THIS IS THE LIFE

And my kids are living it.

Woohoo. The Phoenix Zoo.

Over Aiden's fall break we went to the zoo. I hate the zoo. With a passion. It costs a fortune. It's almost like a game of Where's Waldo at every exhibit (I'm pretty sure that half the time there isn't a freakin' animal in the blasted cage). And I can't stand in the shade of a tree without the fear of being poohed upon by one of the gazillion birds that frequent the place. It has yet to happen, but the fear is real. Very. Real.

The last time I went to the zoo was for Cub Scouts. I was den leader for the bears. Taking a group of 10 kids aged 9 is not a good experience. Especially when they're not your own. I have unrealistic fears of the kids climbing into one of the cages of an animal with sharp teeth and claws. It. Was not. Fun. And the last time I took my own child to the zoo, I think Aiden was 2. I got all adventurous and bought a membership. I was gonna go every week! I think I made it twice (three times tops). The first trip, I bought a souvenir cup for like $50 (okay, it was only $8 or something, but you know me and money...I was gonna get $1 refills EVERY time I went). The second trip, Aiden threw my cup of gold into the friggin' pond in front of the entrance of the zoo. It was cast to those ungrateful turtles and jumbo goldfish never to be seen again. This only reinforced my hatred of the zoo.

That said, it was still fun to see how excited the kids got when they saw an animal they had been asking about since they heard we were going to the zoo (Mabel in particular...she's a funny girl).

They were all excited about the new Koala exhibit. Speaking of that exhibit...when did the zoo turn into a photo op at every turn kind of place. We walked in to have peeps asking to take our picture, then again at that exhibit...what the dealio folks? I brought my own camera, thank you very much! Plus I already gave you my sixty-odd bucks at the door, I should get a free picture. Okay, I'm done griping. For now. Moving on...

Cute little fellas.

By the by, Bret took all of the pictures. But I will attempt to tell you all the animals we saw.

Here's a tiger. I like tigers. Tigers are cool. I could hang with the tigers (not literally of course, I am neither Zigfried nor Roy). Plus there's NO WAY a kid is scaling that wall and getting in there.

The elephants were cool. The railings were disgusting, but do you see how my kids don't even care? They were hanging all over those things like they were made of Clorox wipes. They're fearless, really...like their mom. We did get to throw carrots to the elephants. None of our children's carrots made it off that little ledged lip you see there. Hopefully one of the workers walks it to throw all of the carrots down into the pit so the elephants can actually eat them.
There were giraffes. You had to pay extra to feed them...what the???? Don't you have to feed these animals anyway? Shouldn't you be paying me to do your dirty work? Here's some type of monkey. Pretty sure he was in the Wizard of OZ.

Here's a little Where's Waldo for you...
Pretty sure it's more monkeys. A baboon, possibly?

Yes, clearly baboons, I see the nakey butts.
Here are some zebras and possibly a vulture there between the palms. They were in the same exhibit, I think.

Which made me picture a tiger in there tearing into one of those succulent little zebra cakes...like on the Discovery channel. It was grotesque, but that's where my mind goes at the zoo. When you have vultures and zebras together.

What is this specimen you ask? I haven't the slightest. Probably a monkey.
Kidding! It's some type of cat. Definitely of the feline influence. Do you see how it's just lying there all lazy-like...

And I don't really know what this next one is. Maybe another monkey? A possum? A mongoose? It's ugly. That's all I know. Something that would hiss at you...I can feel it.

We saw the Komodo dragon. The kids were so excited for this one! And then they saw it and it was rather anti-climactic. I think maybe they were expecting an actual dragon? I don't know. I told Aiden it was ugly. He was offended for the dragon. He couldn't believe I would call it ugly...this fine, majestic creature.

And the kids didn't really appreciate this whole trip. They must not have known my pain. This picture was taken just after the Koalas (yeah, very first animal we saw). And can't you just see the joy on their smiling faces? There are more monkeys on that island in the background.

In conclusion, the zoo: ptooie!

In retrospect, maybe Bret should have written this post.

Photos by Kayleen!

Meet the Bickersons

I swear that even without the formality of a ceremony, these two are married in spirit. We and Sadie's parents (and any other neighbor who's ever been around these two) often joke that they fight like a married couple.

While camping they argued over whose backyard we were in . They argue over who gets the lego jet pack. They argue over whether Mabel is a baby sister or a little sister. It's awesome.

Speaking of awesome...check out this hair.

Fancy!

Ward Campout

Last weekend we attended our ward campout. We camped at a place called Jones Crossing up near Strawberry/Pine area. It was a gorgeous area and it was very lush and green for August. We couldn't have asked for better weather. It was drizzly in the evening. I finished my Mockingjay book which I loved! We awoke to the patter of rain on our tents and rolling thunder (my favorite!). And then it cleared out for a beautiful morning. The ground had pretty much soaked up all the water, so it wasn't a muddy mess for the kids.

KJ was willingly saran wrapped to a tree??? Then the kids pelted him with pine cones. That wasn't what he was expecting.

I love this pic of Gray. He went to town on those Doritos.With a little help from Miss Mess.
We sat around and talked in the evening and enjoyed a snack of hot chocolate and doughnuts. We were treated to a breakfast of pancakes, sausage, and hashbrowns in the morning. Like I always say, food always tastes so much better when you're camping. The bad thing about our ward is that everyone always clears out at the crack of dawn (I exaggerate, but still...). I've never understood it. They get up there late at night and then they're gone right after breakfast the next morning, except for a handful of people.

We stayed until 3pm. The Robisons (our neighbors) and Hallsteds also stayed. The Hallsteds introduced us to a game called Qwirdle that could be fun for all ages. I always enjoy learning new games. I started my new book, The Thief (I just finished the second one, Sarah, and I'm not happy with a certain choice of a certain thief!!!). But I digress. Anywho, The kiddos took rides on the Robison's Rhino, and played around on the little four wheeler.They swung on the trees swing.And the kids found a fort a little ways up the mountain.

Good times were had by all. Er, at least by us!

Good Luck With That...

Aiden brought home a note from a girl in his class. It is exactly as follows:

Sometimes you are anoing sometime not.

i know you have a crush on my.

good Luck with that.

you Love me

haaaaa

aaaaaa

haaaaa

I asked him if he did have a crush on her.

He said, "No."

I asked him who wrote the letter.

"Katie."

Katie, as in same girl he kissed at recess in Kindergarten...hmmmm?

I went to throw the note away...

"Don't throw that away!"

Lucky 7

On Saturday we celebrated Aiden's 7th birthday with a Willy Wonka themed party. His birthday is actually the 27th, but we'll be camping for our ward campout.

We told the kids they were honorary Oompa Loompas for the day. We put them through a little training. We watched the parts of the movie (old school) where each of the kiddos got into trouble. Then the kids had to rescue them.

First up, Augustus Gloop! Save him from the chocolate river.

The kids had to bob for apples. The first one to come up with Mr. Gloop was the winner.

Second, Violet Beauregard. The kids had to juice Violet without popping her. I gave them water balloons that they had to poke holes in and juice. The first to fill their cup to the red line was the winner.

Next up, Mr. Charlie Bucket! Only he didn't really need saving by the Oompa Loompas. The kids had to down their Fizzy Lifting drink then be the first to burp.

Then it was my favorite, Veruca "I want and Oompa Loompa now!" Salt. The kids had to separate the good eggs (yellow gumballs) from the bad eggs (any other color). They had one minute to find the most golden eggs.

And lastly, Mike Teavee. The children had one minute to stretch their laffy taffy without breaking it. The longest taffy won.

I think the kids had a good time. It was a candy free for all! But I'm not so sure their parents appreciated it.

Aiden opened presents, we noshed on cake and ice cream. And then we sent the kids home all

sugared up!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, AIDEN!