Wednesday, May 28, 2008

We're Going to the Zoo Zoo Zoo

It's been a looong week and a half, with Jeremy working day and night, Iain coming down with a cold, and my family going to Peace Valley in Tenn for Memorial Day (that part only made the time long because I wanted to be there, too!!). Everyone was getting cranky and we needed some fun. What is a mother of two young boys to do?

Pack some peanut butter and jelly and head for the hills. Or in this case, the zoo.

Even in his mopey coldishness, Iain LOVED the zoo. He's been talking about it nonstop ever since. We got a year-long family pass, so we'll be going often - tomorrow, in fact, for Jeremy's birthday.

I took lots of pictures, so you can feel like you were there with us, minus the mosquitoes and sticky heat.

The iguana and Safari Joe :)


Every time Iain talks about this alligator, he adds that it was "sleepin'!"


On the boardwalk (My favorite part. This is how Florida should look, if you add in some big oak trees! And it was so much cooler to be away from the asphalt and in the shade!)


Why was this here?


Adorable!



Iain is saying "oh, wow!' about the fake dinosaur. He said it ALL day. So funny! I love this newly talking stage.


Cory kept kicking the back of Iain's seat, making Iain laugh.


He also decided we were doing a pretty shoddy job navigating the zoo.



I don't hve any good pictures of the elephant, but that was Iain's favorite! He really wanted to touch it and kept yelling "reeeeech!" and stretching toward it. But alas, he couldn't reach it. So he contented himself with talking about its trunk.

About here is where we ran into Steve D. who was our (4-H group's) contact for volunteering there. (He introduced us to the term "traffic-related road mortality" too, which we always used to think was hilarious and affected.) So he got to meet the boys, told us about the splash park in detail, and reminded me that he expected to see the boys volunteering in a couple of years, to which I agreed. Nothing like cleaning out an elephant moat to instill the value of hard work in a youngster!

But I digress.
Here's the intrepid animal-watcher:



We ended the day with some fun at the newly-installed splash park. It had animals squirting water, fountains, shower-like-things, etc. It took Iain a few minutes to warm up to it, but then he was ready to go!





The water turns on and off, I guess to keep things interesting. Unfortunately, it also makes it hard to navigate without getting soaked. I had Cory in the front-pack and was standing in front of the giant frog helping Iain with something when it decided to turn on, spitting a cold stream of water right at us. We were both soaked; Cory was startled and not at all happy. He screamed, poor guy! Luckily for him, I had brought him a spare onesie. Unlukily for me, I hadn't packed a change of clothes for myself.

Then it was out to the picnic tables for some yummy pb&j, or "pum" as Iain calls it (for plum, because once we had plum jelly. Now all jelly is pum.). There's nothing better after a hard day's play!


Doesn't he just steal your heart? Look at that grin!



We went home tired but happier. A good day.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey Allie! Ditto. I almost called you today but then realized I didn't have a good handle on my schedule for next week and I'd have to call you back anyway. I can't do next week, but the week after we're free all day every day. Jeff will be in Honduras, and my plan is to keep little monkey girl VERY busy and distracted so that she doesn't notice Daddy isn't around. (I know, fat chance, but a girl has to try!) Look at your calendar and let me know what you want to do! Can't wait!

Mrs said...

Wow, it's been too long since I've been to the zoo! Glad to know Steve D is still there. We once talked to him at length next to the king vulture, and he had all these frozen rats in his pockets.

WHERE did you find the plum jam? It's my favorite! I haven't had it since California! I'm thinking of bringing some home when I go out in a couple of weeks.

Anonymous said...

"...How about you you you?
You can come too too too
We're going to the zoo zoo zoo":)

Long live Raffi!

Happily,
s i d.

Allie said...

Well, it wasn't really plum jam... it was jelly. I found it at the day-old bread store on 436, near the intersection of 1792.