The Zoo

So we hit the zoo this past weekend. Remind us never to go on the weekend again! Seriously if it didn't take so long to get there I would have just left when I saw how long the line to get in was. It never let up, people, people everywhere! It was not the relaxing time I thought it would be. Instead I was on edge as the girls kept getting "lost"in the crowd. They didn't think they were lost, but I really hate not being able to see one of the children when we are out in public. It was pretty hot, and I was very glad that I made some lemonade to take along. It was a last minute idea, a very good one though. I think we drank up all 4 quarts (for my sister, that would be one gallon :-)) before we were half way through the zoo.

The girls were all looking forward to the carousel ride they now have mid way through the zoo journey. Of course it was jam packed with people. There was one very, very long line that Jeremiah thought was for the carousel tickets. It turned out that it was the line for ice cream. Jeremiah did not want to fight the crowds for a ride on the carousel. Never mind that tickets are two dollars each! But the girls puppy eye looks, and pleadings won out and we turned back to get in line for tickets. We decided that we would park the stroller and then get in line. As we were getting the boys out of the stroller someone walked up to us and asked if we needed any tickets. We said, yes, and they handed us two tickets. Wow, how cool we thought. We went back to getting the boys out and a few seconds later someone else came up to us and asked if we needed any tickets. They also gave us two tickets. Wow, we had half of us covered and we still hadn't gotten the boys out of the stroller. We were just lifting them out when another person came up and asked us if we wanted any tickets. Imagine our surprise when they handed us four tickets! Wow. When we got in line we realized that we only needed six tickets as parents ride free if they are standing next to their children. After our ride we gave the two extra tickets away. Jed was really enamored with the carousel and wanted to go on again. But we decided to just continue on our way. As we were getting the boys in the stroller someone came up to us and asked if we wanted any tickets. We were about to say no, but then they handed us ten tickets!! So we all got to go on again, and give away even more tickets than the first time! How awesome!


We decided to go into the zoo the opposite way than we normally do. That left the playground last. The kids were pretty zonked out with all that walking and then playground time! Come to think of it, Jeremiah and I were pretty zonked out too :-) The photos here of the zoo are all from Jeremiah. He had the camera the whole time. Hmmmm, I don't know about this sharing thing :-) Actually it works out pretty well as he is into nature photography and I'm into people, so we have everything covered.


The majestic lion stretching. I think this was Jed's favorite.

Sight of the giraffe got Jonah all excited. He was in the stroller at the time and wanted to get out asap so he could get a better look.

Mr. Zebra

This was Jed looking at the lion. Jeremiah was being creative by catching his reflection in the photo.

Three of the four girls on the carousel. Flannery soon joined them after the picture was taken. She had first chosen to ride the zebra, then decided to join her sisters. I am certain she is very glad she did, as they were sitting in a 'nest' that has a wheel in the middle so that you can spin yourself silly! At first the little boy was a bit freaked out by how fast they were going, but then he was all smiles.

Jonah getting a break from the stroller. It was so crowded that they needed to be in the stroller most of the time. Once they got out and found freedom they had ideas of their own of which way to go. Somehow that was never the way we were headed!

Jed was in utter amazement with the carousel. He LOVED it. I suppose he would have been happy to have stayed on it for the remainder of our trip.

See, all smiles :-)

This was a new addition to the zoo. Well, you can't actually see the new addition, just Saoirse looking at the new addition. They made these man made geysers that would go off every five minutes. It was pretty neat to watch, at least until they died down. But then they just ran back and forth on the wooden pathway. Or they did what Flannery was doing....

....looking for rocks for her rock collection. The girls had picked up a large amount of rocks from the parking lot to take home. That didn't last long as the weight of all of our stuff on the bottom of the stroller made the cardboard break, resulting in the bottom of the stroller dragging on the ground. So out went their 'beautiful' rocks. Flannery thought that since these ones were so small......

Yours truly at the new addition. I don't look worn out do I?

The girls were looking forward to getting their picture taken on the buffalo. I couldn't figure out why they were so excited to be going to the prairie exhibit. Once we were there I soon found out. Flannery was first in line.

Moira was next.

And then came Isabella. Saoirse was a bit too scared to get up that high. The funny thing was a lot of people were taking pictures of their kids standing next to the buffalo. I don't think by the looks on their faces that they appreciated our idea of sitting on TOP of the buffalo. Hmmm, bad us.

Ahh, the much anticipated playground. Jedidiah has just started to go down the slide on his bottom. At first with a new slide he makes sure to go down a few times on his tummy to get a feel for how fast it goes. Jonah has no fears, he just goes any which way. This slide is a fast one, and I had to make sure to catch him at the bottom because the slide also sits high off the ground. By this time I didn't think I wanted to end our visit at a medical center.

Even the older girls got in on the action. We didn't have a good picture of Isabella, but we got one of Moira.

Flannery climbing on the spider web. She and Isabella had a race to the top. I didn't see who won as I was catching Jonah at the bottom of the slide.

Isabella on a vine. Shoes seem to be a hindrance to my children. Does anyone else have this problem?

Jonah contemplating throwing some of the ground cover. He has gotten into throwing things lately. Oh, and biting. Poor Jed is the recipient of his biting attacks. He leaves marks! I haven't had the guts to do what my Mom did to cure a certain sibling of mine from biting. The advice was to bite the child back! Yikes! It did work though. I am hoping that he passes this phase quickly!

There you have it, our zoo trip. I wanted to get a family picture of us there, as that is the picture you see in my header from the last time we went as a family. I thought it would be fun to have them side by side. Oh well, maybe another time, when the zoo isn't such a zoo!! :-)