A trip to the park after the dentist.

We visited the dentist Saturday morning.  No one had any cavities!  After, we stopped by Sugarhouse Park and visited with my Sister Karen.  Skyler finagled his way into going to her house after the park visit and Karen was gracious enough to oblige.  She even had to drive him all the way back out to our place after.

2 week old new playground!  Practicing his Ninja skills.

Another trip around.

Or "Summer Solstice Sunset" out at the Great Salt Lake.

My Mom joined us this year.  :)

Sinking.

Taking it all in.

We walked out to the entrance of the marina.  This will be our new viewing spot from now on!

Panoramic.

Going down.

Down!

Incredible cloud lighting!

Artemis joined us with her Mom after a bit.

Both of them enjoying the view.  Artemis proclaimed "I'm wearing makeup Skyler!"  :)

Zipline!

Since we had to pick Mommy up from work all of last week (due to some transmission warranty work on her car), we stopped at Loadstone Park one evening to play.  Skyler got to ride the zipline all by himself!

He patiently waited in line and got on all by himself.  :)

FrontRunner Train!!

We drove over to Murray on Monday so Skyler could see some trains.  Not a single freight train, but we saw 3 FrontRunner commuter trains in 45 minutes!

Southbound-a-comin'!

15 minutes later, a Northbound.  Covering his ears in case there's a horn.

It was moving!  The station is North of here and it was still going at least 65 mph!

One can feel the wind being pushed ahead of the locomotive as it approaches.  Unbelievable!

Another Southbound.  Still plugging his ears.

Cab car getting ready to cross 5900 South.  No horns were sounded the entire time we were there.  :)

Cycle the City.

Last Saturday, we loaded up bikes and headed to the Redwood Nature Center to ride the Jordan River Parkway.  My plan was 5 miles out, 5 miles back, making a total of 10 miles.  Skyler had such a great time we ended up riding 13 miles!

Here they come!

It was a kayak/canoe day on the River Jordan.

He insisted on being in the middle.

We did!

On the new North Temple bridge.  He now has his own kit.  Tiny bike shorts make his tiny butt look even tinier!

Trespassing 101.

Train!

Right on schedule!

Dumbass.

Playground stop on the way back South.

SLC fire in their ladder truck taking photos of the kayakers on the river.  Radius Engineering (where I first met Altair)  to the left of the picture.

Ninja Warrior!

We signed Skyler up for a month of "ninja warrior" classes at the Ninja Warehouse in Salt Lake City. We enjoy watching "American Ninja Warrior" during the Summer months and Skyler was thrilled to be able to do it in real life!

Swinging on the rings.

Getting ready to fall backwards onto the mat.

Obstacle  course.

Balance ladder.

More rings.

More obstacle course.

Getting help falling backwards onto the mat.  No fear!

BMX!

I re-geared the BMX bike I got Skyler just after he was born.  It's not a super high quality bike, but the price was right when I worked for the Deere dealer.  :)  Not expecting him to like it or even be interested in it,  I was quickly proven wrong!  He loves riding it back and forth on the sidewalk out front!  We even took it out back on the pump track the other night and he rode it a bit.  I did too!  It's a huge workout for one's legs!  Hmm,  maybe I need a BMX bike now...  :)

25 tooth front chainring instead of the 44 tooth.  12 tooth rear freewheel instead of the 18 tooth.  Much easier to pedal now!

Turning it around.  (He later started just riding it to turn).

Cruising along.  (I realize he didn't have a helmet on, I didn't either 35 years ago.  I made him wear one after the shakedown ride)

Summer engineering project.

Our first day of Summer break we started building a popsicle stick bridge.  Turns out, this is a middle school project, not 3rd grade like I was initially thinking!

Testing using one brick.

Testing using 3 bricks!  I wanted to put more on but he was afraid it would break.  It could have easily taken another 3 bricks.  Sadly, we'll never know now, he decided to sit on it when my Sister stopped by on Sunday.  😡

Map work.

Skyler has requested a daily contract during summer break.  One of his works last week was to build a map using sand or play doh.  We don't have time to mess around with those small mediums!  He went out to the garden and dug around and built his map in the ground!  Complete with water!

A lake, a river, and a mountain!  He loves geography!

Happy Father's Day, Dad!

Not only has my Dad been such and awesome teacher to me, he now is passing on all of his knowledge to Skyler.  My Dad has been an engineer, a mechanic, a pilot, a woodworker, a cyclist, an electrician, a fellow Formula 1 enthusist, my go to for most house repair and advice, and now a caretaker for my Mom who is currently battling (and beating) pancreatic cancer.

I know it isn't easy for him, but he's doing an amazing job coping with my Mother's mood swings and numerous appointments (and trips to pharmacy riding public transit because it's a challenge).  Thanks for everything Dad, and thanks for taking care of Mom.  I love you.

The latest fun at the G & G's, chess with Grandpa!  How many other 1st grade kids learned chess this  year?!

Swimming; leveled up!

Skyler moved up a level in swim class on Tuesday!

Dive!

Complete with flippers.

Again.

Great form!

New ribbon to show he leveled up.  :)

Gold!

Skyler and I went panning for gold Tuesday of this week!  We headed up to Butterfield Canyon and started in the little stream that runs down.  We found all kind of stuff, seashells, colored rocks, (a dead rabbit(!)) but no real gold.  He found some pyrite and to him, it was gold!

Ready with pan!

First pan.  Picking out some larger rocks.

New rubber irrigation boots!

This became the new fascination, walking up and down the stream instead of panning for gold.