Let's do the Zoo!

 The girls have been waking every day since summer vacation officially began by asking: "What are we going to do today?". Most days my answer is something along the lines of grocery shopping or playing in the yard. However, Tuesday dawned bright, dry and beautiful. It was a top ten weather day, so I summoned up my courage, packed up our bag, our meds, and the chair and told the girls we were going to the zoo.

I was nervous and this surprised me. I take all three of them a lot of places on my own, but haven't really done much in the past few weeks. Molly has been pretty weak and uncoordinated as of late and well, Zoey has been so fiercely independent - she insists on walking everywhere and additionally, she's newly wearing underpants. In my overzealous efforts to keep them safe, I pinned my business card inside Keddy and Zoey's skirts and instructed Kennedy on what to do if she should lose me, while telling her she better not lose me and she was in charge of holding her little sister's hand at all times! And with that, we loaded into the van.

We headed to the Beardsley Zoo right for opening, arriving shortly after 9am. Thankfully, we have a zoo membership that was a birthday gift for Zoey from my parents and an absolutely perfect one as we definitely don't need more stuff in our exploding house. I knew as we pulled in, I'd made the right choice. The girls were being patient, they were listening and best of all - they were smiling. I unloaded Molly's chair, and Kennedy dutifully grabbed hold of Zoey and off we went.

We saw many different animals - favorites of the day was the rooster and the Prairie Dogs - or at least their tunnel! The zoo does have a beautiful carousel - but I had prepared the girls ahead of time, telling them that I just didn't think I could handle all three of them by myself on the ride. Well, as we took a quick bathroom break, I complimented them on how good they were being and explained to them, if they could be patient - we would ride the beloved carousel. I lucked out - there was only one other group there, so we were able to slowly board the ride and choose our vessels. It had to be one where I could stand between Molly and Zoey and hold on to both of them for different reasons and still see my middle cowgirl in all her
beauty.

We then ventured to the small playground so they could do some climbing and by then  I could tell Molly was not going to last much longer. It was getting hot, and she was getting wobbly. Kennedy seemed to understand and the girls were delighted with a quick stop in the really affordably priced gift shop.

I should have stopped there - it was a picture perfect outing for us. But, then we went to Target. I can't really complain as we made it out in one piece with just about everything on my list. All I can say is - Thank GOD there is a Starbucks in Target! I'm also, shamefully grateful that Happy Meals have reasonable portions and a reasonable price tag. I know they aren't the healthiest - but man are they convenient every now and then!

I might get this summer thing down, just in time for it to all change when Molly goes to summer school on Monday. Remind me, is it me or her that craves routine???