Consider Yourself Warned!

Consider Yourself Warned!

Never, under any circumstances, EVER....

take your children to the Zoo on Earth Day (and/or FREE Admission Day)!

Unfortunately, I learned this lesson the hard way... today... on Earth Day.

Consider yourself warned:

On Earth Day, when there is FREE admission to the Zoo, every single public school child within the city limits and beyond will be at the Zoo.



And the Zoo, quite literally, is a ZOO!

Truth be told, had my sweet Noah not just professed his ever-so-enduring excitement about our Zoo trip as we unknowingly & happily drove to the zoo, I would have promptly turned my car around at the very sight of the 1,000 buses in the parking lot and the traffic directors (yes, you read that correctly... traffic directors!).

Their faces pretty much sum up how I was feeling when I laid eyes on the parking lot and front entrance!

NEVERTHELESS....

Because I love my kids, and because my sweet Noah told me only minutes before laying eyes on the miserable-looking parking lot, that "when I woke up in my bed, I was excited, because I thought we were going to the zoo today", I did it.

I loaded up the kids and went in.

And treacherous though it was, we did manage to see a few exhibits...


and when there was a momentary break in the sea of people, we even managed to see a few animal exhibits!




And....

Against my better judgement, I even ventured into the petting zoo (gasp!)... with FOUR children. But when the goat standing right at my feet decided to start going to the bathroom (out the posterior end), I drew the line.

We promptly exited.

And I am not the least bit ashamed to admit that I may have even squealed while we were in there and my face perhaps looked a little bit (okay, maybe a LOT) like Emily's face in this photo...


So... Lesson Learned.

Avoid, at all costs, the Zoo on Earth Day!

BUT...

In the spirit of celebrating ALL the "little things" in life - the good, the bad, and the crowdedhotdirtyfrustratingmessy...

I will celebrate these very cute pictures...



And, of course, the opportunity to be outside, with my children and our friends, exploring & learning about the animals. And really, in the end, it's all about the kids anyway. And they didn't even notice that Earth Day was any different from any other day at the Zoo.
Still though, consider your warned!