Saturday, Sept. 20th, we checked one more thing off of our pre-move bucket list, the zoo!  My adorable cousin, Elisabeth, was up from college, and they were probably going to go to the zoo anyway, so we made it a date.  It worked out quite well for us since my uncle, Steven, got a membership (the expensive variety that lets you bring lots of people and have free rides on the carousel and train!), so we met up with them and got in for free.

First up was the new African Savannah.  I love the new stuff at the zoo :)  We saw the giraffes, ostriches, guinea fowl, and zebras.  I think Henlie's new favorite animal is the zebra :)  Funny story... okay, two of them.  There were a ton of guinea fowl, and a bunch of them all ran up like they were going to gang up on a zebra.  The zebra didn't care.  Later, one of the ostriches decided to chase a zebra.  That zebra got out of the way!  It was entertaining :)  Okay, maybe not for the zebra... 

Even though we didn't see the boy lions, we were off to see the monkeys.  And then the elephants.  This trip was kind of fun for me because Henlie is old enough to pose with some of the statues and whatnot for fun photo ops.  Matt didn't even complain about them once.  He probably just let it go since it was our last trip before moving ;)  Usually he doesn't like to stop and wait for things.  Although, we didn't really do any where we had much waiting, so it worked out.

Two of the highlights of the trip, watching the elephant go potty and watching a monkey go potty hahaha

We also got to play at Lighthouse Point for the first time.  Henlie climbed right up the stairs of the lighthouse by herself.  When she never came down the slide, though, I hiked up to find her.  She was just chillin' on the observation deck.  I helped her get in line and go down the slide.  She loves slides.  Then we walked through the splash pad area and steered the boat.  She also loves driving, even if this particular wheel didn't turn.  Then it was back through the splash pad to the eagles and otters. (The cool water felt so nice on my feet!)

Unfortunately, we didn't really get to see the otters.  As we were leaving, Henlie went to play in the giant log.  I couldn't get her out!  She was just about to defy me entirely by sitting down with the other kids when I told her to say bye to her friends.  She paused, waved, and said, "Bye, friends!" and came right out! lol So cute.  



Matt was all excited to see the sea lions and seals, but their pool was undergoing some repairs, so it was empty and they weren't out :(  After a quick potty stop, we backtracked to the World of Flight Bird Show.  There was no way I was going to miss the bird show before we moved!  It's one of my favorite parts of the zoo.  Henlie was super wiggly while we were waiting for it to start.  It made me nervous because you can't be all up and everywhere in the middle of the show because birds are flying all around you!

Once the show started, though, she sat down and paid attention for the most part.  Even though our usual presenter wasn't there, the show was awesome and pretty much as we remembered it :)  It is helpful when you know what is coming so you can tell your baby to look ;)


After the bird show, Henlie wanted to, "Ride Zebra!"  So Elisabeth and I took her on the Conservation Carousel. (Again, free!)  Unfortunately, the two zebras were taken.  However, the anteater between them was not, so we set her down there and took a photo :)


Lucky for us, the kid on the inside zebra decided he didn't want the zebra, so we did a quick switch.  Just as I was about deciding I was going to ride the anteater, the outside zebra also opened up, so Elisabeth took that one.  Yeah, that's right.  We totally rode the carousel ;)  Unfortunately, Matt's pictures didn't work out so well since Henlie was on the inside.  Oh well.  We had fun.

After the carousel, we did some more backtracking to go ride on the train!  We ended up being the first ones in line for the next train, which meant we were forced to the back.  Matt, Henlie, and I took the very last seat, which actually faces backwards.  Oh well, it worked out for a selfie ;)

On the train ride (which now goes around African Savannah and then through the mining town), we got to see the boy lions!  Elisabeth was super happy because she really wanted to see them.  I think mostly because one is named Vulcan.... Umm, have I mentioned she's a trekkie? haha Henlie didn't so much care about the things you could see on the train.  She was just really excited to be riding the train. "Choo! Choo!"




She was a bit sad when our ride was over and we had to get off, but she quickly forgot about that when we stopped in the main plaza and she got to play with the water ball. :)  Steven, Elisabeth, and Ryker were done for the day, so they were heading home.  After some wet hugs, we headed back down to the Beastro for some lunch.





Unfortunately, Matt had dropped his car off for an oil change on our way up, so we had limited time for the rest of the zoo.  We wandered around the outside of the Great Apes exhibit, but no one was outside.  I wish we'd gone through the inside real quick :(  The male Orangutan, Eli, had just passed away like a week or so before.  However, the Zoo did post on Facebook a few days after our trip that Eve and Acara (Eli's mate and daughter) were starting to perk back up after his passing.

We didn't even stop in the small animals building, instead, opting to check out the Asian Highlands and the big cats.  Typically, the middle of a warm day is not a good time to see active kitties.  And this was true of all of them, except the tiger.  The tiger was enjoying some pool time, playing with his ball, sitting in the waterfall, and having a swim.  I made my way up next to the glass to fix Henlie's skirt when the tiger decided to swim right next to us.  Like, pressing against the glass next to us.  It was awesome :)

After Asian Highlands, we headed back down to Rocky Shores to check on the bears.  The Grizzly Bears were all napping in their dugout.  Rizzo the Polar Bear was also napping.  However, the magpies were definitely enjoying the remains of her lunch lol. 


On our way back out of the zoo, we walked by the otters again.  We had better luck seeing them, so we stopped and watched for a minute.  We also checked in on the eagles, and then made our way out of the park, past the singing monkeys.  Only this time, most of the noise came from the humans mimicking the monkey. lol 

After our yard sale, it was time to drive down to St. George.  My niece, Andressa, was speaking in sacrament meeting before leaving on her mission to Belgium/Netherlands.  It was a regional stake conference up here that weekend, so I didn't need to worry about primary stuff :)  

We turned Henlie's car seat around before we left.  I think she likes it better.  I was going to wait until she was at least two, but I wanted to get used to it before the plane ride.  And I wanted her to face forward on the plane :)

Mom was going to cut our hair when we got down, but it was also my other niece, Kiera's, homecoming, and they were out to Santa Clara to see her in her dress.  Mom and Dad left later than anticipated, so we opted to just meet at my sister Monica's house and do hair cuts during the movie they were going to be watching (pizza and The Best Two Years was the plan).

After dinner, we went back to Mom and Dad's house to get our hairs cut.  Mom basically gave me two haircuts because it wasn't short enough the first time :)  We also worked Matt in because he is a sell-out ;)  It was suggested he may want to consider cutting his hair before he met the owner of the company.  Not a requirement, but a friendly recommendation.  He succumbed to peer-pressure.  We opted to call my other sister, Mariona, for recommendations on how to cut his hair.  She decided to look up styles in Peru.  Turns out if you search Men of Peru, you're going to find naked guys lol  She and I had a lovely chat while Mom worked on Matt's hair.  She had a devil of a time trying to get it to blend right.  We may have her tweak it when she comes up next month :)



Because of all of our haircut woes, Mom was super late getting back to Monica's.  They had to rehearse for their musical number in church the next day.  Surprisingly, Henlie went to bed easy-peasy.  Unfortunately, while I was getting my hair cut, she woke up just crying.  Grandpa went and got her out of bed, and she finally calmed down and played with toys for a good while before we all went to bed later.  It probably worked out better that way, though.  Then, Myron's family didn't wake her, and we didn't wake her when we went to bed :)  Once she finally went back to sleep, she did just fine.

Sunday morning, Henlie of course was awake lol.  As was Porter.  So that meant Myron and I were both up too.  Myron got Porter some breakfast, and Henlie and I hung out waiting for Grandpa to finally wake up, because there are always yummy warm breakfasts at their house :)  Then it was a matter of playing and waiting to take a bath and get ready for church, which was at 1pm.
 
At church, Henlie wanted to "Play Ari."  Turns out that doesn't actually mean play with Ari, but rather just play with Ari's toys ;)  Andressa gave a wonderful talk.  I think it is the best pre-mission farewell talk I've ever heard.  She is so ready :)  It was kind of fun because they had a senior couple who just returned from a mission who also spoke.  Granted, I didn't pay as much attention to their talks because of Henlie.  After sacrament meeting, we all congregated back at Monica's house for some lunch and visiting.  We were the first ones there, and Henlie totally fell asleep on the probably not even five minute drive there, so we waited for other people to arrive before waking Henlie to go inside.

We had yummy taco/burritos and cookies :)  We visited with family.  And we made all of our family members take pictures with us before we move to Peru ;)  Once we finally got all of the pictures taken, we were on the road again back home.  I managed to stay awake on that trip (not so much on the way down, though. Poor Matt).  While it was yet another short trip, I feel like we got some nice quality time in with a lot of family, so it worked out well :)