Weight Loss Wednesday

I'm happy to report nary a drop of Coke has passed my lips since we last spoke.  Except for Diet Coke, which I've had a couple of times, but not everyday and not in the quantities I was drinking the hard stuff. 

My stomach feels a lot better without all the soda.  Which shouldn't be such a surprise, really.  I feel better about myself as well that I don't have to be dependent on something.  Right now I'm focusing on changing my eating habits.  I haven't gotten on the scale as I don't want to be discouraged by a number.  What's important is for me to make permanent changes in the way that I eat. 

It's so hot outside I wouldn't be surprised if I lost weight just from sweating.  Yesterday Ava wanted to go to a nearby park.  It's only a few blocks away.  But it was 2:30 and the temperatures were soaring.  We put Brielle in the stroller and we walked to the park.  We spent about ten minutes there before Ava wanted to go home because she was too hot and thirsty.  I can't wait for Fall. 

I don't really have much else to say. 

Oh, except to say that Whole Foods smells like a granola's armpit.  I don't know what that's about, but every time I walk into that place the freaky nutty smell is permeating every inch of that place.  It's interesting, to say the least. 

Salt Lake City Parks - Canyon Rim Park Review

I was talking to a friend on the phone the other day bemoaning my boredom with the local parks we go to almost every day.  I wished there was a place I could go to that would list the different parks in the valley and have pics of what they look like.  There is a list on SLC Parks and Rec. website, but it isn't very descriptive and has no pictures.  So, I thought I'd take it upon myself to go to the different parks in the area and review them.  Take pictures and what not...just for the next person with bored kids looking for a new place to play.  Without further ado...

Canyon Rim Park is located at 3100 East Grace Street  Salt Lake City, UT 84109.  It's roughly 3100 East and 3100 South.  The park is just south of an LDS Ward church house and in a residential neighborhood in East Milcreek.  There are two playground areas.  One on the west side :

It doesn't look like much, I admit.  But my six year old loves the dome bars and spent most of her time there.  My 19 month old loved going up the old fashioned slide's steep steps.  So dangerous.  Reminds me of my childhood where an hour at the park was simply trying to survive the scorching metal of the slide and the merry-go-round of death.  Times were rough, folks.  Of course my husband who grew up in the sprawling metropolis of Tremonton, UT quipped that I couldn't call a collection of tractor tire wheels an actual "playground" in my small hometown.  Whatever. 

Ah, there they are now...cheeser and squint eye.  I love those girls. 

Old school shaded pavilion.  

Behind the playground area is an amphitheater.  Made me long for girls camp and skits gone by.  In fact a youth group was there while my girls were playing.  The young men had play swords and were dueling.  I never understood teenage boys when I myself was a teenager, and sitting there watching them pretend to behead one another with the two swords I realized I still don't understand them.  Boys.  

I should also mention there is a drinking fountain and bathrooms on the west side and a few picnic tables and benches.  All in the all the west side of the park was shady and pretty, but the equipment was run down.  

As you walk eastward there is an expansive rolling knoll.  I love that word...knoll.  It sounds prettier than a big bunch of grass.  A sidewalk winds around the area and seems like a fun place for a kid to ride a bike or scooter.  

The east side of the park also had a pavilion, bathrooms and a drinking fountain.  The playground wasn't as shady, but the equipment was newer.  

There is a total of five slides, and four swings with just one of the swings made for a toddler.  

We would have played on these critter bouncing things but they were blazing hot.  We were there in the middle of the day.  Maybe in the morning or evenings they are cooler.  My girls were not as interested in playing on this playground as the west side, which perplexed me.  Maybe they were too hot, or too tired or both.  

                                                   There is also a softball diamond.

Here I decided to do what I used to do as a teen and young adult when I went to a park - lie beneath a tree and daydream.

Uh-oh.  What have we hear? (sidenote: her mouth reminds me of Luke Skywalker in The Empire Strikes Back right after Darth cuts off his arm and he is clinging to the pole declaring he will never join the dark side.  Seriously, first thought that popped into my head when I looked at this picture.  Go and watch that part.  You'll see.  It's uncanny.)

 

Oh no.  How did these two pop into my daydream.  I was thinking about if I were five years younger and single and I just happened to bump into Ryan Lochte.  I'm sure he'd fall in love with me instantaneously.  He could teach me how to swim...

 

Yeah, but then I wouldn't be the mother of this girl, and that would be a crying shame because she makes me laugh.  Daydreams are overrated anyway.  

From there we headed north past the softball diamond.  Breathtaking isn't it?  I am pretty obsessed with these mountains. 

 

Particularly Mt. Olympus which is the peak to the far right.  I've driven up in the neighborhood just below it and the views are gorgeous.  And not cheap.

There is a pretty wooded area on the north boundary of the park.  I think in the spring time there is probably a stream that runs through here from what I saw.  

Here Ava casually told me, "I'm pretty into nature, mom."  I didn't know if this meant I should expect hairy armpits and legs in her future, but I told her that was great and I was too.  You can draw your own conclusions about my own armpits and legs.  

A tree in a gully leading back to the west side.  I blame my mother who took it upon herself to encourage Ava to start climbing trees.

She climbed...

and climbed...

and climbed...

and climbed!  

That's as high as she got.  She made it most of the way down and then said rather calmly, "Well, mom, we either call the firemen or you're going to have to climb up here and get me."

No firemen were called.  I think we enjoyed the tree climbing and walking through the grove of trees the most.  What I appreciated about this park was it wasn't swarming with hoards of people, like say Liberty Park or Sugar House Park where I sometimes feel like I'm in a page out of Where's Waldo and I'm scanning the throngs of moving bodies for my baby girl.  But it also wasn't so deserted that you felt like you might be accosted by a highwayman up to no good.