January 31, 2012

Pics to come at some point...I did what I could, but it was tricky trying to take pictures and watch two kids. And when I could get a picture of both of them, it was usually just their backs to me because they were looking at animals! :) So, they aren't the most exciting pics, but I did get a couple ok ones, and a couple cool animal shots.

OK, so not the normal blog post today, and I'm running late. Sorry! But here's the general scoop on the day:

We hurried through breakfast so that we could hop in the car and get going...to the zoo! The car ride down was great. The kids are amazingly good for that amount of time. I think it helps to have them sitting next to each other. Flora naturally had her socks and shoes off and thrown beside her and on Sammy (a usual habit). :) We found a parking spot ($8...eeeeee! Thanks, Adriane, for the money. I did end up using it for parking. I think I forgot how much a trip to the zoo actually costs once you add up everything), and we were at the gate almost exactly at 9am, opening time. The first exhibit we hit was the elephants, and I think that was their favorite. Samuel looked on in awe, and Flora made elephant noises.

The day only got better from there. We saw goats, sheep, cows, giraffes, lions, reptiles, manatees, penguins, polar bears, and more. I was glad that I took the backpack despite having the double stroller, as I used both. Most of the time, I had Sammy in the backpack and that way he could see (eye level) and then my hands were free to lift Flora from the stroller to see the animals. Sometimes they were both in the stroller, though, so I was grateful for both.

The kids were exceptionally well behaved all day long. They lasted about 3 hours when Sammy finally fell asleep in the backpack, and so I decided it was time to go. The weather was just absolutely perfect for walking around the zoo, and hardly anyone was there. The kids are also at a perfect age for being fascinated by the animals. So much fun!

The ride home was great, too. Thanks for packing finger food. It worked as a perfect distraction, and so they both were good and stayed awake the entire ride home.

Funny story. Just to make sure that food wasn't everywhere and that the kids were staying awake, I took a short break at the animal shelter parking lot on 27. I thought I would save myself some time and go ahead and change both of them so that when we got home, they could go straight to bed. Well, 1. I had to change them in the back of the van, which I faced toward 27, not thinking that every car that drove by would get mooned (oops!), and 2. 15 minutes later when we arrived home, they had both pooped in their diapers, so I had to change them again anyway. hahaha What else did I expect? As Andrea often points out, with kids, you can make plans...but most of the time it just won't work out quite as you thought it would. :)

So that's the scoop. They both ate well today, and Flora napped for about an hour and Sammy about 1:45.