So I went to the zoo yesterday. I took my three year old, once a week charge. She was excited!
I haven’t been to the zoo in years. I haven’t been to the zoo with a three year old in even longer. It gave me a chance to practice being a grandma. Being a grandma, I learned yesterday, can be a very tiring experience, and pretty darn expensive. Her mother wanted to give me money, but since I was honing my grandma skills, I declined. Today I’m a little more sore and a lot more poor…just saying.
It costs a lot of money to get in the zoo these days! Not to mention the $2.47 bottle of water I bought from the stand, because the machine that sold the same bottle of water for $2.00 wouldn’t accept my money! And then there was the carousel ride, which was her fav…and would go a long way in the grandma department…then there was the stuffed animal I let her choose, which again, would rack up some grandma points (I kept that one under $10.00, however, the bigger ones were so stinking cute!), and lunch…I was starving after three hours of pushing the kid in a stroller, or chasing behind her while pushing an empty stroller, up and down those hills, in the started-out-as-a-lovely-morning-but-getting-hotter-by the minute weather.
The animals were active, and the crowd was small. Maybe a little too early in the school year for field trips? Whatever the case, we saw some cool sights and had a lot of fun!
We saw the big turtles. She liked the small birds hopping and flitting around.
And the tiger…I felt a little sorry for the tiger as he sat there looking at us looking at him.
The Penguin Exhibit has always been a favorite of mine, but wow! I had forgotten the smell.
And the pretty flamingos, which she liked quite a bit because she really liked the birds!
And who doesn’t love elephants? (And all the birds around the elephants?)
The lion was restless, making little lion noises, which a worker told me meant that he wanted the attention of the nearby lioness…the lion, not the worker.
The baby giraffe is right behind the headless one. You can barely see it. And the bigger baby feeding by the wall. It seems the giraffes are never outside when I am there. I want to use the line all parents use on their kids, “Go outside and play. The fresh air will do you good.”
And the rhino who blends in perfectly with the dirt, and the camels whose picture I did not take.
All in all a very nice trip to the zoo, oh except that I was so hot when I got in the vehicle that belonged to the mother of my three year old friend. She insisted I use her Durango because it housed the car seat and the stroller. It was easier that way. I concurred. I couldn’t get the air to work!!! Of course the problem wasn’t with the automobile. It was because I didn’t hit the button with the snowflake on it! Hey, I was trying to drive!
My day ended with my son and I attending my niece’s field hockey game, which I knew nothing about going in, and even less after it was over. But she did great! I’m glad I was able to see her play!
Cute zoo pictures! Found you via SITS. You did a great service watching that sweet three year old! Moms anywhere LOVE that kind of thing.
Looks like a fun day! I always find a day out with my four expensive but fun
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I know just what you mean about exhausting…but it is sooooo worht it!…)JP
Oh, you’ll love being a grandma even though it is exhausting! It’s the greatest thing ever. I’m not sure where you live, but this zoo looks like the one I love the best. It’s where I grew up but sadly don’t get to visit anymore. I grew up near the zoo, not actually in the zoo. Don’t listen to my mom.