Zoo Lights!

We connected up with some friends of ours in the ward to ride the train to Zoo Lights tonight!

The kids enjoyed the train though Aaron slept on the way to the station so he was a bit out of it for the ride, haha!

When we got to the zoo, my little family ended up in a separate line from the rest of the group (we have a membership) and we opted not to buy tickets for the train ride through the zoo to see the lights - we have always loved walking. After getting through the line, we learned all of our friends had bought tickets for the train ... so we bid them farewell and headed out on our own. Here is Aaron (refusing to smile) with his friends, Daniel and Bryce.

As sad as it was that we didn't get to go through the zoo with our friends, we really enjoyed the walk. We didn't have to wait in a loooooooong line with our kids and we got to stop and look at the specific lights we loved or move past those we found less interesting.

 I made and packed taco soup for dinner. We took a break and sat on a bench to eat.  

I took a photo and Eric was half looking - I told him to either completely look away or look right at me ... this is what I got. And people wonder why my kids are so strange ...

 

 On our walk we were able to get up close to the elephants! They were soooo active! We watched as they used their trunks to blow in a circle; collecting straw prior to eating it. They reached their trunks toward us and bellowed! We went to take a picture with them and they decided we should get their butts instead of their faces ... oh well. Audrey and Aaron loved them - they also LOVED the monkeys and fish! Audrey looked at the fish, got excited, said, "FISH!" and then "WOOF WOOF!" because to her, that's the sound all animals make ...

 Audrey also REALLY loved the carousel of animals - the lights that go around and around. We stayed there for quite a while! Aaron mostly loved running REALLY FAST while we looked at the carousel - definitely good we didn't try to ride the train. That kid has ENERGY!
Eventually, one of the other kids watching the carousel started grabbing the animals as they passed which messed up the view. Audrey saw this and started telling him, "no no no!" and got progressively louder and more frustrated as he wasn't listening and we eventually had to leave because she was frantically waving her arms and screaming at the kid - who had no idea she was talking to him.

 When we got tired, we headed back to the train platform. Daddy was great at keeping the kids entertained!

Both kids were ready to head home. They were in good spirits and playful (they made everyone on the train smile with their giggles as they played with Daddy) but Aaron tried to move the stroller at each stop hoping it was our stop. 

When we got home, Audrey was SO tired that she tried to climb into the crib to go to bed. They are (with the every now and again exception) very easy to put to sleep, but tonight was exceptionally easy. :) Well worth the trip to the zoo! We had a blast! I love having kids this time of year (all year, basically, but now especially). Everything is 800x more magical!  They are so special!