4th of July, Alb Style

We had a very different 4th of July this year. We were in Albuquerque and they do neighborhood parades, without floats that the kids ride their bikes in (similar to our 24th parades) instead of a community parade. We also drove 10 hours home afterward. The boys behaved admirably the entire way and we hit I-15 at 10:00 pm....just in time for fireworks show galore all the way up the wasatch front. We stopped on the off-ramp for the grand finale at Thanksgiving Point. IT.WAS.AWESOME! The boys thought we were the best parents ever.

Albuquerque Zoo

This was a great zoo, with the favorites being the polar bear and the sea lions. It was so hot, so it was nice that it was short, but great collection of bigger animals.

Albuquerque Wedding

PBTB's cousin Ellen was married over the holiday weekend (July 2) and we drove to Albuquerque for a visit and to join in the festivities. The boys are getting significantly better to travel with, just in time for us to have another baby ;) Only 2 months left!!!! PS, please excuse the bombarding of photos...the boys looked so handsome.

Tracy Aviary & Kenecott Copper

We invited PBTB's parents to spend the day with us in June and go to the Tracy Aviary and Kenecott Copper after swimming lessons. The aviary was a guaranteed hit with our bird loving boys and I was much more impressed with the copper mine than I thought I would be. Fun day! (I'll spare you the million pictures I took of the back of my kids' heads, happens every time) Love how they pulled the identical goofy face.
"WARNING DO NOT CLIMB ON RAILING" Had to laugh at this pic....as so goes life with 2 boys.

Swimming Lessons

I am slightly paranoid when it comes to the water, so I wanted to take the boys to some swimming lessons that would give me a bit of peace of mind, if only a fraction. They each had 10 (15 minute) lessons. They went 3 times a week, starting at the end of May. They both learned to float on their back, dive for objects under water, dive from the edge (from sitting), swim with their head under water, and find the edge and pull themselves up out of the pool. "W" also learned the basics of swimming on his back. All done with assistance (except floating and finding the edge and pulling themselves out), but amazing, nonetheless. ET cried the entire 15 minutes until lesson 7, but he was so good at obeying all requests and always told his instructors 'thank you' when he finished. He really learned alot and now LOVES the water. "W" loved every minute of every lesson. "W"(above) and ET (below) at their first lesson."W" practicing at home.

Gateway Chalk Arts Festival

While we were taking Logan's weekly package to him, we decided to stop by the Chalk Art Festival (June 18). The boys got to color the sidewalk themselves and I was so surprised when we stopped at the spray park. "W" was the hesitant one and ET could not get enough, what the heck!? Are they swapping roles? They both had a blast, even though they were freezing. ET would take off on a dead run at one of us for a huge hug and kiss every time one of the sprayers would go off.
On a side note..."W" gave his first talk in primary the next day, Father's Day. I let him write it himself since he has a lot to say on the subject of Father's. It was the BEST talk. (fail! on pics)