A Day at the zoo, with no animals

Today the girls and I went to the zoo. We met some friends there from school and their kiddos. All in all, I think we had 11 kiddos! It was funny, when one of the moms was in the restroom, a man came up to my friend and said "I just have to ask, how many of these are yours? (only 3 were) and he continued, 'u sure are doing a great job with them!"  How sweet was that? Anyway, it did try to sprinkle and then rain on us a bit, but that really didn't slow down the kids much, they continued to climb and play and just get a little wet. Its funny, we went to the 'zoo', but we only saw 3 animals, plus a very brave peacock who came right up to us because he wanted food. We kept trying to get him to open his feathers but he wouldn't. It really is amazing that God can create such beautiful colors without 'paint', and who would have thought it practical to create an animal that has feathers/tail sticking out so far behind him that it takes a 5 foot radius to turn?!  Crazy, but beautiful! The reason we went to the zoo was because one of those online sites was selling a package deal that gave u unlimited access to the rides (except the camels, we had to pay extra for that), so our main goal was to use those rides. We sure did! That's all we did, plus lunch, and some playground time. We briefly looked at the sea lions (my favorite), and the elephants&chimpanzees on our way TO the rides ha ha. We arrived at 10am and weren't driving home till 430 that evening, so u can certainly say we played, played, played. Normally when the kids do these rides I never do them because they are $5 a pop, and I just don't want to spend the money. But with our passes, it was included and unlimited, so I played right alongside the kiddos and they sure liked that. T even took a video of me doing a flip on the bouncy thing and then bouncing bouncing bouncing till the guy finally let me off it lol. I really like doing those things too, so it was fun to do it with the girls. We climbed the rock wall, rode the carosel, bounced, rode camels, and took a train ride all in the name of fun! Of course it wouldn't be a day in the life with Rene', if I didn't chronicle it in pictures, so here we go...(especially for my mom, who just left this week after visiting us, so she missed out on the zoo adventure, so here are some pictures for you, mom!)

 W and me climbing the rock wall together.

So cute!

 She's so cute!

 T doing the jumpy Frogger thing. She even did lots of flips.

 I thought this picture was neat as T rapelled down the side, it looks almost like she is free-falling, which of course she isn't.

 She was a great climber! She made it to the top 4 times in no time at all!

 W doing a flip.
Here we are riding the train, during which T always has to make funny faces for photos!



 One of the families that went with us has several little kids W's age, and one older girl a bit older than T. T loves hanging out with her and was so looking forward to her coming, especially since it would be her only similarily aged cohort amongst all these little ones. However, M didn't make it and I knew T was bummed at first, but it turned out to be great, because T and I were buddies then, while all the little kids hung out, and we had a ball strolling hand in hand, and riding all the rides together. We had so much fun! (and she was so happy and well-behaved, it was awesome! Actually both my girls were awesome today, no fighting or bickering or arguing AT ALL! Hence, I spoiled them for their good behavior in the gift shop lol. But heck, I love to give things to my kids and spoil them. I just don't like it when they become 'spoiled rotten'. Today however, they were awesome, so it was very fun to buy them whatever they chose in the gift shop. I also talked to them about why they were being blessed with these treats (because of their good behavior) and isn't it more fun to behave and have fun, than to argue and get in trouble).


 
 This is such a pretty picture of T on the really unique looking seahorse carousel. We rode that thing 4-5 times! The kids kept wanting to ride again and get new animals, so I just kept saying yes (free passes and all!) Its so fun doing stuff when u don't have to whip out cash every time!

 Ham bone W on the seal. Here I am, 41 and riding like a kid! Of course T pretended she didn't know me when I started dancing to the music ha ha

 The camel ride is super short and probably not worth $5/each, but they sure do look cute up there don't they? :)

 After a full day, guess who fell asleep in the car on the way home (with her new cute little turtle ball in her arms :)  So sweet!

 Here is the peacock we got close to. This is when T actually started to run it off as she was trying to touch it. It was so beautiful.

 Such a monkey!

 Every time we go to the zoo (since the kids were babies) I have tried to take a photo on this turtle. Her W is eating cotton candy with her best friend , L.

T doing a flip on the Frogger.

Here I am making it to the top to ring the bell.

Here is W flying through the air on the Frogger.