A day at the zoo!

I feel like I haven't blogged about my kids in a while so I made sure to take lots of pictures at the zoo today. Well, a lot for me - 66 - my sister takes that many a minute but still. The weather was beautiful, in the high 60's, and it wasn't too busy!

We started off by grabbing some lunch at the brand new indoor food court. It was pretty nice. It used to be really small and outside. I didn't even know they were doing this so it was a great surprise. Collin got to have a kids meal that got him a bear head lunch box. He has a monkey from years ago that lives in the backyard for collecting rocks, so I know he'll find a use for it somewhere. I brought some fruit for Liam to eat, but he wasn't interested. All he wanted were some french fries. The kid loves them. The only problem is that he hasn't figured out how to open his fist to get the piece inside out. So when he is done eating there is always a little pile of french fries the size of his fist on the floor. After the fries were gone he did eat the fruit though.

Double fisting the fries!

Lunch is also when Collin and I had the following conversation:

Collin: This place has the best food ever. They are really good cooks.
(you should keep in mind the kid was eating a corndog)

Me: Really? It's that good?

Collin: I think you're the second best cook ever though Mommy.

Me: Thanks!

Collin: Well, maybe third.....or fourth. Behind Grammy and Aunt Kimi.

Me: Oh, well....

Collin: Wait, but Aunt Heidi is good too. And Grandma Terry. So maybe you're really just fifth or sixth.

Me: I guess I'm not that good then.

Collin: No, not really. You might even be tenth. I just don't know, but there are lots of people ahead of you.

Not exactly a big confidence boost for me. But I didn't throw a fit because we had just gotten there and I wanted to have fun at the zoo.

It was a lot of fun and both kids were great! Here are some pictures, hope you enjoy!

The bear lunch box



Collin brought his own quarters and pennies so he could crush them. I guess he figured that way he wouldn't have to ask me and risk being told no. I wasn't heartbroken about it.

It's not real grass.

But this is! And it was really deep and thick.


This is a shot of Collin making an elephant out of clay. He planned this and brought his clay from home. He wanted to sit in front of an animal so he could make the model look just like the real thing. I told him he couldn't do that because the other people wanted to see the animals too. So when I stopped in a grassy spot to feed Liam this is what he did. If you're wondering where the finished product is, there isn't one. He needed a break and then he stepped on it when he came back. Then he didn't want to start all over. But it's the thought that counts I guess.


The next series of pictures are by request of my very strange five year old. He wanted me to get pictures of him "hatching" out of the egg. I stood there dutifully taking pictures while this took place. You're welcome for only posting this many, I have lots more.




Here is the art that was in the bathroom. These cracked me up and there were probably 10 of them in all. These two were my favorite. And you should have heard the boys in the mens room cracking up while they read them. Definitely a hit!


After the zoo we had to ride the zoo train. Well Collin had to ride it. Liam and I just waited.

This is Collin waiting to leave.

This is what Liam and I did while Collin was away. So cute!

One other thing I was incredibly entertained by was the polar bear. I was holding Liam up so there are no pictures. The polar bear was swimming in the water. You can stand right at the window at water level and watch it swim. I thought that Liam might actually pay attention to a large white bear swimming just inches away from him so I got him out of his stroller and stood him in the window. We stood there while the bear swam by THREE times. Did Liam see it? Even once? No way! Every time the bear came that close all the kids would get so excited and Liam would get so busy watching them that he missed the bear every.single.time. Then he would look intently into the window like he was trying to figure out what they were so happy about. It was the funniest thing. So maybe next time he'll actually look at the animals at the zoo!