Yesterday, my friend/next-door-neighbor and I took the children to the zoo. (My friend's daughter is 10 months younger than Lorelei, and a constant playmate at our house.) The zoo is in Fresno, about 30 miles north of Lemoore, but easy to access and not an overwhelming experience (a huge plus for me!). However, I realized I'm REALLY out of practice at packing up everyone and heading out for adventures that last several hours/all day. And the zoo has a new water play area, so in addition to the usual I had to pack bathing suits, extra clothes, extra shoes, and towels.
I have no idea why I'm whining about this.
Also, I just want to say that my children are wired to begin STARVING the instant we arrive somewhere/anywhere. No matter that they ate two breakfasts and a banana right before leaving the house; they are STARVING. So within 12 minutes of arriving at the zoo they wolfed down the three sandwiches I packed and inhaled the goldfish crackers I thought would last us all day. My children are ridiculous.
Despite their tapeworms, we had fun. The water play area was great, but it was in the 60s while we were there, so the kids were a little chilly and ready to move on after about an hour. Here's Ruthie pointing at/tattling on Lorelei, because Lorelei got part of Ruthie's leg wet:
The orangutans were a huge hit:
The kids had to climb/sit on ALL the statues.
I silently referred to the statues as "stumbling blocks," because the children fought and argued and whined over which portion of the statue they were going to sit/stand/perch every single time.
Case in point:
Ruthie is really ticked she wasn't up top for the picture, and Ford is pointing his finger at her and saying, "No!" Sydney and Lorelei have perfected the art of ignoring and just kept smiling at the camera, and our neighbor seems to be thanking her lucky star she doesn't have a 2-year old sister.
Happy Wednesday, friends!
