Ahh... bridge reconstruction

In case you were wondering if your city was the only one that felt it was necessary to redo every bridge in town because they really are all too old and unstable, let me be the first to tell you that every single city in the country has had that epiphany. I know! I drove through all the construction on I-80 and I-70 and I-15 and even I-95 going to and from Utah this summer. Very annoying!
The only real reason for this blog was because I just had to post about the way Utah has chosen to redo their bridges. Usually they disrupt a lot of traffic by ripping out one side of the bridge and rebuilding it while everyone is forced to squeeze onto just one side. Instead, Salt Lake City found a crazy new way.
They build bridges to no where on the side of the road... and then use a train-thingy to move the bridge into place. Here's a bridge they've just started on the side of the road.
See, literally on the side of the road.
And here's another one that's almost finished.
And you see how close they build them to the actual bridge that will be torn down. So then they close the road for 3 days, blow up the old bridge, move the new one into place, and cement in all the supports. Crazy! It was actually great though because they were literally redoing 10+ bridges in Salt Lake this summer and we never once had backed up traffic because of it!

Ethan's Swim Class

Our time in Utah kind of slipped away from me so now we're back in DC but I'm still trying to include all of our summer activities in the blog so there'll be a nice record of them.
The first 2 weeks of July Ethan took a beginners swim class with 4 other kids. You will not see one of them in the photos as he refused to come anywhere near the water. Ethan had no such problems. He has always been fearless in the water mostly due to this little life-vest swimsuit thing Taylor's mom bought for him. It allowed him to swim on his own from the age of 1. So this beginners class was kind of a waste on time on him.
They spent lots of time practicing kicking on the steps. That's his cute instructor in the black suit.
And lots of time hanging onto her arms as she "swam" them around the shallow end. Ethan loved the whole experience and he even jumped off the diving board before I could stop him (much to Taylor's mom's horror as she is afraid of heights and just can't believe Ethan would WANT to jump off).

Ogden Dinosaur Park

As I said in an earlier blog, Ethan has become completely enamored with Dinosaurs this year. He has a little dino matching game and has amazed us all by being able to point out the "Protoceratops" and "Albertosaurus" and others. It's crazy he already knows more than me!
So when I heard that there was a dinosaur park in Utah with lifesize dinos I knew I had to take him. We waited for a cloudy day in the 80's and then drove up to Ogden to check it out. It was amazing- especially for Ethan who actually thought they were real.

Yes, that's Ethan so small next to the Brontosaurus.
He was so excited to see all the dinosaurs that he grabbed the map out of my hand and started leading me around to the ones he wanted to see first.

Isaac was not so enthralled with the dinosaurs but he enjoyed the lack of sun and lounging in his stroller.
This Anklyosaurus was Ethan's favorite so of course it was first on the list.
The park is actually really neat. It's tucked in next to the mountains and they've kept the natural vegetation so it's a nice walk through the woods until suddenly you come upon a dinosaur. There are upwards of a hundred or so too so there's lots to see. I did wish they had some information written about the dinos on their plaques instead of just their names. They also have several playgrounds intersperced in the park so Ethan and Isaac stopped and played and then we continued on.
The downside (or upside I guess if you have teenage boys) is that there are lots of scary dinosaurs. Ethan refused to stand in front of this one for a picture. He actually ran around it just so he wouldn't be in it's path.
This one especially scared him because there were sound boxes hidden in the woods that turned on randomly and blared scary velociraptor sounds. I'm not sure he ever really believed me that they aren't real and couldn't get him but he hasn't had nightmares since and he really did have a great time!

We Love Hogle Zoo!

Every summer when I get to Utah I realize how spoiled we are in DC to have free access to all of the Smithsonian museums as well as the National Zoo (thank you all for paying your taxes, we really appreciate it). Then I get to Utah and suddenly I have to pay to go anywhere- and not just pay for myself but now Ethan who has reached the magical age of 3. I have been so grateful each summer to Taylor's grandpa who pays for our yearly membership to the Hogle Zoo which is only 5 minutes away. It's so nice to see as few or as many animals as we like and not feel like we have to see everything to make it worth the money. So thanks Grandpa Servoss! We love it and only wish you were feeling better and could join us! I just have to include a few of our favorite pictures and stories from the summer. Ethan absolutely loves it when the tiger is pacing back and forth over the bridge. This time he was literally going nuts and kept growling at the leopard in the cage next to him. We finally figured out that it was because a squirrel had climbed into the leopard's cage and he had caught him and was eating him and the tiger wanted fresh meat too.

I generally try to avoid going into the small mammal and rodent house (Taylor's cousin calls it the Stink House which is very appropriate) but Ethan has fallen in love with snakes this summer. Not through any persuasion on my part, he's just truly a boy. So it was with great joy (on Ethan's part) that one morning we walked in to find that they had just fed mice to all the snakes. Lovely! It took me a 1/2 hour to literally drag him out. Yes that's a snake with just the mouse's bum in his mouth. Oh but don't you worry, we sat and watched him swallow the rest!

The zoo put in a new Carousel this summer and Ethan loves it even more than their train. Taylor's mom came along and Ethan was absolutely enthralled by the experience.
Ethan's favorite so I had to include them.

This is the only time I've actually seen the penguins in the water (in 3 summers!) so I had to include the picture.

Welcome Home Uncle Jeff!

We missed you! Okay so Isaac didn't since he only met you today, but he's pretty happy to have one more uncle to hold him. Congratulations on two years well spent in exotic Billings, Montana! We're so proud of you. And Cabella's is only 30 minutes from Provo so you can get the venison you're craving anytime you want. Welcome Back. We can't wait to spend all of next summer with you!

Girl's Weekend in Utah

A few weeks ago my dad took all my brothers and brothers-in-laws (and Taylor) on a rafting trip down the grand canyon. I will let him tell you about the trip in another blog. So instead of sitting around bored with just Ethan and Isaac(actually the Olympics were pretty amazing) , my mom and 2 sisters decided to join me in Utah for a mini girls vacations (minus 2 sisters-in-law who we missed dearly). We went to the zoo, went outlet mall shopping, and then drove down to St. George to vacation in the 107 degree heat. TOASTY! Insane people that we are, we decided to hike around Zion's National Park, which was beautiful, but... hot! Especially with Isaac on my back. Aunt Kelli and Ethan playing baseball on the Wii.
For whatever reason, Isaac loved the backpack carrier (I've even considered buying one and wearing it around the house as I do dishes and vacuum since he loved it so much). He did not however enjoy the hat and we spent much of the time battling over keeping it on.
Too cute to skip the close-up! (I may be biased)

Wading in the cool river water with Grandma Tina.

Apparently my climbing over rocks and sliding on my bum down the mountain side was lulling to Isaac. Note to self- supe up his crib with hydraulics. (He won the hat battle here)
Enough begging and an aunt will always give you a ride down the mountain.

Zion's has tried to cut down on the pollution from cars by banning them in the park. Instead you must ride a bus around which was kind of nice because of the tour commentary. Again you witness my bad parenting as I could care less that Ethan has his head stuck out the window to get a better view.

All in all it was an amazing place to see and we're glad we made the trip. Sorry no pictures of the rest of our time (which was mostly spent in the pool at the hotel).

My First Time Shooting a Gun

Ok, so I know I don't post very often, but I just had to post this one.

I had an absolutely surreal experience Monday and Tuesday in Montana at the most amazing ranch I've ever seen. At dinner, someone brought up the fact that they had an AK-47 semi-automatic assault rifle among their collection of guns. I said that I'd never shot a gun before, so our host, Ryan Miller, suggested we go out shooting the next morning.

I have no idea how anyone holds these things steady after the first shot. Whenever I would squeeze off more than one round at a time, I had no accuracy.

We were shooting at a stump on the opposite side of this huge lake. The trick was to hit directly in front of the stump so that you could see a splash. I had a number of great shots, and a number of not so great ones. My advice, if you have to experience shooting a gun for the first time, an AK-47 is a good pick.

4th of July

Taylor's mom's side of the family held their family reunion in Salt Lake over the 4th of July weekend. Taylor's cousins range in age from 7 to 21. Ethan was in heaven having other little kids staying with us that he could play with. We spent the weekend swimming, watching fireworks, eating lots of amazing food, paintballing (not Ethan or Isaac or me cause I'm a wimp), and visiting the Natural History Museum at Thanksgiving Point. Let me tell you, they could teach the Smithsonian a few things about what a kid friendly museum really is.
First of all there were plenty of displays for the older generation to read and tons of computers for the kids to learn on. It was interesting to see how each age group was attracted to one or the other. (Ethan with Sofia and Isabella)
They had this amazing "erosion table" with running water, sand, and plastic trees and dinosaurs that the kids could dig around in and make rivers and dams. The kids loved it and as I looked around the room at the other parents I noticed that all the moms were sitting on benches watching while all the kids and every single dad was playing in the sand. I guess guys never grow too old for glorified sandboxes. (Ethan with Isabella)
They also had a separate area for digging up dinosaur bones. (Ethan with Julia)
We were also very impressed with the "life size" Tyrannosaurus they made out of balloons. Do these people have too much time on their hands?
This is Taylor's immediate family minus his brother Arty who is working in England (such a shock they don't celebrate July 4th there so he didn't get the day off!)
Left to Right: Taylor, Sarah, Barbara, Mack, Sam(Mack's longtime girlfriend)
Bottom: Ethan, Sonia (grams), Jeff (grandpa), Isaac