Field Trip! Visiting Hogle Zoo

We finally managed to take our trip to the Hogle Zoo on Thursday. Princess and Tadpole showed up about 9:00 AM and before 10:00 we had all the babies settled and everyone in the car. By babies, I mean Twizlet, Tadpole, and Skittles. Rounding out our little group that entirely filled my car were Baby Doll, Princess, Bossy, Curly, and me.

The drive to the zoo was long, but Bossy did the driving and I must admit to grabbing a tiny bit of sleep while I could. I'm afraid I have been keeping some pretty late nights lately, but that in no way dampered my enthusiasm for the new baby giraffe. (I almost said "tiny," but then I realized that little guy was taller than me...}

Our second stop was to ride the train (since we had the babies out of their strollers already... how did I ever manage when I was a young mom?) Twizlet loved the train ride, but in an effort to please everyone, we decided to see a few more animals.
 

Monkeys, zebras, lions... Twizlet loved them all. She had obviously been to a zoo before because she was totally fine to see the animals behind glass and then (for the most part) not want to grab, pet, harass them any more.

Our favorite stop was the carousel. After the first time, Bossy and Princess found a quiet bench where they could feed their babies. The rest of us kept going round and around! We were on our own guided tour and that meant that we could skip things or stay longer.

We ultimately made our way back to the front and headed for the gate.

Love to Learn

I have been blessed with smart children. I don't want to brag, but these kids of mine are truly amazing! Scout and I did Parent Teacher Conferences today and she has an A in each and every class.

Yesterday I helped Crafty with her Sterling Scholar application and she has never had less than an A since she started middle school and here she is, a senior, getting ready to graduate. On her transcript her class ranking says 1 of 845. Now I'm sure there are 50 other people who are also ranked #1 because anyone with a 4.0 average is in that position, but that is still an awesome place to be.

Most of my other kids have also been high achievers and self-motivated as well and I'm so grateful.

The Lord must have known that stressing too much over kids' grades and excessive homework would have been more than I could handle with 12 of them, so he made that part of my life relatively easy. I think that might be part of the reason most of my girls have talked about becoming educators. They love to learn and they don't see it ending just because they graduate.

Bridal Veil Falls

We left the Leader/Daughter a little earlier than we had planned and Teach wanted to go on a hike so we stopped just down the road at Bridal Veil Falls. Scout and Drama Queen wanted to stay in the car, but we convinced them it wasn't very far and it would be worth it.

The leaves are just starting to turn here in Utah, and the short hike was beautiful. They were not sad they came. Baby Doll and Teach took a hike up to the lower falls, but the rest of us just wandered along the trail to the bottom.

There were people playing in the small pool of water at the bottom of the falls, so Scout decided she wanted to wander out in the middle of the water and stand on a large rock. She had borrowed Teach's shoes, and it was pretty funny watching her try hard to not get them wet and then finally giving up and throwing them back to us on dry ground.

On our way back up the trail, we decided to exercise our Girl Scout principles and Leave No Trace. We gathered garbage all the way to the parking lot. It was amazing how much stuff had been left behind by careless hikers.

A quick stop at the fruit stand to buy my sweetie a box of peaches and then we were on our way home. I sure love spending time with my girls.

Leader/Daugher Retreat

Friday and Saturday were the Leader/Daughter Retreat at Trefoil Ranch. I only had half of my daughters with me this time... Drama Queen, Teach, Scout, and Baby Doll. The others had work or small babies that kept them at home this year.

We left late because Baby Doll's best friend had a birthday party and she didn't want to miss it, but it didn't matter too much other that when we got there we were given the corner of the common area in the lodge for our sleeping quarters. While Teach and Drama Queen dragged 5 mattresses from one of the other buildings, I got us all checked in. We immediately stepped into the back of the line for dinner and that began our activities.

The girls did crafts and they gave each of us a gift that included a homemade apron with fabric that had GS cookies on it. Drama Queen was so excited! She loves aprons. Then we all donned our jackets for a short night hike. It was much steeper than I was expecting and the cool night air burned in my chest, but we eventually made it to the meadow where we were each given a peppermint Lifesaver that would spark when we bit down on it.

The way back was much easier! We played cards at the table while the other girls and moms got ready for bed. When the lights dimmed at 11:00, most of the girls were finally gone from our common area and we were ready to lay out our beds.

The night was long and difficult as I tossed and turned on a 3-inch mattress, but when morning dawned bright and early, it was all forgotten. We had breakfast and after cleaning up and loading my car, we said our goodbyes. Another fantastic retreat...it could have only been better if all my girls could have been with us.