To the Zoo!

You would have thought Christmas arrived early around here last Saturday morning. Earlier in the week we decided we needed to get out of the house since we’ve spent the last few weekends cooped up at home with colds and such. Kevin had heard REI was having their annual garage sale and we hadn’t been to the Zoo yet this year so we decided to head to Boise. We also told the kids. So 6:30am on Saturday Jack cracks his eyes open and the first words out of his mouth are, “We need to get on the highway!,” followed by, “We need to get some doughnuts!”

I told him we weren’t going anywhere until he got dressed and his sister was awake. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him move so fast to put his clothes on before. Then he was bouncing around impatiently waiting for Sister to get dressed (not to mention Mom and Dad) and talking about all the “thousands and thousands” of truck that drive on the highway. It’s true folks, Jack gets more excited about driving on the highway and seeing the big rigs than the actual visit to Boise. He is turning out to be an awesome kid to take on road trips. Emilie is not to shabby either.

By 7:30 we were on the highway with doughnuts in hand. Made it to Boise about 9:30, and By 9:45 we’d figured out the REI garage sale was going to be a bust. I understand they had some great deals but there was a massively huge line of people standing around waiting to go into the back room area where the merchandise was, and while Kevin and I could have waited around, it would have been a disaster with the kids.

 

 

Oh well, Cabela’s to the rescue. They were having a semi-annual sidewalk sale and outdoor day. Busy, but no lines to wait in and lots of ATVs to sit on. Emilie cracks me up. She had ‘tested’ out a child-sized ATV in the toy area and was put out that the box wouldn’t come off the bottom. How can you drive with a cardboard box stuck to your tires? She was much happier when we moved on to the full sized ones. Jack even found one hooked to a trailer. He then points at the hitch and says, “Mom, is this a three-point hitch?”….uhhhhhhhh. Wow, guess I’m going to learn about different types of hitches now. Pretty sure it wasn’t, but I’m not sure exactly what a three-point hitch is.

A quick lunch later and we moseyed on over to the zoo. It was overcast all day so naturally by the time we got to the zoo it was also time to cut loose and rain. Not to worry, I dug deep into my PNW heritage and bought the kids umbrellas and we soldiered on anyways. Everyone should try the zoo in the rain at least once in their lifetime. It brings out a different set on animals that you might not see normally. Like Canada Geese….just kidding. Seriously though, they were everywhere.

We even got to ride on the carousel this time. I’m pretty sure this was a first for both kids. Not just the carousel at the zoo, but merry-go-rounds in general. Jack chose a camel (and didn’t get my Peter O’Toole/Lawrence of Arabia jokes at all) and Emilie a lion. Because they are both under the “this high” line I got to ride too. No seatbelts on this ride so somebody has got to hang on to their belt loops I suppose. Not sure if it’s and age thing or the fact I had to stand sideways but it was a little dizzying. Here’s to hoping for growth spurts!

Right about the time we finished up seeing everything it really started to pour so we called it a day and headed for the barn. The fact the kids were both out like lights after about 30 minutes was proof enough that they’d had a good day. They managed to wake up by the time we hit Buhl. I think they smelled the creamery in advance. So after a quick ice cream cone (in the rain) we trotted on home. Looking forward to some slightly warmer weather and more zoo trips this year.

A final parting shot. This one is a Kevin picture… I’ll take credit for the cropping but it’s a nice shot all around.