It's a Zoo

I must admit, I was a little nervous to be the sole caretaker in a place where my kids could so easily bolt in opposite directions, or be kidnapped, or fall into a tiger's cage. But I did feel a sense of relief from knowing I could strap the boys into the double stroller and tote them around that way if need be.

Until I got to the zoo, pulled the folded up stroller out of the back, stared at it for a minute in panicked confusion as I came to the realization that I had no idea how to open the dang thing. I sheepishly came to grips with the fact that I had NEVER taken the double stroller out in public without Jeff there to help me, and I had no idea how to work the thing. 

I tried to yank on it really hard, hoping it would magically fly open, but it didn't. Then I went over to talk to the boys, because I didn't want passerbys to notice I was in a minor state of panic. Then I called Jeff 368 times, but he wasn't answering. I wandered back over to the stroller and nonchalantly tipped it from side to side, searching for any hints as to how the blasted thing works. 

I found handles and levers and all sorts of things that looked like they COULD hold the secret to making my stroller useable. I was sure to smile at strangers as they rushed by, because I was too proud to let anyone know I was seriously struggling with my baby apparatus. 

I called Jeff 489 more times and he finally picked up. "You just use the lever that connects the whole stroller together." Were his words of encouragement. Uuuuuummmmmmmmmm. How is that supposed to help me?!? I felt like I needed to be a certified mechanic to understand the inner workings of the crumpled ball of stroller that sat in front of me.

The boys patiently sat in the back of our Rav watching me fidget, curse and groan, more and more with each failed attempt to loosen the clamped hinges of my contraption. I finally got the guts to ask someone for help. Only to realize after their kids got out of the car that the guy only had teenagers, and as he admitted, it had been a while since he had dealt with the complexities of a stroller. 

I released him from my stroller's captivity and retreated back to the car with the boys, feeling a little less incompetent to know that at least some stranger couldn't walk up to my child carrying jigsaw puzzle and crack the code right off the bat. 

After roughly a half hour battling my stroller, and several thousand phone calls to Jeff, Leslie, who had invited us to the zoo with her, pulled up and I snatched her phone so YouTube could educate me on how to properly open my stroller. Within 2 seconds of watching the video, I had the thing opened and we were ready to forge ahead with our day at the zoo. 

My two favorite animals at the zoo are the gorillas and the polar bear. The polar bear is so funny. He (or she? I'll assume it's a he) is the perfect zoo animal. We have seen him 3 times now, and every time we've seen him he does the same, cute little show for the kids.

He whooshes by the big glass window where all the kids always are.

Then he pushes off the wall to float on his back.

He sometimes wanders over to a few of the other windows, so in the meantime it's the perfect opportunity to snap some shots of your cute gang.

We heart Izzy.

Forced hug.

Forced reciprocation.

Yaaaay for play dates.

Then BAM he's back.

Doing his same little routine.

I would pay the zoo admission JUST to see the polar bear. I like to think he enjoys putting on his little show every day for all his guests. He's so much fun!

Then we saw the brown bears who could stand to learn a thing or two from their neighbor because they did nothing but hide under the rocks. We attempted a family picture in front of the bears, but Eli had a sudden bout with shyness and refused to emerge from behind my leg. Perhaps he was channeling his inner brown bear.

We ended the day with a train ride. Eli said his favorite animal was "the blue one." It took me forever to figure out what he was talking about because I couldn't remember seeing any blue animals. Then once as he was explaining, he fanned his hands out really big and he said, "the blue one that does this!" I realized he was talking about the peacocks! I thought that was a funny animal to be his favorite, but he is biased to anything blue, I guess that carries over into the animal kingdom as well.

I had visions of a darling group shot of all the kids in front of the Hogle Zoo sign on our way out. This was not quite what I had in mind, but it will do. Fun day with some of our favorite friends!