Let's All Go To the Zoo!

We went to the zoo yesterday. There's a free zoo a few hours from our house so I decided that we had to plan a trip this summer.

Okay, see if you can keep this all straight. My mom, my older sister (Lelia) and her 18 month old son (Maximus), my younger sister (Squirt), Princess, and I drove to the zoo and met my younger brother, his wife, their 11 month old daughter, and my youngest brother there. So in all, there were 7 adults and 3 children under the age of 2.

We had a lot of fun. We brought my sister's double stroller for Princess and Maximus , but we also brought their safety harnesses so they could walk if they wanted to. I was a little worried about people frowning on us using safety harnesses for the kids, but we actually got a lot of compliments on them. Well, except for my younger sister. As I was strapping Princess's monkey backpack harness on her, Squirt looked horrified. "You mean you're putting a leash on her? You're going to scar her for life!"

I pointed out to her that at least this way, I didn't have to worry about Princess disappearing in the crowd while I was blinking and besides, my older sister and I used to put a child's safety harness on Squirt and pretend she was our puppy and she turned out okay. I knew as soon as I said it, that that may not have been the best argument for me to use to make my point, but hey, when she has a toddler who could probably give Nascar a run for its money, she'll have no problem putting a "leash" on her kid either.


Anyway, we had a ton of fun seeing all of the animals, but the definite favorite of the kids were the fish and the monkeys. They thought the zebras, giraffes, and lions were cool and they seemed to enjoy the tropical forest, too. The staff at the zoo were all really nice too. When we were all still there at 5 minutes after closing, they showed us exactly where the exits were.

Unsolicited Advice:
If you have a little girl, chances are that you have a ton of headbands, hair ribbons, barrettes, etc. Hang an over-the-door shoe organizer on your daughter's door and organize her hair stuff in it. If you're lucky, she might leave it all in there for a day or two before spreading it around the house again.