Zoo Day

Today two friends of mine and all our kids met out at the zoo for a few fun filled hours. The whole adventure started out a bit dicey when I missed the exit to the final of five freeways to get from our house to the zoo (which makes it seem like the zoo is about 5 hours from our house but no..it's only 30 minutes. That's Portland for you. The freeway system over there makes me want to slam my head into a wall over and over and over. *sigh*). I've been to the zoo before. Many times. I have never missed the exit before. It's the same exit to the same freeway that takes us to the beach every time we go. I'm no stranger to the exit. I just wasn't paying close enough attention to driving and instead was trying to get the kids to settle down so, ironically enough, I could get us there safely. It was a noble attempt, I'll give me that.

I ended up somewhere in downtown Portland. I went through China Town and, at one point, I could even see the hospital on the campus where Dakota works. I just couldn't find my way through all the one way streets, heavy traffic (for 10AM!) and construction. I placed a call to Dakota in the hopes that she would know the area far better than me. She did not but she did have access to maps and mapquest. With much frustration on all sides (and it sure wasn't helpful that we would lose the connection through the hills and dense trees) we finally managed to get the kids and I to our destination. Thirty minutes late. *sigh* If you know nothing else about me - know this much; I can't stand being late. It's just not in my DNA. I had even left home 15 minutes prior to the time I should have had to leave to get there on time. So if you factor that in, I was 45 minutes off my projected arrival time.

But - arrive we finally did and my friends and their kids were good sports about the whole thing - more worried about us then about all of them standing around waiting and shivering. Thank you, you guys. Really and seriously. Thank you. For everything.

After getting through the gates we got down to the serious business of getting from point A to point B and all points beyond. Not easy in a packed zoo when you are traveling with four strollers and two walkers (and two were stroller jumpers - jumping in and out without notice) but we manged not to lose anyone and I think we all had a pretty good time. Stressful at moments, but a good time none-the-less.

The kids - ready to rock and roll.

Kaylen petting a goat. One of her goals for the visit. The other was seeing the elephants and, as I learned on the way home, she had added giraffes and penguins to her wish list. I wasn't aware. Sorry, baby girl!

Kelton petting a goat.

Experiencing the Dino-Walk! That was really cool and fun!

One happy, happy boy! As it turns out, it was his favorite part of the trip.

The spitting dino. A huge hit with my two wild children. :)

Cool, eh? And it is only one-third of the original size. WOW!

The super fast slide in the dino area. All the kids loved it and went many, many, many times.

The dino dig.

Kelton and Little Ms. Robinson (Lost on the reference? See post below this one.)

Watching the turtles.

Another photo of Mr. Happy Boy

My monkeys playing on the monkey swings.

Watching the geyser.

The Three Amigas!
My friends Melanie and Jeri (and me, of course)