Yesterday Wendy and I were planning to take the kids to the new water park next to Wendy's house but the weather didn't look very promising. So, we got our friend Nicola to go to Liberty Park with us to play in the water there instead. It was free and sounded like fun.
I decided to go a little early and let the kids have a picnic before the others met up with us. Kaylee, Gabby, and I went to Quizno's to grab some sandwiches. While I was waiting for them to finish making our sandwiches I filled our drinks and put the lids on them. I went to reach for a straw and I knocked my drink over and it spilled everywhere. Before I could even respond there was a firefighter that had been eating lunch that jumped up and asked the guy at the counter for a cloth to clean it up. He was so nice and helpful and cleaned up the whole mess and helped me with organizing my drinks. Kaylee asked him if he was a Police officer and he told her he was a firefighter and Kaylee said "You're really good at saving people." He gave the kids each a junior firefighter sticker. The other firefighters he was with offered to help me out to my car, and held the door open for me. I was a little embarrassed but extremely thankful for all the help and the amazing helpful West Valley City Firefighters.
After my lovely Quizno's visit we headed to Liberty Park and as soon as I pulled into the park I saw a playground with a splash pad. So, I found a place to park and we set out the girls towels under a tree to use as a picnic blanket.


My kids hadn't eaten much when Wendy and Nicola got there. I felt bad that they had to sit and wait for my kids to eat before we could do anything. We headed over to the water but it was kind of getting windy so the kids weren't so sure about playing in the water. The splash pad was WIMPY!!! It was tiny and had basically nothing. But, it was free so...it worked. It was right next to the playground and the kids had fun on the playground.

After a few minutes we decided to go find the rides and stuff at the south end of the park. On our way to the rides we found what we had been looking for all along...the REAL water play area. It wasn't wimpy and lame...it was cool and fun (and dirty with leaves and stuff...oh well). We found the Seven Canyons Water Fountain! It is a fountain that represents the 7 canyons throughout the Salt Lake Valley and the rivers in the canyons that all flow into the Great Salt Lake. So, each canyon had a little stream that represented the river and then there was a big wading pool that was the Great Salt Lake.

All the kids together at the "Red Butte" fountain area


Sitting in a fountain in the "Big Cottonwood" fountain area


A waterfall fountain in the "Little Cottonwood" canyon fountain area. That was the coolest area of the fountain.
After a while we convinced the kids to get out of the fountains with words like "Ice Cream" and "Carousel". The sky was looking questionable all day, but as the kids were eating ice cream the wind was picking up and the sky was looking grey and the storm was starting to move in. After the kids were done we let them go on the carousel before heading out to avoid getting caught in the storm. It was pretty windy but it never really rained.




On our way home from the park the kids kept asking if we could go back to the park as soon as the storm was over. After I told them that no matter how much they kept asking we weren't going back after the storm, we would go back another day. So, then Gabby said "Well, then, can we go to the Mall?" I just busted up laughing and talked to her about the mall for a minute. Yes, my 4 year old loves going shopping at the mall.