Hogle Zoo

A few of the my NICU mom friends were planning a little get-together to take our babies to the zoo....there were quite a few that said they were going to go, but when the day actually came, there were only 4 of us there with our kids....but it was so much fun!  I haven't been to the zoo for a couple years, I think since Mone was like 2 years old, so it was fun to see all the animals again, and to see how excited my boys got walking around looking at all the animals!  I took Makai and Mone and baby Katea....and we missed Lautala all day because she was out of town, on vacation with Gramma Tea.  The zoo was awesome!  I was so worried that it was going to be way too hot with the 100+ degree temperatures we've been having here in Utah, but it wasn't bad at all.  It was 100 degrees that day, but there were tons of trees everywhere with a lot of shade, and they had spray misters throughout the park which helped to keep us cool!  Also, before we left we packed a cooler full of cold powerade and water, snacks and lunch.   They have a new exhibit, the Rocky Shores Polar Bear at the zoo....and he was awesome!  I could have watched him for hours, he was so entertaining....but my boys wanted to keep on moving.  LOL.  The polar bear was such a crowd pleaser, he was swimming and doing flips off the wall in the water....so cute!

We walked around for several hours and took tons of pictures....my boys were having fun and baby Katea was being so good the whole time!  She wasn't being fussy, she never cried....she just looked around and I was carrying her in a baby backpack so most of the time she was just sleeping.  Such a good baby!  :)

At noon it was time for lunch, so we all met under a pavillion and ate the lunches we had packed. 

Then it was right back to walking the park and seeing the rest of the animals!

Once we had walked the whole park and seen all the animals we were going to see, we went and let the kids ride the carousel, we rode the train.....and then we went and sat under a tree and let our kids play at the playground.  What a great time!

Christa and Stacey left right after lunch because their kids were getting tired, so it was just me and Mandi and our kids.  We walked the whole park together.  Mandi's daughter Annie was born at 31 weeks at only 2 lbs.  She is only 1 day older than baby Katea.  She's such a smart little girl though, it was so fun to see her outside of the NICU, all grown :)

Mandi w/ her girls Annie & Elizabeth and me w/ baby Katea

When we left the zoo, it was so hot so I decided to take my boys to this new splash pad that I'd heard about to let them cool off.  OMG, they had so much fun!  I love that they're adding more splash pads to the parks around here, it's nice to be able to take them to get wet without having to get into a pool!  There were lots of kids there, but it didn't even matter.....everyone was running around getting wet and having so much fun!  What a great way to cool off on a hot summer day!  :)

Another full day of quality time with my kids.  Love these days!  Only missed Lautala and Ova....hopefully next time we can make a family activity out of it!