But not in words - in pictures. Our pass expires tomorrow so today we ventured out to the zoo. Day 1 of 21 day off of school (includes the weekends). My kids INSISTED it was warm enough outside so they wore light jackets, three of them anyway. They FROZE. Maybe now they will listen to me. We did have a good time though.
We took in a "dolphin chat". They have a new 7 mn old dolphin Taz, so there was no show until he gets used to the surroundings. We were six of about ten people there. We were close up at first, but moved out of the splash zone when they moved to the big splashes. Too cold to be wet today.
Have I mentioned I LOVE my new camera? This was with my small lense. Think of what I could have captured with my long one....
Kristiana and the tortiose. Look to the right of the green plant. The Deserts always make me a little homesick. Plus, it's plenty warm year round in there.
The Meerkats were bathing themselves, but this one was just sitting there.
Where are you lizard? I mean iguana. Look to the left where the rock meets the wall mural. good luck.
All tangled up.
Where are the zebras? Peek-a-not. Thought maybe it was too cold for them to be out. But at the other end of the exhibit later on we saw them behind the fence outside - eating.
I just like this picture so I'm sharing it with you.
Tabitha loved the suspension bridge. Any bridge we walked over after that she insisted on jumping on. Poor girl, this is the only one. Ever since I was pregnant with Natalie these things leave me dizzy and nauseus. The kids love them though.
Thoughts of a cheetah "You look good for lunch."
This is a good representation of what the kids were like at this point. We'd been there about 1 1/2 hours and I left the diaper bag in the van. No drink, no snacks for Tabitha. I should have made an executive decision and just hauled all five kids to the van for the daiper bag. Instead we took a vote. Go to the van so we can stay or just head out. The vote was to just head out if we had to go all the way back to the van. (We're in the OCEANS and the van was like three spots away from the curb because it was sooooo crowded.) Tabitha is crying watching Natalie throw a fit incase you missed that.
The remainder of the pictures are how we "headed out". Look closely you will see the seahorses. I'm showcasing Kristiana on purpose, she's been missing on the blog lately.
Tabitha wants the water - not the shark.
Patience is a virture and very hard to come by. The poor zoo person finally gave up and left my kids alone. They just wanted to pet the things and she wanted them to stand in one spot and wait and wait and wait....they "ran" around the pool following the sharks. There was no one there and Tabitha wasn't crying because she was "playing" with the water. Another thing the zoo person wasn't happy about - but she wasn't splashing, crying or upsetting anyone. We were the only ones there.
Five minutes later.
Five minutes later. See, we're heading straight out.
My kids love this as a photo op/play area. Luckily we didn't have to compete with anyone. Brenden is holding his nose because he is pretending to be in the tank. Tabitha's cries were magically stopped by the fish she is looking at at. Can I take it home?
She walked around following this fish and screamed if anyone of us tried to stop her. Five minutes later.
Sting rays are cool!! Tabitha is crying, she is beyond any hope of repair. Natalie is whinning. Executive Order! Everybody to the van now!
We had a great time. We are all sad to see out zoo pass go, but we are going to get it back. Just not right away. We use our zoo pass more for the downtown parking than going to the zoo, but we will miss the zoo. I especially like their playground when all the others are wet. They have a floor that dries quickly.
Had to include this after dinner picture of Tabitha. What can be better than grilled cheese, tomato soup and chocolate ice cream? I'd say nothing, at the moment.
FHE tonight was fun. We put Tabitha to bed and pulled out Scrabble. None of my kids (except Jeremy and only once) has ever played it. We teamed up and had a game last 1 1/2 hours. It was a blast. And the kids enjoyed staying up late. I wonder if I would be able to beat my mother now...I haven't played in a decade until last week and now it's all the rave in the household.
Well, it's late and I'm off to bed. Stay tuned for more of our adventures as we vacation at home during our break. I doubt I'll post daily, but I'm hoping to "keep up" with the outings that we take.
We spent a lot of time in the Dora and Diego exhibit. The boys didn't even want to go in it (it's designed for 5 and under) so I put them in charge of Tabitha and they occupied themselves.
They swung from the vines... 
We found a butterfly in the flower gardens
Exploring the Purple Planet
Out of order but we ran into a friend in Science Works who was on a field trip. turns out we knew his chaperone as well.
Tabitha was so tired...At this point she was no longer playing or enjoying herself. She perked up after lunch though.
More swinging
Jeff's co-worker's daughter helped with Diego's Animal Rescue Center. The kids enjoyed it.
The boys managed to land safely on the Purple Planet
She LOVES the slide.. I don't know why she looks like this - other than the fact she is tired. She must have gone down fifty times.
Driving Tico's car.
Serving dinner...
A horsey ride is Natalie's favorite and the boys enjoyed it as well.
A life size Bumble Bee. When we walked in Brenden said "There's Bumble Bee!" I thought he meant an actual bumble bee buzzing around and Anna actually ducked. He kept repeating it excitedly until we figured it out. I don't know why they have it - there is no tranformer exhibit. But it's neat.
