THE ZOO

Since we had a car for the week, we decided to take advantage and head to the Zoo.  The kids LOVED it.  We went with another friend who we have met here that also moved here for Brain Balance.  It is so nice to have other kids and friends to do things with.  Especially when they understand you and what you are going through.  I don't have pictures of everyone, but when you see a little blonde girl in the photos, that is Abigail. :)

I had ideas for about 5 different posts, but was just too tired and didn't have enough brain power.  Since I had a ton of Zoo pictures that were so cute I figured it was the best (easiest) option for tonight.  So just sit back and relax and enjoy the show!

We were going to try to leave in the morning - what a joke.  By the time we did some exercises, made breakfast, did medicine, got everyone ready, packed up all the food we had to take with us, etc, it was 1:00 in the afternoon.  

First stop - the Flamingos.  Hazel liked the "pink birds".

Here is Haze with the pink birds - I love her little pose. 

I thought this was quite morbid.  We were all approaching this cage and Brody said "the zebra is dead!" and he was so upset.  I looked and saw the dead zebra as well.  As we got closer we realized that it was a fake dead zebra depicting what vultures do to other animals.  Wow - maybe it is just me, but I thought having a dead animal in a zoo was just wrong - whether it was fake or not.  It made the kids so sad for the poor zebra either way.

They had some really cheap discount passes for the rides so we ended up riding the Carousel and the Train.  The kids loved it!  Here is my sweet Brody on his Manatee.

Hazel on Her Panda- what a doll!

Wyatt on his... Ostrich? Not sure I really know!  I should ask Brody since he knows every animal in the world but he is in bed and I am NOT waking him up. 

We stopped to look at the monkeys and then realized that they were our own.

Brody the Kangaroo!

Haze the Kangaroo and Wy the Zoo Keeper.

I think Wyatt and his little curls look so cute as a Kangaroo!

When we were by the Kangaroos the train went by and Wyatt went crazy.  I haven't seen him throw such a big fit in a long time.  He was trying to run after it, he was falling on the ground screaming, etc.  It was bad.  I told him that if he calmed down and was good then maybe we could ride it.  For the next 20 minutes (after he calmed down) He just kept saying "train, train" over and over.  He finally got his wish and we were on the train!  We waited for about 5-10 minutes for it to leave the station and then it was about a 3 minute ride - or less!  We thought it was going to be this great train ride that took us around the whole zoo to see all the animals.  Instead it did a circle around the kangaroos we had just seen.  Brody and Paige were not impressed at all.  Wyatt seemed satisfied and even got off without a fight after one ride (maybe because he was not impressed?)   I was thinking he might throw a fit that he had to get off, but he was an angel. 

Here we are on the train- still waiting for it to leave.  It was funny because Brody tried to tell Abigail that we were getting a picture and that she needed to move, but she wasn't having it.  Brody was not happy and then Abigail was not happy and they ended up in a fight!  It was kinda funny.  Brody decided he didn't want to sit by her and moved and she followed him.  Everywhere he went, she went.  I had a talk with Brody about being nice and not hurting people's feelings and he ended up going to sit by her.  They were best friends the rest of the day. 

Haze, Wy and Me- still waiting for the train to leave! 

We stopped at the playground area and the kids had a blast!  Brody loved these twisty bars to climb on.  I love to see them climbing, running, jumping and playing non-stop.  It is great sensory motor for their Right brains!

Hazel LOVED this little Duck on a spring.  She stayed on it for quite a while.  She started singing some sort of ducky quack quack song.  Silly Haze.

Wyatt LOVES slides.  Especially Spiral ones.  The problem is, he just goes down and then climbs back up the slide.  This is fine when there are no kids at the playground, but when there are a ton of kids trying to come down (and really little ones too) and Wyatt keeps climbing back up, it causes trouble.  We get quite the looks from other parents.  We have to really try to get him to get off the slide and go climb back up like he should.

Wyatt just chilling on the duck.

After the park we saw the Ewoks.  They were mostly friendly once they realized Hazel was their master. 

What I have failed to mention thus far is that Brody had seen a certain animal on the Zoo's website in the morning.  All day he kept asking to see it and trying to find it.  The problem is, I had no idea what he was talking about or what kind of animal it was.  He even asked one of the workers at one point and he didn't know either.  Anyone ever heard of a Gaboon Viper?  I should have caught on to what it was from the "Viper part" but I guess I wasn't paying attention.  At the end of the day when we were all spent and ready to go Brody said "but we can't leave without seeing the Gaboon Viper!!"  I finally said "what kind of animal is that"?  and he told me it was a snake.  Yuck.  Anyways, of course this snake was at the very furthest point from the front of the zoo.  Since my friend and I were both wasted and So were Wyatt and Hannah, we just couldn't make the trip.  However, since Paige is young and spry she offered to take little Bro to see his snake while we headed out to the car.   Of course if Brody is going, Hazel is going.  And if Hazel and Brody are going, Abigail is going.  We figured they would see the snake and be out to the car in 10.  Well..... 45 minutes later (or more) they finally came out front!  On the way to the snakes the girls found a caterpillar.  They were obsessed.  They were holding it, playing with it, etc.  Then they also passed the gorillas, the lions, the monkeys, etc. and the kids had to stop and see them all.  The kids weren't listening very well and I am surprised Paige didn't leave them all at the Zoo :) 

Brody the Lion.

Hazel the Lioness

Abigail the Lioness.

Monkeys and Gorillas.

And FINALLY! Brody and his Gaboon Viper.  They had to pass about 50 different kinds of snakes, turtles and other reptiles before they found him.  When we got home, Brody wanted a coloring page of a Gaboon Viper.  (They are obsessed with finding coloring pages online, printing them and coloring them).  I told him there wouldn't be one, but he insisted.  We found only scary pictures of Gaboon Vipers.  He woke up in the middle of the night and said he was having a nightmare about snakes.... 

Thanks for watching!

 PS.  When we left to head home we were hoping we could make it without the kids needing to eat - no chance.  They were STARVING (even though we had given them plenty of snacks).  We would have maybe made them wait but then Wyatt said "potty" so we had to get off the exit.  We took him potty but we were a bit late and he had wet some in his pants.  Luckily we had a change of clothes for him but he wouldn't sit in the car seat because it was wet.  (That is actually cool because that used to happen from time to time and it didn't seem to bother him to sit back in the seat if it was a little wet, so he must be feeling and noticing more?) Anyways, so we had to try to squish the carseat in the trunk and it was not easy.  Then we stopped to heat up their food.  Brody couldn't wait and ate cold hamburger patty.  Hazel at hers cold as well but had a cow and wanted ketchup.  We got her a packet and she ate hers and ended up eating Wyatts.  He had been saying Hamburgurgur (say it like I spelled it - it is so cute) but then we gave it to him and he didn't want it.  He kept climbing out of his seat belt and the kids were nutty.  It took a lot longer than it should have to get home.  Once we got home we still had more exercises, dinner, medicine, etc.  What a tiring day but so fun for the kids to get out of the house and experience something different. 

Goodnight!