Boat Floating

 This week the play date was at Fairmont Park in Sugarhouse and it is an AWESOME park to play at. I found a cheap plastic sailboat at Walmart and Lucas had so much fun floating it in the creek at the park.

Other kids brought boats to float too and some brought rubber ducks or even water bottles just to watch them float down and then go under the bridges. Poppy came with us so he could run around with Lucas while I took care of Grant.

Our little sailboat got stuck on some mud and so Lucas tried to get in the water to get it moving but it was so muddy, he got kind of stuck. He was very grossed out and insisted on immediately getting out of the mud. Poppy had to find a stick to push it along. Then a couple minutes later they were trying to stop it from going under the big bridge and missed. It went halfway under and then got stuck! Our boat was gone. :(
We have decided we definitely need to go back after we get a new boat!

our little boat (in green)

Butterfly Garden

 We recently grew 4 butterflies in our house!

We ordered a kit online and they sent us everything we would need. We had to make sure and feed it so they wouldn't die - it was very interesting.

After the butterflies hatch and grow in the cage, you can only keep them for 10 days. So we let ours out in the front yard.

Lucas' New Bike

Lucas LOVES to go on bike rides. He is such a big boy and he really has grown a lot that he was getting too big for his trike. So we splurged and bought him a new bike. Instead of buying him a bike that was perfect for his size, we bought the next size up so he can grow into it. He is definitely going to have to do a lot of practicing because each ride is a ton of work for him. But as soon as he builds up those leg muscles - he will be riding like a pro.

Of course he had to ride his bike as soon as we got home from the store even though it was 9:00 PM.

IMAX Theater and Gateway Fountains

Lucas, Grant and I went to the Clark Planetarium to see "Born To Be Wild" on the big screen in 3D. It is a documentary about two different women who rescue baby elephants and baby orangutans. Such a cute movie, I would recommend everyone sees it. I gave Lucas my 3D glasses from when we went to see Harry Potter and he insisted on wearing those.
Lucas didn't care for wearing the glasses the entire movie and he became a little bored towards the end. Grant however was fascinated by the movie. I tried to nurse him and the entire time he kept trying to turn around and watch the movie too! He didn't wear the glasses though.

Afterwards we went down to the fountains and played there awhile. Lucas was a little hesitant about getting wet and so it took awhile for him to work his way towards getting into the water. He ran around for awhile and we left just as it started getting breezy and raining.

Happy Birthday Dustin!

Instead of a cake, Dustin wanted eclairs.

Dustin turned 35 this year. To celebrate, we invited family over to have eclairs and ice cream with us.

Marlene and Judy

For his birthday he received:
the cool green shirt he's wearing from Lucas
tennis shoes from Grammy and Poppy
dress black shoes from Jay and Joe
Itunes gift card from his mom
Itunes gift card from Seth and Jess
and from me he got an AWESOME recliner that was a combo birthday/father's day gift.

Of course Lucas helped him with everything - opening his presents and blowing out his candles. Lucky for Dustin that he has Lucas!

Riches Family Reunion

Time for the annual family reunion for the Lawrence and Alice Riches family. This year we did another summer party instead of the usual Christmas party. We get together for a potluck lunch and games for everyone to play.

In this game, everyone had a straw in their mouth and the goal was to pass a mini donut to the next person using your straw and not your hands. Dustin helped Lucas with this game (and the others he wanted to play).

This was a fun game. Each team was given a tube that had some holes drilled into it. Everyone had to work together and plug the holes as well as they could while pouring water in the top. Then, as a group with the holes being plugged by fingers and hands, the group would stumble their way over to a bucket to pour the water in. The team with the most water in. (OUR TEAM WON!!)

In this game, the person at the front of the line had a bucket of water in front of them. That person would get a cup of water and pass as much of the water it could over their shoulder to the next person and so on and so on. The team with the most water in their bucket after 5 minutes would win.

For this game, everyone tied a balloon to their ankle and the object of the game is to pop everyone's balloon without getting your balloon popped. Lucas didn't quite understand what was going to happen because he got pretty scared and upset when his balloon was popped.

Birthday Fun Date

For Dustin's birthday we went to a movie and dinner. We saw the new Harry Potter (the movie may not have been Dustin's first pick but he went anyway). The movie was really good, a perfect finish to all the movies. And just for the new movie, they made the 3D glasses look like Harry Potter's glasses. Pretty nifty huh!

But the best part about our date, besides the fact that we watched an entire movie without having to pause it once, was dinner. We had dinner at the Cheesecake Factory and it was delicious! We had so much food that we really could have shared a meal and both been satisfied. We both ordered our own cheesecake as well - it was the cheesecake factory, of course I had to have my own! Dustin went with the original and I had the dulche de leche. To die for!

We definitely took leftovers home.

Liberty Park

Lucas had so much fun at Liberty Park with Poppy that we decided to invite some friends to meet us there to play. We met Kate and Connor Hoag at the park and had so much fun. They also have a new baby at their house but their baby is a few months older than Grant.

The boys had so much fun playing together, they were running all over the place and playing in water. We also went over to the rides and the boys had a couple of rides.

Connor and his family used to live by this park so they were very familiar with it and they introduced us to the children's garden. We had never been to that playground and there is so much to see and play. There was a sandbox that kids were playing in, a couple of play sets, and lots of swings. We will definitely have to go back there!

Swimming Lessons

 Lucas started swim lessons again and Dustin says he has the best odds for a Ladies man. It's Lucas and 4 girls! This time Lucas is doing a lot better because he will get into the pool by himself. He is learning how to put his head in the water and blow bubbles, how to float and how to do different strokes like the butterfly stroke.

Lucas and the Ladies!

Family and Prayers

Adam with his Gammy

Poor Corri is not doing very well at all. She has been sick her entire pregnancy, constantly throwing up. She has gained less than 10 pounds and is always in danger of being dehydrated. Basically she was getting toxemia. Her due date is July 31st but she has been in the hospital for the past week because of toxemia. As a family we fasted and gathered together to pray for her at Grammy's house. Anyone who couldn't be there called in for the prayer. We had a bunch of cell phones lined up so that everyone could hear. Marianne called from her house and Jay called from Las Vegas. We love her very much and we are all worried about her.

 After the prayer and everyone left, we took a bunch of pictures of Lucas and Grant together. Grammy really wanted an updated picture of her boys. We got some really cute ones!

This was my favorite of Grant and Lucas together

Play Group tour of Holladay Fire Station

Today we went to the Holladay Fire Station for a tour. It was pretty interesting. The fire fighters we talked to let all of the kids get into the truck and walk through. Then one of the fire fighters put all of his equipment on. I felt pretty bad for him because it was pretty hot and he was sweating in all those layers.

The firefighters talked about some pretty important things like Stop, Drop and Roll. We definitely need to talk to Lucas about fire safety and how to call 911 in case of an emergency.

 Fire fighter Steve gave each of the kids a high five so they would realize that he's not that scary in all that equipment.

 Right in the middle of our tour, the alarm went off. The fire fighters started shutting all the compartments they had opened and getting in the truck. Just before they pulled out of the driveway, a call came that it was a false alarm. Somebody was cooking breakfast and burned their toast. Lucky for us, we were able to finish our tour.

We were able to see where the fire fighters sleep, eat and hang out when they aren't on calls. There were 6 recliners all around a TV and a kitchen with 3 refrigerators. The kids were climbing over all the recliners.

I spotted an ambulance and i asked if we could get a look inside. I've only been in an ambulance once and I hope to never require another ride - ever. The kids thought it was pretty cool inside. They were crawling over all the seats and the stretcher. Those crazy kids!

 Afterwards, they pulled out their uniforms and let the kids who wanted to, try them on. Since the jackets were as long as the kids, they didn't bother with the pants. The helmet was a little heavy, Lucas couldn't quite lift his head to smile at the camera.