Day 2: Off to the Zoo and Como Town

First off let me say a little something about sleeping with two little kids. They are bigger bed hogs than adults and they should only take up about 1/5 of the bed. I swear I think I received a deep tissue massage from Logan last night what with all the jabs, punches and kicks I got in the back last night. And how in the world does a child Serenity's size do a complete 180 in the middle of the night and not fall out of bed and then another 180 again so in the morning she it back in the upright position? Also I never knew a child of four could snore like his father!! For any of you that know Joe you know what I mean. Oh hand don't get me started on the fart in the face, that about put me out of the bed! Other than that they slept pretty well and I got to sleep in until 9:30. Wahoo!!

So on to today. Boy did we have a blast!! Getting up in the morning consisted of eating Captain Crunch, coffee for me, the Little Mermaid (which I am beginning to truly HATE!! J/K) and coloring! It took us a little while to get moving but once we got out of our PJ's and into some shorts and skirts boy were we ready to go. Picnic basket was packed, blanket was stored and BOB (my GPS) was ready to direct us to Como Zoo. Oh and I also found out that you should ALWAYS have a spare set of batteries for your camera. By the end of the day it was turn on the camera, take one picture, camera turns off, wait a moment, and start proccess over again.

The drive there was pretty uneventful, we did get to go through a tunnel which Serenity loved and we listened to some AC/DC to get us in the mood to have a good time. Of course they knew this was their daddy's favorite band. I really wasn't thinking about how busy it would be when we got there bit it took us a little bit to find a parking spot and we had to wait for a family to load up and move out but once parked we were ready to Rock n Roll!!

First stop the Blooming Butterflies. This is a giant caterpillar shaped tent full of butterflies. The kids were so excited to have butterflies flying all around them and on them. I tried to get a picture of them but damn those things a quicker than you think. The temptation to touch the butterflies was great but they behaved spectacularly. I can gladly say no butterflies were harmed durning the 10 odd minutes we were there.

So once we were done with the butterflies, we had to check ourselves in the mirror before we left to make sure there were none on us, we headed to the Monkey area. There were spider monkeys, orangutans, gorillas and many other poo flinging primates. There was even a baby orangutan that the kids got to see, he was around the size of Brennet. Once through the crowded halls of the primate we decided to meander over the the African Safari Area and check out the zebras, giraffes, leopards, lions and tiger.

Man those giraffes are tall but they sure were active. Unfortunately the lions, tigers and leopards were all sleeping. But can you blame them, they had just had lunch and it was pretty hot outside. Speaking of food, lunch was sounding pretty good at this time also so we headed out towards the truck for our picnic basket. Along the way we stopped ans saw Rudolph the Reindeer, a sheep with a wounded leg and a baby deer.

Back at the car we got the picnic basket and blanket out and found a nice shady spot in the trees and had a pleasant picnic of PBJ sandwich for Logan and cold hotdogs for Serenity and I. Along with chips, carrots, fruit, a coke and jellybeans. Once done it was back to the zoo for some more animals.

We came upon a a group of flamingos sunning and fighting. the kids loved this, fighting birds huh! Then came the seals swimming circles and only coming up for air every once in awhile. Pretty crazy. I had them making a braking sound, to try and get the seals to talk back. Didn't work, but it got some of the other kids going. I bet there parents loved that. The part we were really looking forward too, the polar bear, wasn't even open. Apparently they are redoing the whole exhibit so he was moved somewhere else for the duration. Darn!!

Well with all the animals seen and no polar bear insight, we are still upset about that, if was off to Como Town, an amusement park for little kids. A kids most cherished dream, a parents or in my case an aunts worst nightmare. This is nothing but rides and candy and I learned the hard way, just get the unlimited pass, don't bother just getting a few tickets. They went on the Frog Hopper, the Swings, they got their drivers license (don't worry I won't let them drive the durango, maybe Shawn's car), rode the sky's with Aladdin, went for a leisure train ride, put out a fire (must be because dad, mom and auntie started one), climbed in a large jungle gym, got auntie on a spinning ride (the Tornado), raced cars, raced horses, spun in a large pumpkin, went back to the Frog Hopper and put out one more fire. After all that it was time to go home. Thank you God J/K

We deiced to stop and McDonald's today being that we had spent 7 hours at the zoo and park. So dinner was a simple affair of burgers, fries and milk. A walk afterward, a call to home, (sorry we missed you Emily, we will call again tomorrow), and a little sidewalk coloring with chalk, it was time for showers. Logan first, Serenity second.

We settled down with the movie Anastasia and popcorn in bed. Then it was lights out little ones. They had so much fun today and can't wait until tomorrow. They do miss their parents but can't wait to see what's in store for tomorrow. Being that I do know what is going on tomorrow I had better get to bed before this blog makes me crabby. So until then have a good night and I will be back again tomorrow.

Auntie Diane