Un-birthday/Tea Party at the Zoo

This past Saturday, the zoo had a special unbirthday party.  Those who had memberships, were able to get tickets to attend a special tea party with Alice and the Mad Hatter from Alice in Wonderland.  The kids loved it...especially Tali.  We had so much fun!  When we got there we had some time to kill before going to the Tea Party.  We decided to walk around and take advantage of some photo ops since it wasn't super packed at first.

Our two crazy gorillas.

 Haha.  I just have to say, my kids are so darn cute!

 

 Yep, my family loves seeing the primates!

 Hehehe!  My little man blends in! 

 Tali was being shown a replica of an orangutan skull.

 The kids were a little scared of the water that was shooting out of the trunk of this elephant.

 Of course we had to ride the carousel...again.  We would have ridden it more had it not been so close to the Tea Party time, but we had fun anyway.

 Oh how I love my kiddos!

 Trying to take a good photo was proving to be difficult for this prego lady.

 After the carousel, the kids wanted to color some sort of primate mask.

 Tali thought it was pretty awesome.

 Jairus was hamming it up too.

 Meeting Alice.

 Tali seemed to be attached to Alice's hip.  She loved Alice!

 Awww!  This really made my little girl's day!

 The Mad Hatter, Tali and Alice.  Jairus wasn't into taking photos with the characters.

 The Mad Hatter did a few magic tricks for Tali.  She thought it was pretty amazing!

 He had given her two little bunnies and they multiplied in her hand.  She was so surprised at that.

 Alice was so good to Tali.  It was so adorable!

 The Mad Hatter working his magic tricks.

 Jairus took advantage of the signs that read "Eat Me" and "Drink Me."  

They served mini cheesecakes and mini muffins along with some lemonade and strawberry lemonade.

 Game time!

 The kids playing "Alice Says"

 Alice being tricky with her game.

 Tali chillin' with Alice.

 Jairus decided to make his own fun and try to drag daddy around with this mini hula hoop.

 I guess Jairus is giving daddy a "time-out."

 Tali couldn't have been more thrilled than to have been able to have such a wonderful time with Alice.  She had even made her a pinwheel and gave it to her.  It was so sweet!

 The Mad Hatter said that Tali gave him the best present....a hug.  That made her just beam!

 The zoo had a few tents that had different people from different companies.  This guy, "Molar Man" was from a pediatric dentist which is out by us.  So of course Tali had to get a picture.  They were really good with the kids.  They gave them stickers and kiddy tattoos which they thought was super cool.

 And we couldn't have left the zoo without playing with the giant legos.  Some kids had made this castle/fort type thing and took turns hiding in it and building it up.

 My little architects.

 Peek-a-boo!  I see Tali!...

 And Jairus! 

A Camping We Will Go!

Brian has recently been working 6 days a week which has been incredibly exhausting for the both of us.  He finally was able to get a weekend off to take his totally awesome family camping.  This was Jairus's first experience going camping overnight.  Sad, I know.  We went camping up at Settlement Canyon just on the outskirts of Tooele.  It was beautiful!  We had shade most of the time we were there.  The only problem was we had to keep a close eye on the kids because there was a steep drop that went to a river.  It was really cool though.

We played some mean half games of Candyland and Chutes and Ladders.

 See?  I told you it was pretty and well shaded!

 This was one of the steep drops to the river.

 And another one.

 Can you tell I really liked this particular spot?

 The kids had fun especially since they were able to play some of their games on our Ipads.

 We brought in our own firewood and I wasn't sure it would work after a while of not being able to get it to burn, but my honey was a genius and worked his magic and got the fire going.  We roasted marshmallows, starbursts (which is totally amazing!) and of course did smores with a twist.  We used the mini york peppermint patties which were so scrumptious (I think it was my favorite to use) and also some pb cups which were good, but not nearly as good as the peppermint patties!  We also sat around the camp fire singing a Chicky Chicky Boomba song that I had learned at girl's camp years ago.  The kids LOVED it!

 Yep.  Me and my baby bump at just about 8 months. 

 And Brian's baby bump.  Hahahaha!

 The kids loved eating the messy puffy cheetos.  It's a good thing we don't eat these on a regular basis.

 Tali and daddy going "exploring."

 Then it was Jairus's turn.  Jairus was in no way shape or form going to use the outhouses to go potty, so umm....well, needless to say Brian had to teach him to "go outside like a dog."  It was funny.  Every time Jairus had to go potty, he would tell Brian "I need go potty like a dog!"  He eventually got the hang of it though.

 Tali insisted on bringing her lamby.  This was probably the first picture she let me take the whole time.  I had to sneak her in photos.  She did not want her picture taken up to this point.  Hopefully you can't tell too much.  That morning we had some totally awesome chocolate covered raspberry filled donuts, fruit and bagels for breakfast.  Yeah it totally rocked!  No cooking and super easy clean-up!

 Of course, we had to have some family photo ops!  :) 

 I'm glad the camping experience turned out as well as it did.  The only downside was being this pregnant and having MAJOR heartburn to where I couldn't sleep, but it turned out good because I was able to check out the constellations and stuff by myself inside the tent with the help of a totally awesome and free app on my Ipad.  It was freakin' awesome!

 Me and my baby girl.

 Oh yeah!  We know how to rock it!

 I seriously LOVE this photo of my little man's face!  AWESOME!

 These guys are two of a kind.  I love it!

 Bye Bye camp spot!  Until we meet again!

 After we left camp, we decided to go try our luck at some fishing since it was free fishing day.  We didn't have much luck.  We got out too late and we weren't used to bank fishing which is what we had to do because they didn't allow boats/rafts.  Oh well.  It was still an experience for the kids.  

Isn't my man such a hottie?!?