Temple Quarry Trail in Little Cottonwood Canyon

Wednesday morning I got all the kids fed, myself showered and ready, the kids into their swimsuits and sunblocked and to swimming lessons by 9:30.  After we got home I let the kids watch TV for about an hour (they each chose a TV show) while I did some cleaning.  After lunch I put Clara down for a nap and continued with cleaning--laundry, dishes, hamster cage, floors, etc.  The two older kids kept fighting over who got to play on the computer.  Typically I limit the amount of time they play but I wanted them to be quiet so Clara could sleep and I wanted to get done a bunch of housework while Clara was sleeping.  So I kept setting a timer for 30 minutes and let them take turns.  While Spencer was playing computer Tessa played a little Wii and a little Leapster, but mainly colored or played baby dolls in her bedroom, by herself, with her door shut.  While Tessa was on the computer Spencer played Wii or his DS.  After Clara woke up I had just swept and was about to mop so I gated her downstairs in the TV room with the kids and I kept going.  After about 3 hours of the kids fighting and playing electronics (which usually leads to even more ornery, snappy kids) I decided my futile attempts at getting them to go play outside or with something else weren't working and I needed to do something with them.  So I told them all to get their shoes on and get in the car cuz we were going somewhere to have fun.  Spencer wanted a playground, Tessa a splashpad.  I momentarily thought of the splash pad in Herriman where we went with my sister over the weekend that has a playground right next to it.  But it's out in Herriman and I only had 1 hour before I would need to get dinner started.  By the time I had the kids get on swimsuits and sunblock and drove out there it would be time to come back.  As we were pulling out of the neighborhood, I looked up at the mountains and thought...Of course!

So just at the mouth of Little Cottonwood Canyon is the Temple Quarry Nature Trail.  This is the area where the early Mormon pioneers chiseled away at large rocks to make smaller rocks to transport all the way downtown to build the Salt Lake Temple.  The path they used to get them down town went right through our neighborhood, literally.  Aside from this significance, the trail has some beautiful scenery of the mountains and the creek.  And it's quiet.  And exercise, fresh air, shaded and paved walking trails, away from electronics, etc. etc.  I pushed Clara in the stroller and occasionally let the other kids stroll down a little dirt path.  When we came upon my former favorite thinking spot--a very large rock that overlooks the stream and has a nice view of the valley--I tried to convince Spencer to climb up it.  He was much too scared.  I don't think Tessa would have been scared if I had asked her first, but she saw Spencer was scared so she also refused.  So I jumped on and climbed to the top to demonstrate it's non-scariness.  I then pulled the older kids up while Clara cried from the stroller cuz she was stuck and couldn't come with us.  The kids refused to go up the rock but enjoyed sitting near the bottom of it.  Here's my rock:

The kids seemed to enjoy the easy, short little walk.  We even saw a couple of lizards run across the path.  The kids really liked watching the fast moving creek.  I'm glad we live only 10 minutes away from such great beauty!

I'm wondering if Spencer has worn this hat in every picture I've posted of him over the last 2 weeks.  I bought it for him 2 weeks ago and it's black (his favorite color) and says "Top Secret" (and Spencer thinks he's a spy) so this has become his favorite of about a dozen hats he owns.  I believe he has only taken it off for swimming lessons, showers, and bedtime since I bought it for him.

After dinner Brodie and I took the kids to Flat Iron park and let them play on both the upper and lower playgrounds as well as run/roll down the large hill.  I'm glad we made it up the canyons and to a park so the day ended on a good note.

Dinosaurs at Thanksgiving Point

The Museum of Ancient Life at Thanksgiving Point is so much fun for my kids.  We go a couple times every year.  We usually go once with an Entertainment Book coupon, sometimes with a coupon we used from a parent's Entertainment Book, and on 2 Buck Tuesdays in August when each person is only a $2 entrance fee.  Regular price is $10 for an adult and $8 for a child (ages 3-12) and free for under age 3.

This past Tuesday right after swimming lessons we drove down to Thanksgiving Point.  Of course 2 Buck Tuesdays are VERY crowded, but I was expecting that.  After finally locating a parking place I loaded Clara into her stroller and we headed in.  At only $6 for my family I didn't mind the insane number of other people also attending.  The Motion in Motion exhibit was too crowded for my kids to care about trying things out so we headed on to the paleontology room.  It shows some examples of how paleontologists find and excavate fossils.  You can also see into their lab where they are actually working on various projects at the time.  Then came our walk through the stars.  Tessa gets very nervous and had to hold on to me but Spencer loved it.  He used to be scared also, just up until last year in fact.  If you haven't been you basically walk across a short bridge in a dark tunnel with lights all around like the stars in space.  Then we entered the prehistoric zone.  As crowded as it was, we didn't spend as much time as we usually do looking at and reading about the exhibits.  But we've been there enough that the kids kind of knew what they were looking at anyway.

I got very nervous as we neared the erosion table.  My kids enjoy playing in the sand and water but we usually go when there are about 20 other kids playing and even then we can rarely find a toy dinosaur or tree to play with.  There were too many kids that my kids didn't want to crawl to the inside where the floor is raised high enough Tessa can actually reach.  They were nervous and wanted to stay right by me.  So I had to hold Tessa up the whole time with her head hanging over so she could play.  However, Thanksgiving Point was prepared for the large number of patrons as there were plenty of toy dinosaurs and trees.  I limited my children to one dinosaur and tree each but I saw kids with handfuls and didn't hear any kids crying that they couldn't find any.  The kids had fun building sand mounds for their toys, burying their toys, and just playing in water and dirt.  I tried my best to take pictures of the kids while I was holding on to Tessa.  Then after about 15 minutes of playing I finally got the idea to position the stroller so Tessa could sit on the tray and reach without me holding her up.  Instead I took Clara out and she had an absolute blast playing in the dirt and water.  She was the only one who really got wet.  They do have the water aprons to keep dry, but I rarely bother with those.

We saw all sorts of dinosaurs--Thanksgiving Point actually has the "world's largest display of mounted dinosaurs" at like 60 of them.  There are of course a couple cool looking Tyrannosaurus Rexes (Spencer's very favorite part of the museum), a Triceratops, a Pteranadon, Supersaurus, Brachiosaurus, a super large turtle looking dinosaur I don't remember the name of, Elasmosaurus, a Mammoth being hunted by a bunch of human skeletons (this one always bothers my kids--that people are trying to kill the Mammoth even though I point out the skeletons under his feet that the Mammoth is killing.  I'll be surprised if my kids grow up to be hunters--too bad cuz I'd like someone else to hunt me yummy food to eat), a saber-toothed something or other, and a reconstruction of a super big shark with a whole bunch of teeth.  I'm glad I know the few types of dinosaurs' names I do.  I'm sure my 6 year old boy knows a whole bunch more than that.  The kids love finding the picture of the hand that means they can touch the "hands-on exhibit".  While these include real teeth, bones, and cool things like that my kids' favorite is the little dinosaur you can climb and sit on.  It's also a very popular photo op.

Clara loved being able to climb on him by herself and screamed when I removed her so the next people could take a picture of their kids on it.

At the end of all the exhibits is the fossil dig area.  There are 2 different "sandboxes" (one is smaller and one is larger) where kids can use a provided paint brush and their hands to dig for dinosaur bones.  Usually when we go with the 12-20 other kids here there are about 8 non-broken paintbrushes between the two areas.  Kudos again to Thanksgiving Point for stocking up on them this time.  I think every single kid had a paintbrush and there were still some kids with one in each hand.  My kids had no problem locating paintbrushes for each of them, although if they put it down for one second someone else grabbed it up and they had to go searching for another one left alone to replace it.  Spencer was very determined to continue brushing away at one bone for about 15 minutes.  Tessa was having more fun brushing sand onto her legs and feet and using the paintbrush to tickle Clara.  Clara was in heaven.  She had sooo much fun trying to use her paintbrush just like she saw her big brother doing.  Then she had fun putting sand on her legs and toes like her big sister.  She also spent a lot of time just looking around at all the other kids.  I think more than anything she liked being able to do what she wanted without anyone stopping her.  I left the binki in her mouth to try to prevent the sand from going in while I stood outside of the digging area watching and she really enjoyed her independence.  When the bigger kids were ready to go I had Spencer carry her to me and she was literally kicking and screaming the whole way.  She kept kicking and screaming while I did my best to brush off as much sand as possible from her (I later found plenty exfoliating her baby soft parts when I changed her diaper) and placed her in the stroller.  Then she accepted defeat and calmed down while Spencer ran around trying to locate his missing shoe.  It was fun, but boy did I enjoy the quiet after we exited the building.  But now I really want to get Clara a sandbox.

2 Buck Tuesdays at Thanksgiving Point

On Tuesdays during the month of August Thanksgiving Point activities are only $2 per person per venue (kids 2 and under are free)  This includes the Museum of Ancient Life (dinosaurs), Thanksgiving Point Gardens (including the Children's Discovery Garden with a water Noah's Ark), and Farm Country (see and pet farm animals, go on a wagon ride, and kids can go on a pony ride).  They are open from 10 am - 8 pm.  Just beware these activities are usually crowded during this special pricing time.

Free activities for kids in August

So we're kind of busy with swimming lessons and pre-school stuff this month, but it's also the last month of summer before Spencer starts going to school for pretty much the whole day!  So we've got to pack in some family fun this month!  Here are a bunch of free activities I found for this month:

Tuesday, August 2:
Story Road, Utah will be broadcasting live at the Sandy Amphitheater telling of Sandy's pioneer past in music & stories.  Demonstrations start at 6:30 and the broadcast starts at 8 pm.

Sandy Library is having a Pirate Party for kids ages 0-7 from 10:30 am - 12 pm.  They will be have music, books, activities, and crafts.

Wednesday, August 3:
Ages 5 and up can go to the Sandy Library at 11 am to learn about and make their own turtle.

Thursday, August 4:
Draper Library will be showing the Justin Bieber Never Say Never movie for kids 8 and up at 1 pm.

Saturday, August 6:
Lakeshore Learning in Murray will be doing a free space craft with scratch-through rainbow paper from 11 am - 3 pm.

Monday, August 8:
It's Family Skate Night at Lone Peak Skate Park from 6-9 pm.  The Skate Park is only open to families so you can bring bikes, trikes, scooters, and stuff for your kids.  This is a lot of fun!  Also this night the Police Department will be there and it will be a Dino-mite theme.

Sandy Library will be showing a kids summer movie on the big screen and provide treats at 2 pm.

Tuesday, August 9:
Radio Disney Days at the Gallivan Center from 11 am - 1 pm.  This will be a "Magic" Theme and there will be a free bounce house, some booths with games, and music.

Wednesday, August 10:
Movies in the Parks will be showing Tangled at Willow Creek Park beginning at dusk.

Drop by Draper Library between 2-3 pm for your kids to make a paper Matryoshka doll (nesting doll).

Bring your baby or toddler to Sandy Library at 10:30 am to learn baby signs.

Thursday, August 11:
The Draper Library will be showing Tnagled at 10:30 am

Friday, August 12:
The Balloon Festival at Storm Mountain Park!  Come watch the hot air balloons take off between 6:30 - 8:00 am.  Bright Eyes Coffee and Smoothies will be providing breakfast fuel including juice, soda, water, coffee, muffins, smoothies, and hot chocolate.

Draper Library will be having Mad Science for kids ages 3-12 to see how simple inventions were discovered at 2:00 pm

Saturday, August 13:
The Balloon Festival will still be going on.  Come watch them take off early in the morning or go to the South Towne Promenade around 8:00 pm to watch the balloons glow in the sky and have food and entertainment.

Lakeshore Learning in Murray will be making dinosaur puppets on a stick between 11 am - 3 pm.

Sandy Library will have Donuts wtih Dad Storytime at 10:30 am.

Monday, August 15:
Sandy Library will be showing a kids' summer movie and providing treats at 2 pm.

Wednesday, August 17:
Kids ages 4 and up can come to Signing Time at the Sandy Library from 2 - 3 pm.

Saturday, August 20:
Draper Library will be showing Mars Needs Moms at 2 pm--bring a pillow!

Sandy library will be having Donuts with Dad Storytime at 10:30 am.

Lakeshore Learning will be making flower crafts for the kids' teachers from 11 am - 3 pm.

Monday, August 22:
It's Family Skate Night again at Lone Peak Skate Park from 6-9 pm.  Have your kids bring their bike, scooter, or tricycle.

Tuesday & Wednesday, August 23-24:
The Treasure Chest Puppet show at the Sandy Library at 10:30 am.  Once again these puppet shows are our favorite activities!  All 3 of my kids (ages 1, 3, and 6) absolutely LOVE these puppet shows!

Saturday, August 27:
Take your kids to Lakeshore Learning in Murray to make a hanging honeybee hive with worker bees between 11 am - 3 pm.

East Township Days celebration at Big Bear Park beginning at 7 am with a 10K TrailMix run.  At 2 pm there will be a classic car show.  Also there will be a climbing wall, painting of a snowplow, and fireworks when the sun sets.  And there will be food vendors and such.

Monday, August 29:
The Sandy Library is having a 30 minute movie and a craft at 10:30 am.

One World, Many Stories Summer Send-Off at the Veterans Memorial Park where there will be storytelling from 7-9 pm.

And once again there are soooo many parks and playgrounds around.   Plus Wheeler Farm is a lot of fun for the kids to see cows, horses, pigs, goats, chickens, turkeys, and ducks close up (bring bread to feed the ducks) and it's free!  There are also splash pads and the canyons.

And it you don't mind spending some money you can look through  my other posts for discounts to Hogle Zoo, The Living Planet Aquarium, and 2 Buck Tuesdays at Thanksgiving Point. 

Enjoy the rest of the summer!

Living Planet Aquarium half price membership

Today Living Social has an adult and child annual membership for $18.  That's half the normal price.  You have to redeem the voucher by December, then your pass will be good for a year.  We LOVE the Living Planet Aquarium.  Here's a link to the deal:  https://livingsocial.com/deals/78782?ref=conf-jp&rpi=20991769