Vacation Part 3 - Zoo & 4th of July ( I mean 3rd of July since we are in Utah and the 4th was on a Sunday)

We took the kids to the zoo. I was really excited since they had elephants and a baby elephant and they are Gwen's favorite animal right now thanks to Dumbo.



It was SOOOO HOT the day we went, but it was fun for the kids to see all the animals.



The boys took Gwen & Mason inside the reptile house and Erin & I sat outside. It was nice to rest and sit in the shade.







So funny that Brett is larger than a adult male gorilla! Gorilla's seem soooo huge.




Since we were in Utah and the 4th of July landed on a Sunday this year all the festivities were on the 3rd of July. I of course had to buy the girls matching 4th of July dresses ( this is the only pic I got of the 2 girls sorry that Penelope is out of focus I have no idea how that happened).




I just love matching dresses and that I have 2 girls so that they can match! They will probably hate that I did it when they are older.




We went to one of the local Carnivals........




Rode all the rides the kids wanted to.










While Grahm & Penelope stayed in their strollers." This is how we roll" ( I love how they both are playing with their feet)




Who knows why I am standing so far away from everyone else?!?!?!?




Penelope is so good! She traveled really well and loved everyone. She is such a happy girl.







It was a great 4th , I mean 3rd of July.

Our 4th of July

Well. As you can tell I am back!!! YAY. I took a buttload of pictures which I have been to sick to do and it was so awesome to get back into pictures. So caution TONS of pictures ahead.....

Our 4th of July was spent at Brett's parents all day. We went early, around 10am, so that Gwenie could get in all the swimming that she wanted! She was in the pool 5 different times and they were all for a good amount of time, she LOVES the pool. Before I would let her get into the pool, I made her have a little photoshoot in her darling dress that I found. I couldn't find anything for her to wear this year and finally came across this dress, but they only had it in a size 5. I can sew, though, right? Right. I shortened the straps and took in the sides and it turned out awesome, I was very proud. ( I just noticed that she has some food on her face, oops should have edited that out, sorry)







She loved this floating bed (she called it a pillow). Kami and I had a lot of fun pushing her around in this bed. She just looked like the queen of the castle.



Brett surprised us and got into the pool. It was awesome!



Don't you just love pool hair???



I just love the back of her bathing suit. The ruffles are the cutest thing.



While Gwenie was napping we played Wii. We took our Wii over for the first time and had tons of fun playing all the games with everyone. Even though there are tons of new games out there I really think Mario Bros. is the best. Kami brought her Wii Active over so that we could try it out, I was cracking up big time watching Brett play, here he is trying to do squats. LOL.



After dinner we got the poppers out. Gwenie loved it all, you never know if they will not like the loudness.




2008 vs. 2009 streamer pictures:







We had a mess by the end, but it was alot of fun. If only we lived in a city where fireworks are legal.



Here are some candid shoots , it was a great day!!!!






We did miss Marc, Erin & Mason since we always used to hang with them on the 4th! Ever read this post of Erin's??? They always made a Jell-o creation, it was always interesting to see what they came up with.

our celebrations

The 4th found us at many different locations and being social, when we are not usually. Gweniveve is the social butterfly of the family and especially loves men, because once again, she is a Daddy's girl. I swear, I only have heard Ma Ma twice!!!!

First thing we did was go to a Pancake breakfast, which was just way to hot for 8:30 in the morning. Gwenie didn't like the pancakes and just wanted her cherrio's.

Then we came back to our house and played outside and talked to our neighbors, but I realized that my neighbor took all the pictures because I had to charge my camera battery so I will have to wait til she emails them to me and post those later.

After Gweniveve woke up from her nap we went to a street fair with my in laws and Jan and her family. It was SOOOOOOOOO HOT!!! I am glad there wasn't much to do (the website for the city really lied about all the fun games they would have for kids). Gwenie did go in her first bounce house and loved every minute of it as you can see from her face:







Once we were sweaty enough, which was not even a half and hour, we went to the in laws and jumped in the pool, had a BBQ and popped poppers. Surprisingly Gwenie loved the poppers and even tried to run away with one.

2 cute 4 U

Our neighbors have a daughter, Kailey, who is 4 years old and they have been home this week (usually she goes to a babysitter) and we have been having fun playing outside with her. Yesterday she brought out her CAR. She can drive it and go forwards and backwards. So I strapped Gwenie in with her for the ride and it was so fun.

Don't you love Kailey's personal license plate??



If you press the horn it plays music, and it was the perfect music to get Gwenie dancing, even though after awhile the music got really annoying. Kaylee wanted to take a picture of us dancing so here is the picture that she took of us.



As I was getting out my 4th of July decorations, I got this cute picture of Gwenie. Who is ready to have fun in the sun and celebrate this hot and crazy holiday?!?