Zoo Trip!

It’s Saturday and we’re starting off our Memorial Day weekend with a zoo trip!  It wasn’t supposed to be too hot, so we thought it would be a great day to go.  We joked about how the whole state is probably heading to the zoo today as we started our trip..  But it got a lot less funny when we arrived and we had to park a serious hike away. 😉  Kendall wore a new outfit today with a matching hat, and I thought she was just adorable!  I started snapping pictures before we even left.  She played with Baby Jenna some this morning as we waited for the boys to get ready.  We hit the road a little later than we wanted, and got lunch on the road at a Sonic.  After we finally made it in the gates (yay, membership!  We could skip the long admission line.) we started visiting all of our favorites in the Africa area.  Brian was very insistent on being the map reader today!  The giraffes and zebras are always favorites, and the lion and lioness were surprisingly visible and cooperative today.  Once we were in the chimpanzee house, the kids made their way up to the glass, and right about then, two chimps came and sat down right in front of them!  That was pretty special, and the kids had a really cool moment being eye-to-eye with the chimps.  Eventually I had to encourage them to let some other kids have a turn (to be honest, it looked like they might get stepped on by some aggressive grownups if they didn’t move!)  We took a breather and drank some water and Brandon took some photos of me and the kids.  We went to Lemur Island to see some of my favorites, and got to see the lemurs having their snacktime!  That was pretty cool.  Brian got a big laugh out of the “Stink Fight!” educational sign in the lemur area.  Soon, he was getting tired and Kendall was getting antsy, and for a few embarrassing minutes, we actually pushed the six-year-old in the stroller.  (He totally called our bluff on that one!)  We visited the honey bees, and some of our North American animal friends.  The new polar bear wasn’t outside today, but we saw the seals and the brown bear.  The kids enjoyed taking a rest by the geyser as usual.  We hit the gift shop on the way out, and the kids got their free rubber snakes (yay?) and Brian got a cool tie-dye shirt.  Brian begged, and I mean, seriously begged with all the burning intensity that a kid can muster, for this bongo drum with a tiger on it.  Of course we reflexively said no to a noisy drum, and even more so when we saw the price tag.  But he really was desperate to get the thing, and nearly lost it when we pulled him away and saw another kid looking at the drum.  We were so worn down that we did eventually give in, and Brian was so happy with his prize.  By this point, we were all so hot and tired and hungry, we weren’t thinking straight, and found ourselves on the opposite end of the zoo from our car, past closing time.  Yikes.  Luckily, the zoo kept running shuttles, and we got within the general metro area of our car after standing in the sun for an excruciating 45 minutes or so.  By then, the kids were just a wreck, and so was I, so Brandon volunteered to do the hike to the van and then pick us up.  To make the wait a little more bearable, we sat in the story time hut on the bridge to Africa.  Brian played his new drum along with the recording of the story about the water bearer.  We all were glad to relax in the van for a bit, and we got dinner at Cracker Barrel along the way.  Brian celebrated his first one-peg victory with the triangle pegboard game at the table. 🙂  All in all, a successful, but tiring, start to our Memorial Day weekend!