Liberty Park

One of the best parts of living in downtown SLC is Liberty Park. When I was a kid this was one of the worst parks in the City. Over the past few years though, the City has put a lot of money into the park, thanks to the Olympics. Besides just cleaning up the park, they've added some awesome water features. The Canyons Fountains are one of our favorite summer play spots. It is a mini replica of the canyons surrounding SLC and the rivers that run from these canyons into the Great Salt Lake. It is a bunch of little "rivers" that run into a knee deep pool at the bottom. Unfortunately, because of the outbreak of stomach sickness associated with pools and things, the Canyons have been closed. Luckily, Liberty Park also has fountains in the playground area and this past Monday evening for Family Home Evening, we went over to play. There's nothing better than water on a hot summer evening!

RSL

We are soccer fans. In Spanish, it's "fanaticos", and I think fanatics is a great way to describe Ricardo and the boys. Ella and I like to watch the people! We've had season tickets with ReAl Salt Lake since their first season here in Salt Lake in 2005. It's been a great family activity and the soccer has been pretty good too! We started painting Luca's head that first season and it has become tradition. The boys are well known at the stadium and are often stopped for pictures. A photographer at the games took some pretty cool shots of Anthony, Luca, and Aiden. ( http://aylsoccer.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=762&Itemid=10176) Anthony really likes the attention, I'm not too sure about Luca. We love hanging out with our friends, especially those we don't get to see often (that means you Norman Family!). We can't wait for the new stadium! Go RSL!

Hair!

Summertime brings summer haircuts. In our house, those summer cuts come in stages. We start with the spring cut, also know as the soccer cut or mohawk. The boys have had mohawks for the start of the soccer season in April for the past 2 years (Luca has had one since he was 3 - his choice). This year Aiden ended up with one as well. Luca kept his for about a month and then asked for a buzz. Anthony lasted quite a bit longer, maybe 2 months. Aiden was the last hold-out. Every time we tried to cut it, he would put his hand over it and tell us no. We finally decided to start July with a buzzed head and the mohawk had to go. Aiden was OK with it at first, until he saw the hair fall, then he grabbed a handful of the cut hair and put it on his head. When that fell off, he continued to place his hand over his head and asked for his "pelo". He got over it pretty quickly and life is back to normal. We'll have to see how everyone's hair grows back in now!

The 4th of July

The best thing about the 4th of July is spending time with family! We went swimming for a couple of hours. The kids loved swimming with Dad, a rare treat! We then ran home and grabbed some food and supplies and headed to Sugarhouse Park to set up "camp" for the rest of the afternoon. You have to get there early if you want a good place to see the fireworks. The boys played football, soccer and frisbee, and we all just had a good time hanging out with one another. Mom, Steph, and Heather joined us in the evening for some dinner and the fireworks. All in all, a very easy going day, and probably my favorite so far this summer!

Our Future Engineer

Anthony loves to build things. He has Legos, Magnetix, and his favorite, K-nex. He'll go into his room and be there for an hour and come out with something amazing. This helicopter is his latest building achievement. I think it took him a little over an hour, and it's the biggest thing he's built. He's quite proud of it as well, he's slept with it in his bed every night since he made it! Ricardo went to DI and found a complete Erector set with 475 pieces (it was still in it's original packaging with a packing slip from 1984) for $2. Anthony was in heaven. He started playing with it right away. I think all the little pieces started to overwhelm him, but I'm sure we'll see great things from him shortly!

Happy 2nd Birthday Aiden!

This is rather a late post given that Aiden's birthday was June 16, but better late than never, right?!

We had a little party here at the house with about 5 friends and their siblings. I'm not sure how much fun Aiden actually had, but Luca, Anthony and Ella had a great time!

Aiden and a few of his friends!

Enjoying the bounce house (well, some of them are!) Actually, I was asked by some of the older kids to please take Aiden out for a while because he was playing too roughly!Playing with the parachute Cupcakes! Chocolate cupcakes = very stained shirt, hence the topless 2 year oldPresents!And of course, balloons! Ricardo spent the evening before the party blowing up balloons and I forgot all about them until the very end of the party. Those that were still there enjoyed bouncing on them and popping them.Happy 2nd Birthday Aiden!