Happy 4th of July!

We all had a nice independence day yesterday. Gary, the boys & I began the day with a pancake breakfast. We were going to go to the Rotary Club breakfast, but having been less than impressed with various past functions put on by the City of South Salt Lake, we opted to make our own. The boys really like pancakes & any kind of breakfast meat (yesterday's was sausage), so they were quite pleased with the morning vittles. After feeding the family we packed up the boys & headed to Hogle Zoo for their annual Military Appreciation day(s). We all got in free, thanks to our wonderful Papa who serves his country. It hadn't gotten too hot by the time we arrived, and it wasn't too busy yet either. We walked around & saw all of the animals. Daniel knew most of them and was very excited about the zebras, giraffes and tiger. Jackson watched everything with interest & loved to get out of the stroller & walk by himself. The boys and I rode the "Zoofari Express" train. They both enjoyed it & sat very still for most of the ride. That evening, after a nap, we had our parents over for a barbeque dinner. Gary cooked up some yummy salmon & steaks on the grill and we had corn on th cob, orzo, baked beans & a cucumber salad. All in all it was a great way to end the holiday. We even had some fireworks before we put the boys to bed (Daniel didn't even cry this year). Monday the boys and I visited This is the Place Heritage Park with Gary's parents. It was really hot, but we did get some enjoyment out of the visit. They have a little petting zoo for the kids & Daniel was so excited to go in - that is until he saw he had to walk through a barn full of chicken to get there. I had completely forgotten about his fear of poultry until I said "Look Dan, a chicken!" as we were entering the barn. He froze, turned away, and started to howl. His Opa ended up carrying him through the barn. Once we got into the petting area he was fine. He wasn't very keen on touching the goats, and wouldn't go near the piglets, but did pet the sheep. He was doing pretty well until the huge turkey (that all the other kids were petting) gobbled at Dan. It really frightened him! I have to admit, he was pretty scary looking. We went over to look at the cow in the next pen & it saw us and came out of the shed to see us, but that scared Dan too. Cows are pretty big animals to a three-year old! Jackson, on the other hand, had no fear of the animals & loved touching them & watching them. That night Gary & I took the boys to the first of this summers "Mondays in the Park" concert series at Liberty Park. They had a Hopi group & a Maori group perform.