A Great Day at the Zoo

We had a great day today at the zoo! It wasn't too hot, there was a slight breeze, and there weren't many people there! I think I'll always wait til September to go :)

I brought our wagon, and it was wonderful.  Gray and Row rode most of the time in it, and had a great time. (And I got a great work-out pulling them up all the hills!!)

Nani and Thatcher

We sat and watched the bulldozer demolish one of the bathrooms for like 20 minutes.  The little boys were fascinated.  It was pretty cool.

Of course we love the elephants!

Obligatory gorilla-measuring :)

Grayson wouldn't go over there, but here are the rest of them

My perfect impression of the gorilla.

Grayson's perfect impression of the gorilla :)

Rowan and Sarah's perfect impressions of the gorilla :)

T riding the wooden horse with Nani

Gray on the horse

Gray really liked the rhinos

Nani's favorite -- the giraffes!!

Gray's favorite -- the tigers. We had to go back to see them twice.  Even though they were in the corner in the shade, and you could barely see them.

Fascinated with the big boa constrictor.

Cute little boys

T's mid-zoo siesta.  I love the foot propped up on the bar. :)

Gray and Row were fascinated by the carousel

So we all took a ride! Gray beamed the whole time! (Last time we went, he wouldn't go near it, so that's progress!)

We tried to get a pic of Nani with all 4 grandkids, and it was quite funny.  Here are the three best ones.

(I let Gray pick out two new animals for his collection -- a rhino and a giraffe -- he was very excited)

(Row decided it was fun to lie down in the fountain ball thingy -- he got drenched!)

What a fun day! We sure love these little kiddos!

Fun at the Zoo!

What a fun day! We started by going to breakfast this morning at Jeremiah's (YUM!) -- where all Grayson wanted to do was go back and forth between the rooms with animal heads in them (elk, buffalo, moose!). Then we headed down to SLC to the Hogle Zoo with my parents and my brother JD. Gray LOVED the zoo last year, and I figured he would be infinitely more excited this year, since he could kind of know what was going on a little better. Buuuut, he pretty much just liked wandering around everywhere. Every once in a while, he'd say "raffe" or "e'phant", etc, and we'd go see that animal. But he'd just glance at the animals and keep going. It was weird! Last year he'd stay at the animal exhibits as long as he could! I just don't know why he wasn't interested in the animals this time -- animals are his favorite thing! Anyway, he DID have fun, and it was a good day :) The highlights for Grayson were the train, the water globe (in the front), the sculpture of the rhino, the playground, the squirrel, and the ducks (of all things)!!! Here are some pics:
The water globe thing:


The squirrel:

Poppa taking his turn carrying the toddler:

Playing at the playground:

My cute boy in his cute monkey backpack/harness:


Ridin' the train:

Walking with Nana and Daddy -- making them swing him every time he said "Ready, set, go!"

The rhino sculpture. He didn't want to find the REAL rhino -- just happy with the sculpture.


Daddy's turn to carry him!

Uncle JD's turn!!! :D fun at the giraffe exhibit.

This is at the leopard exhibit -- it kept stalking back and forth right in front of the glass -- it was pretty cool.

The elephant -- he was tearing open these giant lifesavers and eating them :)

The baby elephant! Too cute!

JD is such a good brother to carry the heavy toddler so much! Thanks, Jade!

(just noticed that I never got a picture with the ducks he loved so much. guess I didn't think they were that special. But Gray stayed with them the longest of all the animal exhibits)
Gray had a great time, we avoided sunburn or heatstroke, and we had a fun day with the family! :) He fell asleep as soon as we got to the freeway, and slept almost the whole way home -- then slept another hour after we got home. And when he woke up, guess what he was going on and on about??? The buffalo and moose we saw at Jeremiah's. Hah! I guess next time I'll skip the drive to Salt Lake and just head over to 12th street!!

Gray at the Zoo!

Grayson, Steve, my parents and I went to Hogle Zoo on Saturday! We had a BLAST! Gray was absolutely fascinated with the animals -- his favorites were the elephants (of course), the giraffes, the crocodiles (he made me go back to them like 20 times - and they weren't even MOVING! How did he even know they were animals?!), the monkeys, and the bears! The poor little guy got something in his eye and/or got bitten by some weird bug right when we got there, so for the first hour or two his eye was red and tearing up, and he had red spots on by his eyes! He had to have been in pain -- but he was such a trouper and was happy the whole time! He also never took a nap -- I thought he might sleep in the stroller, but of course there was way too much going on, plus he didn't spend much time in his stroller -- 4 adoring adults around that were all too happy to hold him and make him happy! :) We rode the train, (which he wasn't sure of - I THINK he liked it), and the carousel twice (didn't like the animal that went up and down, but liked the stationary one). We stayed for like 5 hours, and then he crashed in the car on the way home (after being awake for about 8 hours straight!! I'm such a bad mom!!!) What a fun day! :)


Cool dudes! Gray and his Poppa in their shades!


The black bear -- Gray giggled when he layed down like this -- guess it was funny.

We stayed by the giraffes for a LONG time! He just stared and stared! And one of them came right up close to us and stretched his neck out to eat leaves off the tree with his long tongue! It was so funny!

In awe!

Look at that tongue!! It was so long!

Mine's not as long. But close!

My dad thought the leaves looked tasty, too.


Gray felt inspired by all the leaf-eating and ate the closest thing at hand -- his elephant's ear.

Gray loved the metal tigers -- kept saying "Maow! Maow! Maow!" over and over!

Look how cute these lemurs are! They're snuggling and have their tails wrapped together!! Awwww! Twuuuu wuuuuv!!!

The mandatory drinking-from-the-zoo-fountain picture.

Gray trying to make me let him go get the monkeys.

The monkeys came pretty close to us, too -- guess they thought Gray was one of them :) hahaha I'm so funny.

This monkey was hilarious! It kept swinging upside-down, and all it's bushy fur would puff out around it!

Trying to make me let him go get the elephant!!

He was so excited to see the elephants! Big smiles!

I tried to appease his urge to get the elephants by letting him touch the big elephant statue -- this thing is pretty cool! It makes funny noises and sprays water from it's trunk! Gray thought it was pretty fun.

We got to watch this elephant take a drink from the pool -- it was cool to watch! Oh, and she's pregnant -- 19 months pregnant -- wow! Poor girl! We're gonna have to go back when she has her baby elephant -- I'm sure Gray would love to see it! Me too :)

More watching the elephant -- he didn't take his eyes off it -- he'd crane his neck around everywhere we went!

The rhino! Look at that schnoz!


We stopped by the gift shop on the way out, and Gray picked up this giraffe right away and wouldn't put it down. So his Nana bought it for him :) And then Steve found this fun, soft monkey, gave it to Gray, and then he also wouldn't put that down!!! So his daddy bought it for him, too :) He clutched both of them, and didn't let go of them until he fell asleep in his car seat! And he's carried one or the other around with him everywhere ever since! Thanks Nana and Steve-o! :) He sure likes em!!!

All in all, a very, very fun day! We'll have to go back soon! Don't ya just love the zoo?!!