A perfect day at the zoo

Late Sunday evening, I put a couple of things by the stairs that I planned to take on our trip to the zoo. Early Monday morning, the girls had added to it so much that there was a looooong line of stuff waiting to go the car. After vetoing half their submissions, we still had enough for a weekend vacation, rather than a day trip to a city about 1 1/2 hours from home. After a stop at the church to get coordinated, 3 moms and 6 kids got on the road with all the movies, snacks, and toys required for sanity.

We got to the zoo only to discover that they were repairing the train tracks outside the "zoo" entrance so we had to get back on the interstate and go round to the "garden" entrance. It had taken so long to get there that the very first thing we did when we arrived was...

Eat lunch.

We had 6 small children that were *starving* (in spite of the multitude of snacks consumed in the vans) and couldn't possible last long enough to see a couple of animals first. It worked out well, though, so the kids were ready to conquer the whole zoo right after.

And conquer we did! The weather was PERFECT and the animals were out and active and several came right up close. We had such fun watching the elephants, one even took a mud bath by sucking up muddy water in it's trunk and sending it flying over it's belly and back. The kids ran and played and got along very well.

I had printed off some of the zoo's field trip assignments and it was so cute to watch as the oldest ones ran around with their clipboards and pencils and circling all the animals as they saw them.

I posted some photos on flickr here, but it's my first foray into that foreign territory so forgive me if it's a little wonky.

It was after 4 when we finally got back to the cars. I didn't get to see the gardens, but I don't think they were much in bloom yet, so I may have to go back soon. I stopped to grab dinner as we raced back home so K could get to her softball practice. Even going straight to the fields, we were pretty late. Amazingly, K was an absolutely different child than showed up for practice Saturday. She ran everywhere and acted excited to be there, listening carefully to the coaches and running off the field afterward declaring it all as "FUN!" Crazy how a little activity can make a big difference.

After a day of shorts and sun, the skies are hidden behind thick clouds and they're predicting storms and tornadoes. Yep, it's spring. I'm glad we got out and enjoyed it while we could!