Queen of Rambles

We had the most spectacular day today! We were slated for a zoo visit at 9:30 am, but we were all dreading it. The traffic! Oh dear Lord, the traffic!

The traffic? Didn’t exist. I have no idea how we managed to avoid rush hour traffic on the two busiest roads at 8 am on a Monday morning, but it was an auspicious start to the day. My friend picked me up and Erik immediately fell in love with the van. He had a cushy car seat, a drink holder, and an overhead DVD player. I fell in love with the GPS. I’m a little afraid there might be a mini-van in my future.

We arrived a full hour early, giving Erik and his buddy plenty of time to find a creaky gate and try to escape into the zebra enclosure. When that didn’t work, they gathered up rocks and dirt. Fun times at the zoo!

The zoo was worth the price, especially since we had a group discount. I would have been disappointed if we’d paid full price because it is pretty small, but Erik was in seventh heaven and couldn’t get enough of the animals. This is a small petting zoo with a big barn section full of sheep and goats, a few scattered monkey cages, some big land running birds, some strange African cattle, camels, zebras, and alligators. You buy feed and the animals go nuts. They are all pretty tame and give the kids plenty of value for the money.

The big animals are part of a “safari” which means you get on a big wagonny thing and go on a ride through the park. The animals are used to being fed by the people in the wagon so they come right up and lick you. Yum. We had scheduled a private wagon ride, so we headed to the rendezvous point and were surprised to see a full wagon. Another group that didn’t schedule a private tour absconded with our wagon! It was a little bit shocking. I thought our organizer was going to ninja kick them in the face.

Eventually we had our tour and it was excellent for the kids. They are all two, so it gave them a big thrill. I don’t think older kids would be quite as delighted.

Of course, Erik being Erik, found a big hole that captured his attention far longer than any of the animals.

The weather was gorgeous, not too hot or too cold. I was smart and brought a backpack instead of my clunky diaper bag. Erik was sweet and shared his cookies with the other kids and didn’t run away more than once. I didn’t have to drive. How could it get any better?

Oh yes! Excellent dinner! A couple of weeks ago I made Spicy Polynesian Wraps with mango sauce. I thought they were totally bland and gross and struck them from our menu list. Mike, however, kept saying they were delicious and wanted them again. I sighed the sigh of a put-up-on house wife and made them. I added a spicy peanut sauce and . . . la la la! GOOOOOOOD! I think my cold must have already invaded my taste buds last week because there was no way this meal could be considered anything less than scrumptious.

The only sad thing was sending Pat back to Kanasas. He’s been staying with us the past week but it was time for him to go home. We’ll always remember him, though, since he left his most precious possession–a picture of him and his girlfriend. Mwhahahahaha!

This entry was posted on Monday, May 5th, 2008 at 9:16 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.