The Zoo and Wild Animal Park

We have taken full advantage of our zoo passes with summer. I love taking Hayden to the zoo because a flood of new words comes with it. My favorite has been okapi. An okapi is a relative of a giraffe (in case you didn't know) and at swim lessons they have an okapi toy, this is Hayden's favorite. For the first few weeks, he clung to it while he adjusted to class and his instructors until he lost it to a newcomer who needed it much more. Two months later, we went to the zoo with two of my girlfriends from colllege. After we passed the tigers ("roaaaaar!" says Hayden) we came to the okapi and Hayden point and screams "kapi, kapi, opi!" I was shocked, we hadn't talked about the okapi since June and he just blurted it out when we saw them. I LOVE this kid!

Summer with the Brandows

It has been an amazing summer here... we have kept super busy doing anything but stay inside. We have gotten to take advantage of lots of beach days, an obscene 18 days in Maui and local attractions, Legoland, the Zoo and the Wild Animal park. We had all our friends with kiddos over to BBQ and check out jazz in the park down the street. The kids were so cute eating together at their picnic table. Labor day is almost here and I feel like summer has just flown by! Now we are rounding the summer out with a massive heat wave and we can't justify going outside for anything that doesn't involve water!

Here are some highlights from our summer...