Riverbanks Zoo

On Tuesday of Spring Break, I met my good friend, Julie, at the zoo with her two kids and mine. It was quite crowded and we started off a little rough with Hughes complaining of his shoes hurting. The inner-redneck came out in me and I let him go barefoot for the first 30 minutes. I figured, who am I going to see? What's it matter? Well, guess what? 20 minutes into the trip and I ran into Deyna, my sister-in-law from Charlotte. So, now there is an eyewitness to my bad parenting decision. However, soon after Hughes figured out how to ride on Collins' stroller which made his feet hurt less. In his defense, he did have a pretty nasty blister on his foot and bandaids were just not helping.

Collins, once again along for the ride.

Hughes deciding to catch a ride. He did complain that Collins was kicking him. I told him that was the price he paid for hitching the ride.

I spy something tall, yellow and brown with a long neck.

The kangaroo exhibit was pretty cool. You get to walk into their habitat. As in, there is nothing seperating you from the kangaroos.

Ending the zoo trip with an Icee.

Kate, Jake, Banks & Hughes

The big kids and the stinky flamingos.

Banks and I later had a long discussion on the stinky flamingos and the extinct dinosaurs. He kept telling me that dinosaurs were stinky and I tried to explain the difference but the words sound too much alike for a 3-year old to understand.

Riding the komodo dragon. Hughes liked this a lot since he is in his Reptile ABC book.

We had a great time. Hopefully, next time we can swing some adult-only time. It's hard trying to catch-up with 5 kids in tow.

Zoo Trip

Last week, the boys and I headed to St. Matthews for a few days while David used the free time to study. Mom and I took the boys to the zoo on Friday and the weather was perfect. Now, don't get me wrong, it was very cool but not freezing cold, yet. The weather kept everyone away and if there hadn't been a field trip group I think we would have been the only ones there.

Hughes still isn't too sure about the merry go round. He prefers to sit on the sleigh instead of ride one of the animals. Banks talked a big game but ended up on my lap. It is kind of ridiculous that it costs $2/child to ride.

Checking out the giraffes. Banks is big into "mama giraffe, daddy giraffe, mama bird, daddy bird". Get the picture? I'm constantly pointing out the mama and the daddy with every animal. The baboons made it very easy to tell which one was the male.

Me trying to convince the boys to climb on the statue and let me take their picture. They thought I was crazy. Of course, a 33-year old woman does look crazy sitting on top of a baby elephant!

I could stare at this gorilla all day. I find him fascinating and the boys did, too.

And, we finally got enough courage to touch one of the statues and finally realized that they were pretend and not real animals.

We're going to the zoo, zoo, zoo - How about you, you, you?

The Saturday after Christmas, we met some of my St. Matthews friends at the Riverbanks Zoo.  Between Ashley, Julie and myself there are 5 children and one on the way (no, it's not me).  It was a little overcast but pleasant.  There was hardly any one there.  We had a great time catching up and letting the kids play around.  We headed to the Vista for lunch afterwards where the kids were perfect once again.  It was truly a great adventure.

Check out these love birds!  The zoo has this exhibit where you can go into the birds' free flying area - yeah, sounds great, huh?  Well, not when they have diarrhea!  David and I braved the cage with the boys.  When I first walked in, one immediately flew down and sat on my shoulder.  I was scared stiff!  He quickly flew off after realizing I had not bought any nectar to feed him.  David got pooped on but lucky for him he had on a windbreaker so it came off real easy with some wipes.  I, too, got hit but just a little on the cuff of my coat.  At that point, we decided to leave the birds to themselves and get the hell out of dodge!

Snack Time!

Anna Parker and Grayson Cuttino, Kate Wehman, Banks and Hughes Holman

The husbands opted out of this photo.

When we started to head home, we quickly learned of 26 being at a standstill thanks to a timely phone call from Ashley.  We averted the traffic  and hit the backroads.  You forget how interesting the backroads of SC can be!