"Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God." - Corrie Ten Boom

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Day 2: On the Zoo and My Enemy.


THIS is my enemy.
You may think I jest. But I do not.
Our morning started out beautifully (unless you count the 5am wake up call from Sam, the 7am overflowing toilet, or the breakfasting in my cartoon pajama shirt and sweats (that's right. You heard me.) due to said toilet incident...
Until we finally loaded up in the car (honestly getting quite a laugh out of the morning happenings) and plugged the Pittsburgh Zoo's address into my G.P.S.
And it kicked right in. Honestly, I thought. wow. What would I do without this thing?!? We drove along singing at the top of our lungs.. not one complaint for the 45 minute ride. We were so excited when we saw the end of the cities and buildings and alot of flat space... we knew we were close... the g.p.s. proudly announced in her pious little accent "Arriving at destionation..." and finally we drove into...
the biggest flippin cemetary I've ever seen. And no. I'm not making this up. :)
The scary gas station man told me that it happens all the time, apparently mapquest and the average G.P.S. have bad directions on this one... and all I had to do was follow a sketchy outline for oh... about an hour across bridges, through tunnels.. well, you get the idea.
Not to be stopped... and certainly not to disappoint my very patient kids... I found the zoo. And it only took me TWO hours. (Thank you very much.)
Thankfully... I couldn't be more honest when I tell you that it was still completely worth it... that we had a FANTASTIC day together... and that not even the same strip of PA Turnpike repeated four YES FOUR times on our way HOME put a damper on Day 2. :) Hope you enjoy the pictures!


Jacob searched long and hard for the gorillas...
Jake is obsessed with maps. And details. (Sigh) You know he didn't get it from me! Today I gave him free reign and titled him "our guide." I have never seen such a proud little boy... and I've got to say... he literally led us through the entire zoo without getting us lost once. He announced our next stop with every step. :)

Sam has LOVED penguins all of his life... and was THRILLED to see a huge tank full to the brim with very interactive penguins!
Below you can (almost) see one who kept swimming up by his hands
Highlight: The boys stood with their faces just like this for a very long time...

Staring at these two "brothers"... who just stared right back amid the countless penguins moving everywhere around them!
The game never got old.

Octopus

This picture would have been so sweet if Jacob wasn't standing directly across from the shark tank :)
Caught in the Polar Bear Trap!

This scale told you what animal your weight equaled.
Hannah didn't register.
And she did not appreciate that. :)
Hanging out under the polar bear :)
Sam was scared to death.
Jake loved the sharks.


Due to our VERY late entrance into the park we hit a drive through on the way and saved the lunch money (YAY!) We did however stop and treat ourselves to Dip 'n Dots.

And Sam pretended to be a gorilla. (Of course.)




This zoo had PHENOMENAL opportunities for children. Here is a shot of Hannah playing with the prairie dogs, I wish so badly there had been better lighting, they had a blast here.
And this is a huge sliding board...
Jake was especially taken this time with all things... scary. Here is is with a HUGE tarantala
And facing down a rattlesnake.


All in all we had the ideal day at the zoo... such a blessing. The weather was amazing... and I'm having so much fun with these funny little people that I get to talk with and laugh with.
In the morning it's off to Akron... CAN'T WAIT!!!
GPS don't fail me now...

3 comments:

Drew & Kari said...

SOOOOOOO jealous! I went to the zoo today as well buuuutttt i didn't see ANY cool animals like you saw! Im really glad you're having fun though

Naff News said...

I am not a huge GPS fan either...Ugh!
Hoping you get to Akron issue-free :)

Lauren said...

1. Your kids are beautiful.
2. GPS story was SO funny.
3. Love you.

Thats all.