Weekend-o-fun!

Our credit card company sent us a complimentary hotel night at the Hyatt. I believe it was actually from Hyatt but it came through Chase. Marty's work has him traveling quite a bit lately and he gets to stay at a lot of Marriott's so I believe this was Hyatt's way of trying to sway some of his business. We thought there might be some catch to it, but looked into and realized it was 100% free. We decided to take a little getaway with it and booked a night in downtown SLC! We originally were going to make it a getaway for just Marty and me, but decided the girls would love a little break as well.
Marty took last Friday off and we went to the zoo after Brooklyn got out of school.
My little monkey, Eliza with another monkey friend.
He was one silly monkey!
The girls always love the elephants, especially baby Zuri!
Both girls had fun climbing on the statues.
If Eliza has a turn, so does Brooklyn.
The zoo has several dinosaurs all over right now. They were pretty cool, but they were more realistic than the ones at the Dinosaur Park in Ogden. They moved a lot more (even their eyes!) and Brooklyn was a little freaked out! Brooklyn is hiding in the stroller in this picture.
The giraffes are always a favorite too.
We always seem to take a picture with the tiger statue.
I'm pretty sure the reason why the girls love the zoo so much is because of the carousel. We always let them ride it once.
So much fun!
They got lucky this time, they had just gotten off the ride and were asking if they could go again when some cute little family came over and gave us two tickets and said they didn't want them and gave them to us. So nice!
This is how the girls compare to the orangutans!
Riding a dinosaur!
Being a dinosaur!
And the other favorite ride is the train. The girls got the back of the train this time.
The best thing about the zoo on a hot day in August is the fans that blow water!
Lovely!
And having a water fight at the ball.
The girls had a blast! Eliza crashed on the 10 minute drive downtown because she hadn't had a nap yet. We stayed in the car to let her sleep a bit and Marty and Brooklyn checked into the hotel. When Brooklyn came back out to the car she said, "It's a beautiful home! And it smells good too!" I laughed and laughed! She knows a high-quality hotel when she sees one. She kept comparing it to the worst hotel ever which was our one in Logan for the MS bike ride in June. She would say "this one is so much better than the last one".
It was a pretty awesome room! It was nice to have two separate rooms. We had a couch/living room type area where Marty and I hung out and watched a movie after the girls went to bed.
Before we went to bed, we ate at Thaifoon at the Gateway. Not a great place for kids. We also went swimming at the hotel. The girls loved swimming!
Then it was time for bed. This is the bedroom area. We didn't sleep too well though because the hotel was pretty busy with people coming in at all hours of the night. The girls were up bright and early as well.
On Saturday after checkout, we spent some time at the Gateway, but first wanted to take the girls on the Frontrunner.
The girls were excited to ride a train!
Big grins!
They loved to pass all the other trains. Brooklyn wanted it to go faster.
We rode all the way to Ogden and then had some time to spend while we waited for the train to take us back.
Here is our view in Ogden. We rode on the top level on the way back. It's very loud on the top and sways more.
Sometimes when I see my girls next to Marty, I totally understand why everyone says our girls look just like him. :)
Brooklyn was being silly! The girls got bored on the ride. We probably would have been fine just riding to Woods Cross and back. Fortunately, I had one of Brooklyn's Junie B. Jones' books in the diaper bag and we read that all the way back.
Next stop was lunch at the Gateway food court. The kids picked McDonald's. Eliza wasn't hungry though. Then we had gotten a deal to try Juicy Berry frozen yogurt. I've had better frozen yogurt, but it was ok.
Eliza suddenly found her appetite.
Brooklyn was just tired.
Next stop was the Gateway fountains. The girls really wanted their swimsuits, but we were too lazy to get them from the car so we just let them play a little. Our girls are both pretty cautious at these types of places so they didn't get too wet.
Marty went out with them for a bit. It was a hot day!
Last stop was the Apple store. It's such a strange place. I refer to it as "Apple Planet" since it's like nothing else. I'm getting more and more used to it the more we go there.
Brooklyn, Eliza, and Marty all found an IPAD to play. They would have stayed all day, but I was fairly bored standing behind Eliza so she wouldn't fall.
That was about it. We had a blast and were exhausted by the time we got home!