Pioneer Day, Etc.

This is a photo from our second bike ride along the Jordan River Parkway. The left tire on the bike trailer went flat but luckily I was still able to push it with Toby strapped closer to the right tire.
Yeah, we made it! It was a great 25 mile bike ride!

Wave the flag, Toby.

At Oquirrh Lake in Daybreak. Toby swung on the swing all by himself!

Peekaboo! Toby wants to come in after an afternoon of playing in the pool.

Pioneer Day fireworks!

This is Greg holding a fountain firework!! I'm glad he didn't get burned!

This firework is, like 6 feet long! We hooked it to a ladder and it was impressive!

Toby enjoying a sparkler. Expecto Patronum!

Guitar Fun at the Platts

The above video is short, the video below is longer. But they're essentially the same; guitar fun at the Platts.

Kiddie Pool Fun-

Kiddie pools are a good cheap way for water fun!

Herriman Days

For Herriman Days the Herriman City Choir (of which Dad, Julie, and I are a part) performed with the Herriman City Orchestra. We performed "Amazing Grace" and "Battle Hymn of the Republic".

Herriman Fair

I didn't think Toby would be able to ride by himself!

At first, Toby was scared of the little train ride. But I knew he would like it so I rode with him the first time.

The second time he had a blast! He didn't want to get off!

Living Aquarium-

The Living Aquarium has dropped their prices a bit from when they used to be at the Gateway. Which made it just affordable enough to go see with Linda, Julie, Ben, Josslyn, Kathryn, Hannah, and Sarah today.

Toby was enjoying all the fish tanks!

There's a frog in the above picture. Can you see it?

There was a big pond where everyone could pet the stingrays (I didn't get a photo of it - too dark) and even though Toby wasn't able to reach any of them, he had a blast trying and playing in the water.

The above fish is a piranha!

By the time we were nearing the end, Toby had had enough. He slept in the car on the way home. Greg wasn't able to come this time, but I'm hoping we can go again as a family.

25 Mile- Actually 20 Mile Bike Ride...

We went on the best bike ride today! We didn't have to fight road traffic (mostly) or huge inclines, or dirt. We rode along the Jordan River Parkway and we had planned to go for 25 miles.

Greg's friend, Ben Holling came and he and Greg were able to carry on a conversation without running out of breath.

We went under freeways and roads, and we crossed the Jordan River several times on wooden bridges.

The river was running high and there were a few places where the water level was almost on the trail! (this isn't the trail, it's a kayak launch just off the trail, but you can see that the river is running really high)

It was so beautiful along the trail!

We were nearing 20 miles (we rode till 12.5 miles and turned around and headed back the way we came) when Greg noticed he didn't have control in his front wheel. Turns out he had a pricker in his tire, and we didn't think to bring a spare tube. So we had Ben bike the rest of the way and we walked to the nearest road and waited for him to pick us up.

So actually our 25 mile bike ride turned into 19.42 miles instead, with us walking a half mile more. We could have finished easily; we didn't feel tired at all!

It was an amazing ride! We'll definitely go again.

Dad's New Bike

Thanks to all who contributed! Dad was talking a Toys-R-Us bike until I handed him the cash, then they went to a real bike store and got a really nice Cannondale. Ironically, Dad's out of pocket was higher than it would have been if we hadn't contributed, but from what I can ascertain, he basically fell in love with this one. They looked at some others which would have brought the cost down quite a bit, but this was what he liked.

It's a 29er--that is, it's a hybrid road/mountain bike with 29 inch diameter wheels. It has a mountain frame with thinner wheels, but they're not quite as thin as a road bike. It has rapid-fire gear shifting, instead of levers, with 24 gears (3x8). It has linear pull brakes (V-brakes) instead of the clamp style you find on road bikes. It doesn't have shocks, as this bike is designed for road and improved trail riding, but he had them install a seat post suspension, which makes for a smoother ride on Utah's less-than-smooth roads. He also had them install a bike computer which has an odometer, 2 trip distances, clock, elapsed time, current speed, max speed, and average speed.

Here are some photos from the first few minutes after he got it home.

Consider it a weapon to fight the evil pizza (as seen in his hand) ;)

More at McDonald's

Eating a hamburger all by himself! And Toby usually doesn't like meat!
Ick! Pickles!

I Might Regret Teaching Toby This-