Sunday, March 27, 2011

It's a Zoo!!

Sam and I planned a vacation day for this past Friday and months ago decided that since William's favorite book is Goodnight Gorilla that we should spend the day at the zoo.  We were originally going to go to the Atlanta zoo - but did you know that tickets are $18!!  Plus the gas up, plus you can't bring in your own food, etc etc - so we went to the Montgomery zoo instead.  Half the cost, same drive, we could bring a picnic - win win win.  So off we went at 8:30am, car packed, baby all set with toys and snacks, and plenty of time to drive through Alabama.

Hey Kitty Kitty!!

And the drive was pretty easy.  I forgot to eat breakfast - I know - how can a pregnant lady forget to eat?! Well, inbetween getting William ready, myself ready, and keeping him off of table tops, there is plenty of time to forget to eat.  So I made Sam stop in Opelika or maybe it was Auburn...for butter biscuits and a sprite.  Yum yum.  But we still made it to the zoo in 1 hour and 45 minutes, right on schedule.  15 minutes after they opened.

These were the best monkeys - so fun and playful - and there was even a baby monkey!!

And perfect timing to realize that a kindergarten was also taking a field trip.  yay....not so much.  Suddenly all of my teachers and chaperones look like saints.  Turns out I have very little patience for children who are not mine. And all these kids were just big enough to run over William but too small to care or look out.  Very frustrating.  I'm pretty sure Sam told me to keep my comments to myself (or atleast for them to be truly "under my breath") more than once.  oops...

Posing with the pigmy hippo

Anyhow.  William loved the zoo.  We started left and went to Australia and he knew what the kangaroos were!  I have no idea how - they are not in Goodnight Gorilla - but he was talking to them and pointing saying 'roo... ?! He may not have a very large vocabulary, but he is brilliant.  (atleast we think so...)  There were also lots of birds in that same exhibit and he had a great time.  Plus, the choo choo train came by very close and he thought that was great too.  (he had no idea he would get to actually ride it later!!!)

If only he was smiling - this would be my new favorite picture of all-time...

Next up was one of my favorites of the day - Tigers in Asia.  One tiger especially was putting on a show walking back and forth not 12 inches from the glass and William loved it.  He can't say tiger but he can say Kitty!!  So he told the big kitty Hi a couple of times, banged on the glass, and had a generally wonderful time.

Taking a picture with the cut out monkey just seemed appropriate for some reason

We saw a bison? next - it was a very large looking cow animal and he mooed at it.  And there were deer in the same enclosure that fascinated William - it took a very long time to get him to look at the bison/cow/animal.  It was so much fun getting down on his level with the video camera peeking through the wood fence to see what he was seeing as he talked to them.

We were absolutely terrified he was going to drop that blue car over the edge and the humongous meltdown that would inevitably follow.

The cutest pat was when we got to the lions.  Sam snagged a spot right by the glass and the lion was showing off walking back and forth (just like the tiger - they must have a complex).  William just roared and roared at the "big kitty" and it was perfectly adorable.  Of course, I wasn't able to get a video of it because of the hoards of kindergarteners and their rude grandparents.  We even went back to get a video but the lions were taking a mid-afternoon nap and weren't inspiring William to roar very much.  Oh well.  Maybe next time.

So tired waiting on the train to move.

We ate lunch at the playground, William gorged himself on some lunchable turkey circles and goldfish, we finished out the North America section, and then we went to the car to take apart the bike trailer turned cadillac stroller so we could....wait for it...............ride the choo choo train!!!!

One of the few train pictures with his face in the frame - most of the time he was glued to the front of the train taking it all in.

Poor guy hadn't taken a nap, except for 30 minutes in the car on the way down, so he was more than a little worn out.  He wanted to sit all by himself though.  Wanted nothing to do with mommy & daddy.  Fine.  I like to snuggle with the hubs without a little person inbetween anyway.   It was the perfect end to a great day.  We even saw some ponies that apparently live in the woods by the lake - quite a surprise!

Just to prove that all three of us were there at the same time we took a family picture right before we left

So then we headed home and I'm pretty sure that William was asleep before we had been on the road five minutes and he slept nearly all the way back.  Easy cheesey.  I might've tried to squeeze in a catnap myself but  found it more than a little difficult to get comfortable.  I may not look very pregnant just yet, but this chubby belly of mine was causing some serious car sleeping issues.

Oh!  And because I think I forgot to mention it, and this blog is how I keep track of things like this, William was 26.2 lbs and 34 inches tall at his 18 month well check, which I think was in February.  February 12th maybe?  Hmm...gonna have to look that one up I suppose.  Anyhow.  He grew a whole 2 inches since his 15 month well check - which we probably already knew since I had to let the hem out on many of his pants.  And we were being dorks and watching old videos of him last night - and he has grown a nice little belly in the past 1-2 months.  Definitely not a "big" kid by any means, but a little less of a squirt now.

Loves!

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