A Trip to the Hogle Zoo

We planned to have an extra day in Utah to do something fun, but we didn't have it planned out,   because this trip was about relaxing and having fun, not about always being scheduled.

After a nice sleeping in morning we headed to the Hogle Zoo. I came here once as a child with the Stoker cousins. I don't remember alot about the zoo except a picture taken at an animal shaped drinking fountain and a picture of all the cousins in front of an animal exhibit.

The kids needs no encouragement to test out the animal drinking fountains. Ammon & Corrine wanted their pictures taken at the two we saw.

This sweet little elephant just celebrated it's 3rd birthday just like Rebecca! It was so cute to watch.

The kids needed to try out every thing we came to. We tested out the Bald Eagles nest, the gorilla statue and the Polar Bear statues which were nice and cool because of cold water being pumped through them. Such a great idea!

Corrine and Ammon were very much enjoying messing around with the polar bears. In every picture Ammon is smiling and has his fingers up the bear nose. He was "picking it's nose". Corrine was pretending that another of the bears was biting her hand. Those two were totally hamming it up for the camera! Simeon & Rebecca had no idea what those 2 were up to and sat there smiling nicely the whole time.

The polar bear became super active right as we walked up to see him. He had his routine that he did over 2 dozen times in a row and we had the front row seat. The bear would swim right up to the glass and come up right on the glass, then push off and swim away. He did it over and over. It was such a neat thing to watch.

When we got to the bear exhibit, the zoo keepers were in putting food around for them. We stuck around so we could see the bears eating their lunch. One of the bears LOVED bananas. He would unpeel the banana and just eat the inside. The bears were super active and super fun to watch. One go onto of there shade shelter, then we turned around and 2 of them were up there. It's so fun to go to the zoo when the animals are moving around!

Park City and Lake Jordanelle

Debbie and Paul were staying up in Park City at their condo the week that we were planning to stay with them, so they invited us to come stay with them there. Brea and her girls were there, so the kids were more then excited to go stay there.
When we got there Tuesday evening we swam then had dinner. The kids were having such a great time playing that bedtime wasn't until around 11pm. Corrine got girl cousin sleepover with Brooklyn and Aleigha!

Corrine and Aleigha instantly reconnected after playing together in February.

Corrine is about 8 months older.

The next day they were planning to go to Lake Jordanelle to paddle board and kayak and invited us to come along. The kids LOVED it. The kids had such a great time paddling around the lake and exploring "Treasure Island", which after exploring it they changed the name to "Bird Poop Island!"
There was a group of kids in a junior sailboat class that came in and out of the water by use. Their sailboats were so cute and so fast!
The group next to us had alot of young kids. They had a boat that would take some kids and parents out on to intertube. At one point there were 12 little kids under 8, 5 moms and 1 dad. The kids started getting restless, so the dad started making sand castles with them. Then he let them put wet sane all in his hair. Next thing we knew he was covered head to toe in wet sand. You could see his eyes and nothing else. What a dad!

This is my favorite picture of the day. Utah and it's mountains and lakes are beautiful. I love the peacefulness of the mountains, the amazing clouds and the boys in the kayak. I would love to do this more often!

Corrine and Aleigha got caught out in the lake with the wind blowing them out farther, so mom went to the rescue with Rebecca in tow. On the very long, hard way back in Rebecca fell asleep until the paddle bonked her a few times!
We had such a great time at the lake. Today left the kids and mom wanting to get our own paddle boards and kayaks to use at home!
Back at the condo we swam some more then had dinner before heading down the mountain to Debbie & Paul's house.

On our way to California

Today we took off to California. We decided to take things slow and have some fun along the route to Nani & Papa's house.
Our 1st stop in Lexington Nebraska was right up the alley for Ammon.  He LOVES military vehicles and was super excited to climb aboard the different vehicles and helicopters at the museum. Only one small room at the museum was air conditioned and it was over 100 degrees in the other rooms and outside so we didn't last very long.

Most of the vehicles are for looking at only, but a few you can climb into. We all had fun checking out this Armored Personal Carrier. The kids all took turns looking out from the cockpit and crawling through the inside.

 

Ammon checking out some of the missiles.

This helicopter was in pretty rough shape, but was still fun to explore.

  All the vehicles have been found in Nebraska and most of them can be started.

Our 2nd stop was at the Lincoln Statue in Wyoming. Rebecca has had an obsession with pennies lately. She'll find one and hold it for hours. She can play with it safely tucked in her hand. This afternoon she was doing just that with a penny she had found in the van. She was excited to show us that the face on her penny matched the face on the statue.

The boys decided to test out their toughest faces with the Wanted sign.

Fun at City Park

After spending a long day trying to pack 2 kids for camp with little success (not sure why this was such a struggle today)  we needed a break. So we grabbed a bag of bread and headed to City Park to feed the ducks.  The ducks were more then happy to have 4 kids with fresh bread to gather around. Ammon got his finger a bit close to the ducks a few times and got a few nips on his fingers! 

After our bread ran out (way too quickly of course) we went to the playground to burn off some energy. It was pretty hot, so we didn't last very long.

2nd round of City Park this week.

Simeon & Corrine are both at camp, so Ammon, Rebecca and I headed back to City Park to ride the rides. The #1 ride they wanted was the train. Luckily for us it was 1 of 2 rides open today. It's been so hot that some of the rides that don't have a covering on them are too hot and could burn them.

Ammon looking so cool on the train. He decided after this outing that sunglasses are definitely for him. He got the sensitivity to light from mom and these made the sun much easier to handle.

I was grateful for these small non-moving horses that Rebecca was so excited to ride on. Since she was stationary I got to watch, rather then ride, which saved me some dizziness.

Round 3 of City Park

I bought a really great priced swim punch pass for the pool last week, so the 3 of us headed for the pool. Normally is costs $4.25 a person to swim during the day ($2 from 5-8 pm), but with our pass we paid $3.90 for the 3 of us to get in!!

We met some friends there after lunch and swam with them for a couple of hours. After they left, we got a stamp on hands and left to get dinner. We had a McDonald's picnic outside the pool then headed in for a few more hours of swimming. We ended the day playing on the playground and exploring the old prairie homes at the park.

Swipper swipped my cupcakes!

Swiper the Fox took my cupcakes!! I had to find them with my friends. We hunted for stars and danced to the Dora song with noisy maracas (that mom forgot to send home with my friends, so I have lots of them to make noise with!)  Then we put together the puzzle to go over puzzle bridge. We went through a tunnel and we walked on the lily pads through crocodile lake. When we went back up to my picnic table the cupcakes and Swiper were there. We told him "Swiper, No swipping," and he left them alone for us to eat.

We had lunch with my friends, then we went outside to play. We ate our cupcakes outside. The cupcakes we're really good!!

I got to open presents from my friends. I got a playdoh cake maker, a Dora phone, A princess pillowcase and a Tinkerbell play set.

When my friends went home we sent them with a Dora backpack with some goodies in them. It was a fun party!!

Backpack Goodie Bags

Oh No, Swipper took my cupcakes!

Hunting for Stars

Puzzle Bridge

Crocodile Lake

The tunnel

Make a Wish Birthday Girl and blow and the candle out.

My friends and I eating our cupcakes.

Kenzy, Nolan, Jordan, Me, Kensley, Eliza, Claire and Grant.

Map for us to follow.

Little Miss 4th of July

Today we got to celebrate 2 birthdays! Our countries and Rebecca's. Rebecca has been counting down to her birthday for weeks and today was the day she turned 3!!

It was kind of sad putting her to bed lastnight because we knew it was the last time we'd ever put a 2 year child of ours to bed again!

This morning she woke up and crawled into bed with us. I love it when she cuddles with us in the morning!


When we convinced dad to get up (at 7:30) we headed into the kitchen to see her presents and decorations. I usually don't buy very many themed birthday items, but I did get her a Dora birthday banner and plates. Next week she's having a Dora Birthday adventure with her friends to get the cupcakes back from Swipper.

The look of pure joy on her face when she walked into the dinning room was so sweet!

Each of the kids gave her a present. Ammon was so excited to give her 2 heart shaped bubble necklaces. Corrine gave her a set of Birthday cake Duplos. Simeon gave her a Brave dress up doll. (Between her and Corrine we have most of the princesses like this.) Mom & Dad gave her a wagon for her dolls.

For breakfast we had pancakes, but not just any old white pancakes. We made red and blue pancake mix and had some fun. We made 3's, flags, stars, letters and some other fun shapes. I was surprised how easy they were to make! We topped them with strawberries, blueberries and whipcream. Ammon LOVES whip cream and can eat a plateful of it for a sweet treat, so his plate was more whipcream then anything else!
 
It's been so hot and humid that we didn't do a whole lot today. We stayed home and played until late in the afternoon when Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Justin and cousins Jonas and Ian came over.


We ate some yummy food, played on the slip-n-slide and sprinklers out back, then opened presents ate sprinkle cupcakes and played some more.
   
We finished the night off going downtown to watch the fireworks. We always go on a parking ramp and watch them from the van. We got there only 10 minutes before they started (they started 15 mins early for some reason) and were able to get a great spot. We ate some snacks drank some fresh lemonade and enjoyed the show.


 
The fireworks lasted half hour and were great! Within 5 minutes of them being over and driving home Rebecca was sound asleep. A sign that she had a great (and tiring) birthday.

We love you sweet Rebecca Lucy. We are so grateful to have you in our family!