Tickles 'n' Giggles: August 2014

Hogle Zoo with Friends

We were invited to go to Hogle Zoo with some friends. Brian was at scout camp so it was the rest of us that went. It was the perfect time to go since we got in for late house (our friends have passes) and it was not to hot.
We first rode the train around the African Safari experience and saw lions, zebras, giraffes, ostriches and things. Then we had dinner and explored the elephants, bears, birds and tigers.
We also went and played in the really fun splash pad they had. They had an "Old Faithful" geyser, tide pools and a lighthouse with a slide to play on. I (amanda) wasn't going to get Mason wet, but that didn't last long- and he LOVED playing in the water. We could have all played there all night (which we did spend a huge chunk of our time there). We also rode the carousel and did alot of walking!

at the splash pad

Rocky Mountain Raceways

We have the Pass of All Passes. It includes some fun water parks in the area, but also includes select things at different venues. We were finally able to go the Rocky Mountain Raceways to watch some Oval racing. We had meant to go the waterpark for a few hours then head on over, but the waterpark was closed for a private party, so we went earlier than anticipated. Well it was fun but super hot and we weren't too prepared for it! We left before the qualifying rounds were done and it seemed when all the people actually showed up! Oh-well!
There were all different kind of cars that did little races around a track. Our favorite were these really loud ones (Winged Sprint Cars?). They also had some funny ones called the double deckers. There is a car with a driver on the bottom that controls the gas and brakes. Attached to the top of that car is another car with a driver in there steering the wheel. Kinda crazy! Lily's favorite were the mini cars (which were really small) and ofcourse there was a pretty pink and purple one that was her favorite.

Mason was pretty red in the face from the heat

the double deckers

She thought it was fun to play on the bleachers

A Day at the Park

We love going to the park. However, it has been WAY TOO HOT to go by the time we are ready to get out the door, so we haven't been in a while. However, this particular day it was still nice out at 11:00am so we decided to pack a lunch up and ride our bikes to the park. We even decided to go the extra mile and go to the park further down the road. It was fun and relaxing. We explored the new playground equipment and Mason practiced up on his walking! We also tried out a cool kite their Uncle Michael brought back from Kitty Hawk for them. Then we headed home. The ride home was quite a hot one though because by that time the sun was a blazing! We were so glad to make some orange julius when we got back!

Avery figured out how to climb up a pole

riding the bouncy horse

who's there?

the wind was gusty and not very consistent. The kite was still fun though!

FHE: Sharing by Avery

A couple of weeks ago Avery wanted to give the lesson in Family Home Evening. He said he wanted to do a lesson about sharing. So we (mom and Avery) found a idea online at LDS Inspired that said to talk about Jesus feeding the 5,000 with the 5 loaves of bread and 2 fishes. (Did you know that there were 5000 MEN and then they didn't even count the women and children, so there were alot more). Avery talked about how Jesus wanted to share the food with everyone to help them be happy and not hungry. It helped that he said a prayer to bless the food before he shared it.

After Avery retold the story to everyone, we played a "ShareFish" game where we caught fish (with a pole, yarn and magnet). Each fish had something on it and we had to decide if it was a good selfLESS fish or a bad selfish fish. They had to throw the bad fish back in the "lake." The kids loved playing it and wanted to play it the rest of the week. We all needed to hear the message because we all have problems with sharing one time or another.