun, long weekend. I'm looking forward to more weekends like this to come! Do you think I can cram anymore pictures in this one post? You bet I can :) Here are some extras.

Lydia at the dino-playground in the food court at the mall, Ammon cheesing it up, I do love my boy, and the one picture that proves that I was, indeed, there.