Lions, and Tigers, and Ninja Turtles

I was having a little mom guilt after spring break, because I didn't get to take the kiddos to do anything fun (even though at this point they have no clue what spring break even is). Not to mention they have two parents who have jobs that require them to work weekends and holidays- and to help out some coworkers I picked up an extra day of work that week. Soooooo a trip over spring break was not on our agenda. Not to mention, I hate crowds. I'm a very social person- I rarely like to be alone, but I hate the feeling of confinement. Instead, I decided we'd take a day trip to the Caldwell Zoo the next week. And boy did the kids have fun! The Caldwell Zoo is by far one of my favorite places, I remember as a kid going there. It's highly affordable and just big enough that by the end you're ready to be done. We went with a couple that we have been friends with for a very long time, they have a little boy that is sandwiched in between my boys age. He's pretty much like a third child. If Dylan isn't with us, we will hear about how Dylan should be with us. They are the three amigos.Tyler is about an hour and a half away, so of course we had to hit up a gas station before we got there. Here are the three amigos playing in the rocking chairs in front of the gas station. A gas station in Texas isn't complete without some rocking chairs in front of it!

We get to the zoo and all the kids are super excited. Evan is literally mesmerized by the "famingos." Proper English pronunciation- flamingos. While the other two act like they are ready to full sprint their way through the exhibits. While I was sharing in Evan's excitement of the flamingos my friend Kelli informs me that I should look at my child. Never good. Low and behold, Ethan has decided to whip it out and pee into the zoo exhibit. I hate to say it, but you can't take the B-town out of this sweet child. Just a country boy, doing country things. We had a talk about public urination and when and where to do it. Hopefully it will stick, but something in my gut tells me this won't be my last time to see this. Being the over-picture taking mama that I am, of course I had to hurry up and take a picture of his sin. Strictly for proof later in life of how I got all my gray hairs and prescription for blood pressure medication.

Out of all the kids, Evan by far had the best time. Don't get me wrong, they ALL had a good time, but Evan was so entranced in all the animals. He was always the last one to leave every exhibit, and that was pretty much always with force. He'd scream the animals names as soon as he saw them, with such excitement. These are the moments that will forever be burned in my memory. Yes, the peeing is pretty unforgettable, but just seeing the excitement written all over their faces made the whole trip worth while. Evan is a huge Ninja Turtle fan…huge! And when he saw the turtles, they weren't just turtles, they were "NINJA TURTLES!"

   

The boys were mesmerized by the snakes…..of course. Not on our future pet list.

At the mountain lion exhibit we had an interesting encounter. When we first got to the exhibit there were two huge cats lying by the glass, one semi lying on top of the other. The one that was being laid upon (obviously the female)- was hissing non stop for at least five good minutes. We had a front row seat show. This female obviously wanted the male to move. He just couldn't quite comprehend- good to know it's not just humans having this issue- I kidd, I kidd (sort of). During the show, the boys were glued to the glass waiting for the next move. Male kitty finally took the hint and not only moved, but climbed as high as he could up a tree. Which was pretty cool (even to this old mama). And what do you know, the hissing stopped. That easy men…that easy. Know when to walk away. 

 

After all that excitement, it was snack time. And being in Texas and all….guess what we found…..rocking chairs of course! Yohoos and Pringles for everybody!

                   

My life- my loves

Definitely unconventional…thinking outside the box. 

 

Ethan and Dylan were calling the Ninja Turtles through the sewer drain.

We definitely brought the Ninja Turtle lovin' crew!

           

There was a small area of the zoo where you could pet the goats. The boys were a tad bit timid, unsure of how the goats would react to them, but they got a couple of good pats in. I think the funniest part of this story is apparently part of the qualification to be the petting zoo zookeeper was you had to hate kids. Dylan latched himself onto this certain man and thought he had made quite a friend. Besides the fact the man blatantly ignored him the whole time. Dylan kept saying, "sir, sir, sir, sir," and the old scrooge refused to make eye contact with him. It was pretty entertaining watching Dylan try to bring out the best in this grumpy old man. I must say, Dylan won the persistent kid award. A great quality! Scrooge kept looking at Kelli to make Dylan stop, little did he realize if he would just at least acknowledge Dylan he might actually enjoy his conversation with the three year old. His loss. Unfortunately, the man refused to budge, but Kelli and I had quite a good laugh about his scroogeness.

    

My FAVORITE part of the the trip was saved for last! Last time we went to the zoo we visited the bird sanctuary where you actually got cute little popsicle sticks with bird seed on them and got to feed the sweet little birdies. Now last time there were at least twenty other people in there with us, so the birds weren't solely focused on us. They had variety. Not this time. I ranted and raved the whole trip about how they were just going to loooooooove this bird sanctuary. We get there and we are the only ones- therefore, all 350 birds wanted our sticks. They would literally climb on your hands and arms and start fighting with each other over a measaly popsicle stick. Creeped me the heck out. I can handle one bird on my stick, that is fun. Not ten fighting birds climbing all over you. So, I quickly passed my stick off to Kelli- aka Bird Whisperer. This was by far Ethan's favorite part, he had a blast and wasn't the least bit scared. Ethan and Kelli were one with the birds. 

Kelli and her newfound friends

   

A possible pet bird in our future….nawwwww. I've learned as a parent to never say never, but I'm going out on a limb and saying never on this one.

    

We ended our trip to Tyler with a lunch date to Chuy's, which I highly recommend. It was a perfect day trip. The kids had a blast. The adults had a blast. What more could you ask for?