Summer Trip: August 2, Day 14

TUESDAY:

Since we were in Utah, we had to visit some friends from South Bend.
Uh, yeah, friends who used to live in South Bend, who moved to another state and somehow ended up in Utah... does that mean I have to live in another state before going back to Utah? or does it mean that Indiana is my second state (after Texas) and now our next move will be to Utah? Hmmmmm....

We met with the Tuellers and the Monsons at the Hoggle Zoo and had fun searching for dinosaurs and watching the animals. We enjoyed the zoo, too.

Nica waiting for our entrance to visit the animals.

Miranda loves the zoo!!

A dinosaur imprint. Pretty amazing, huh?

Who would've thought that a wooden horse would be such an attraction?

But it was a major hit with all the kids.

We were watching one of the elephants.
Back row: Henry M, Chayce T, William M, Addler M, Megan B, Zachary T, Zoë B
Front row: Veronica B, Alysa L, Miranda B
not picture: Payge T, Winston M

You can see their faces a little better in this one.
An interesting note: The Masons have 4 boys, I have 4 girls, and the Tuellers have 2 girls and 1 boy with another boy on the way. Even split!

Miranda wanted her picture taken with the elephant. This was really as close as she wanted to get though. She wouldn't let me throw her over the fence...

Diggin' up bones.

Henry walking in the excavation site.

After a few hours of running around in the hot sun, we headed back to the Monson's house for our picnic lunch. Alysa discovered the zip line in the corner of the yard, and as soon as the kids realized they would get a little help going down and coming up, they lined up for a turn, and another, and another... Lindsay and I were run ragged, but we all had a fun time!

Zoë riding while Lindsay M pulls her along.

Megan lovin' it as Linsday works hard to drag her back UP the hill.

Mother and Son

Chayce was so light she nearly flew down by herself before we could grab the rope!

Megan up for another turn.

Zoë's turn again.

I figured that Lindsay had enough of a workout, so I stepped in to pull uphill. Here's Alysa riding back to the top.

Miranda giggled and wriggled so much she nearly fell off, but she loved every minute of it!

Notice anything new missing???

Liam lost his tooth (top). No, it didn't get knocked out while riding the zip line (although that would've been an awesome story!) but fell out while he was waiting in line for his turn.

I know Alysa loved having some "girl" time with my daughters. She was a good helper, and was great to play with her younger cousins.

So grown up!

For dinner that night we had meatloaf. Yummy meatloaf. My mom asked me to add some ketchup to her plate, so I started to squeeze and it came out faster than I wanted, so I just added more and more and more. I giggled about it when I saw her wide-eyed expression. I was NOT at all prepared for the next action: she scooped some up with her fork and
S-P-L-A-T! Right at me (and the white curtain behind me).

I think my jaw dropped to the floor, but only for a split second. About the time she saw me start to spring up from my chair and reach for the bottle of ketchup, she lept from her seat and ran out of the room. I waited until she was outside before I squirted her with more ketchup....

SHE started this!!!

Yes, food fights do seem to be part of our family reunions.