4th of July Weekend

We were in Fillmore for the 4th of July weekend. EVERYONE was there. It was so much fun! We didn't do anything super special and we had a fabulous time doing it!

Uncle Jake and Thomas played several games of chess. Uncle Jake is super competitive and was concentrating VERY hard to be sure not to lose to his 7 year old nephew :)


We set off fireworks in the yard on Saturday night instead of Monday the 4th because we had to leave Monday afternoon. The neighbor kids joined us for the fireworks.




This was the first 4th of July parade we have been to that my kids were old enough to enjoy. They were ecstatic to have candy thrown their way! Thomas and Nicholas used some hats to collect candy and Essie used her dress.









After the parade we spend about an hour sitting on a blanket in the park chatting with people as they walked by.

Denver Trip - Zoo

I have a new plug-in for my editing software that will automatically upload any pictures into a new blog post for me. It is FABULOUS! It took me one click and BOOM...there were 30 pictures on the blog! I am in heaven! I am still trying to figure out how to make them a little bit bigger, but for now, this is great!

We LOVED LOVED LOVED the zoo. We haven't been to a zoo since we left Arkansas. We had a membership there and went very often, so we have missed it.

Right as we walked in the entrance the lion was roaring. I have never heard a real lion roar before. It was fascinating!









Essie and Juliette were inseparable. They were both wearing pink sunhats from Grandma Chelle and Bubba and looked adorable walking around holding hands.

Nicholas was so young in Arkansas that he doesn't remember anything from his visits there. He was very excited to see the giraffes, monkeys, and elephants especially.










Essie had a bit of a meltdown mid day. She was so exhausted!

We had a good spot for the seal and sea lion demonstration. We learned the differences between the two and saw them both do tricks.

























The most disturbing thing we saw was this gorilla. He/she ? was sitting peacefully eating some food when another bigger gorilla came charging in. The peaceful gorilla seemed very startled and bothered and jumped away to the corner. It then squatted, pooped, ate the poop, and then smelled it's fingers. It was disgusting!