A Trip to the Zoo

Monday we were so excited because Melinda invited us to go to the zoo! She has a membership and guest passes, which would get me and the boys in for FREE. How cool is that? At first we thought we weren't going to be able to make it because Sara might not have been feeling well, but she woke up fine. My boys were ecstatic and we headed to Salt Lake.

The first thing that we HAD to do was ride on the zoo train. Of course my boys love trains, and so does Sara. Here are the kiddos waiting for their turn to ride the train.

Here is my most fabulous friend Melinda and her two cute girls getting ready to ride the train.

It was so nice to go to the zoo with friends! Not only did the kids have more fun, so did the mommies. Plus then there was someone to take pictures of the moms with their kids at the zoo-- fabulous! Here is a shot that Melinda took of the boys and I as we waited for the train to get moving.

Melinda was kind enough to try to take a picture of us as we got off the train, but my kids would not look at her and people were trying to run over Melinda and her girls. What a bunch of sillies.

After the train we had to go check out the big water ball in the middle of the courtyard. The kids think it is fun to see if they can get it rolling. Besides, who doesn't want to get their hands wet?

Then we headed off to check out the animals. We were especially excited to see the elephants and baby Zuri. Jacob remembered the big elephant statue from our last visit and was excited to check that out as well. I actually managed to get a cute picture of the boys sitting on the elephant's trunk:

Jacob thinks the elephant statue is really cool, and he likes the funny noises that it makes. Ephraim on the other hand told me it was "carys", which is his way of saying "scary". Good thing he is brave enough to let me sit him on there.

We didn't see baby Zuri when we first went to see the elephants, but we did on our way out of the zoo. She is such a cutie! We can't wait to go see her again sometime.

One other thing that Jacob loved at the zoo was the peacocks. We had one spread out his tail right when we were watching him, which Jacob thought was awe-inspiring.

Very pretty, don't you think?

We had a great time walking around looking at the animals at the zoo. We enjoyed seeing the monkeys, apes, camels, penguins and of course the tigers! Here I am with the boys at the tiger statue... of course you never can get both boys looking at the camera at the same time!

Then we went to see my favorites, which are the giraffes. Ephraim thought they were pretty neat too. He kept saying "Wow! 'raffe!" when we stopped for a minute for a bit to eat near the giraffe house. We also got to see a giraffe stick out his long tongue to eat the new leaves on a nearby tree.

After the giraffes we went to our last stop, which was the carousel. I think the carousel is so gorgeous and fun. My boys really love it too. Ephraim wasn't really sure at first what we were doing.

But he loved it as soon as the carousel started moving. Jacob decided that he wanted to ride on a zebra, so I put both of the boys on one. Jacob just loved riding on the carousel!

As a matter of fact, I nearly could not get him OFF! He would not let go of the pole and I had to literally pry him off! He was so upset that he cried- poor boy.

Good thing it was nearly time to go home. Jacob had been a real trooper and had walked the entire time. So I told him that he could ride for a minute. Of course Ephraim was not really cool with that decision. So I ended up being supermommy.

Next time I think I will just avoid the whole problem by bringing our double stroller... now that I know it will fit in the back of the van with Melinda's double!

The boys and I had a wonderful, fabulous, awesome time at the zoo! We were so happy that Melinda asked us to go with her. Isn't she just the bestest friend ever? We can't wait to go again sometime soon!