I've been tutoring a young man in my ward for his math class all school year, and the one thing I wanted to buy with my earnings was a pass to Hogle Zoo. We hadn't been for a year, and had never seen the new African Savannah exhibit. We were going to go the Friday before Hannah's birthday, but the weather didn't cooperate, so Mark painted the nursery instead. Instead, we went the Friday before Matthew's birthday and luckily the rain held off until after we were finished.
The kids had a grand time at the zoo. The new African Savannah exhibit has zebras and lions, which were fun to see. The zoo was also doing Zoorasic Park, so they had animatronic dinosaurs throughout the park. Matthew was terrified of basically all of these. The train ride has also returned to the zoo; it was closed the year we had our base when Hannah was an infant. We saved the train ride for last. Being obsessed with trains, Matthew enjoyed the train ride, and then threw a fit when it was over. The ride was on the short side, and probably not with the $2 they charge. The goal is for me to eventually be able to take all three kids by myself. I'm going to have to think of some strategies to help Matthew cope with the fact that we can only ride the train once per visit.
On Tuesday, we visited This is the Place Heritage Park. My Grandma Groves is in town, and Aunt Christine wanted to take her to visit it while Makenna's off track from school. Makenna brought a friend named Ella and my sister-in-law Jess came along with Daniel. I'd never been to This is the Place, so I was interested to see what all they have. It's formed around the This is the Place monument commemorating Brigham Young's famous statement upon arriving in the Salt Lake valley. I didn't realize it, but the monument as well as several other monuments are free to visit.
You have to pay for admission to the pioneer village, which has about 50 buildings that are restorations or replicas of historical buildings from Utah's history. There was a school house, a social hall, tinsmith and cabinet maker, etc. Several of the buildings had people there explaining historical context or doing demonstrations. A few spots had crafts, and the kids got to put beads on an arrowhead necklace and stamp into leather. The pony rides were closed due to the lunch hour, but the kids did get to pet the ponies, and go in the pen and pet the baby goats. Surprisingly, Matthew even went in and petted the goats. He wanted nothing to do with the ponies. There was also a playground for young children with child size replica buildings and a wooden train to play on. To top it off, there was enough a train that was free to ride. We rode it twice and Matthew loved every minute. It's not a place I would go very often, but I would say its big enough to get your money's worth out of the visit.
Makenna, Hannah, Matthew, Makenna's friend Ella and Daniel
Last Sunday was Hannah's second birthday. The week leading up to Hannah's birthday, Matthew was distraught that her birthday was coming first and his wasn't for another two weeks. On morning when he first woke up, I asked him, "Matthew, how are you?" "I'm still three," was his reply. Her birthday started out well. Mark managed to convince Matthew to get dressed for church, which we've been struggling with for the last few weeks. Hannah even decided to pick out her own headband, that of course didn't match at all. But she looked darling. After church, I picked up Hannah from nursery and she had received a bubble wand for her birthday. When Matthew saw it, he threw an absolute fit. We ended up having to carry him out of the building while he screamed, "My birthday!" over and over. He screamed it all the way home and then refused to take a nap. I was super worried he would throw a fit during her party, but remarkably he did just fine.
For her birthday dinner, we decided to do waffles with bacon and hashbrowns on the side. Unfortunately, we didn't really think things through, and ended up calling Benjamin last minute to bring some eggs and milk as we were out. Since we had dinner with Mark's family the week before, we decided to just invite up my side of the family. Aaron and Melissa, Benjamin and Jess and even my Grandpa Pingel all came over for dinner. Hannah seemed to really enjoy her gifts. She got some my little ponies from us and from Benjamin and Jess. Aaron and Melissa got her some darling pajamas. Great-Grandma and Great-Grandpa Pingel got her a giggle toy that she absolutely went crazy for. On Wednesday, Mark's parents' package arrived with a baby doll for Hannah. Yesterday, she was sitting on my lap in the rocking chair and singing "Rock-a-bye Baby" to her baby doll. I still need to go pick out some shoes from my parents.
To top off the evening, I walk into Matthew and Hannah's room, and Matthew had taken all of Hannah's ponies and lined them up on his headboard. Haha. I took them down before bedtime and gave them to her, which prompted one last meltdown from Matthew about the injustice of having his birthday after hers.
The other night, the kids were being so cute while playing with their tricycles in the driveway. Hannah was having a blast riding down the hill. Matthew also wanted his video taken. The video doesn't really capture how well he does on his tricycle. He can zoom around corners and obstacles. He's gotten quite good. Hannah, on the other hand, is just a tiny bit too short to reach her pedals. Maybe by the end of the summer she'll be able to pedal it, but for now she's having fun rolling down the hill.
About once a month, we get together with Mark's younger siblings and his cousin Matt and have a Sunday dinner together. Unfortunately, I never seem to remember to take pictures. However, I did make sure to bring my camera on the 19th. We had dinner at Anna's house, and I managed to get a few good pictures.
