The Zoo

Over spring break we wanted to go to the zoo.  When we got there we realized it was going to cost almost as much to get our family in one time as it would to buy a membership we decided we may as well get the membership.  We figured if we have the membership we should make it worth it but it really hasn't been hard.  They had a few times in the summer where there were member only hours.  It was so nice we practically had the zoo to ourselves.

The Saturday after school started the had the sunrise safari, where the zoo opened an hour and a half earlier for zoo members.  I don't think that I have ever seen the animals so active, it was tons of fun.

They had a bunch of lego displays up that Addie especially thought were really cool.  They all got to take their turn being the orangutan.

Plus, all those statues that are all over but are usually so swarmed with kids we never let our kids climb on them, were pretty much left alone.  Surprisingly few kids were there at all, mostly just couples.

This has been our third zoo trip thus far and it's been tons of fun.  We stayed a little longer this time since Addie really wanted to watch the bird show, right after that though it was getting pretty crowded so we headed home.

Thanksgiving Point Farm

Liam has been begging to go to a farm.  Every time we pass horses he says, "Look! It's a horse, can I ride on it?"  So we finally made it to Thanksgiving point where he could actually ride a horse.  We went the week school started so Addie was in school but Demzi and Liam hadn't started yet.  

Tad loves animals!  When we first walked in there is this cow and he wouldn't leave it alone.  He sat by it and would stand up and pat it, all while yelling "whoa!"

Funny that when we asked the lady if the kids could sit on the cow Tad wanted nothing to do with it at that point but the other kids did.

We decided to do the horse ride pretty early on since there wasn't a line.

Demzi was super excited and didn't even ask me to walk by her why she rode.  Here she was showing me how brave she was because she wasn't even holding on anymore.

Liam would not go with the first group because as soon as I went to set him on there he got really scared.  After watching Demzi go around he decided that maybe he would try it if I walked right by him.  I sat him up, took a picture and then asked if he still wanted me to walk by him and he said, "No! I want you to GET ME OFF"  So no horse ride for Liam.

On the plus side after watching everyone else ride a horse, Tad wanted his turn.  So he just used Liam's ticket.

The kids wanted to feed these goats so they started scooping up the corn off the ground to be able to feed to them.  Demzi was sad that none of the goats wanted to eat out of her hand but then I watched her and every time they would come up to her she would pull her hand back and scream a little.

The kids loved playing in these little houses while they waited for the hay ride.

Lastly we did the hayride so we could still get home in time for lunch and naps.

I hadn't actually been to Thanksgiving Point Farm before this, which seems silly since it is so close to me, but the kids had tons of fun.  Liam keeps telling me if we went back he thinks he'd even be brave enough to ride the horse this time.

Back to School

I feel like we have had a very fun summer.  We've gone on a couple of vacations and we didn't go very many days without something planned that would get us out of the house.  That being said I think we were all ready to get back onto a good schedule/routine.  This year my three school goers all started on different days, in the order of their start dates....

Addie 2nd grade.  Addie really likes her teacher so far and even got somebody that is in her primary class with her so she was excited, even though her being an early bird makes for early mornings.

 Liam preschool.  I love how excited he is in this picture, he's so excited to be as big as everyone else.

 Demzi kindergarten.  She has seriously been looking forward to this day since Addie went to kindergarten two years ago and she sat at the bus stop and cried.  It completely wore her out more than she expected.  She came home from her first day and said school made her tired, took herself to bed and took a three hour nap.

Manila Creek Park

My kids had so much fun at Liberty Park they were begging to go again the next week.  I was all set to do it too, but then Alicia heard about this park in Pleasant Grove which was so much closer.  It turned out to be tons of fun and we got there early enough it wasn't busy at all.

 This picture makes you think Addie wasn't having fun but it's just because every time she saw me she had to pull this face.  She was a little grumpy with me when we got there so she was just showing me she wasn't over it yet.

 Liam found this hole to play in.  I had forgotten all about it but as soon as he saw this picture he said, "Oh you took a picture of my hot tub."  He spent most of the time digging this down deeper and then filling it up with water.

 Demzi was loving chasing the ducks.  I don't know what she was going to do if she caught one but she followed them around for a while.

 Tad was content to sit at a safe distance from the water for a while and just play in sand.  It wasn't until we were about to go that he decided he liked this water.

I thought this would be a fun morning trip, get back for naps but I think that my kids would have spent the whole day there.