Tuesday at noon - Dave and I were discussing what to do with the kids - what was our adventure going to be this afternoon - pool, beach, park, shopping. . . the choices are mildly limited due to how young the kids are. . . we decided on the National Zoo. We figured that they would sleep for the ride down and then be in a good mood at the zoo.
Well, Luke slept . . . some . . . and Cora chatted our ears off the whole way down there. The temperature was in the high 80's low 90's and the parking lots were full. Hmmm - maybe we should have thought about this a little more before we made this decision.
Finally, we found a place to park, unloaded the kids and our lunch/snacks/dinner and were going to give it a try.
The day ended up going well - Cora LOVED the animals and Luke enjoyed watching the people go by and walking around the few times we let him out of the stroller.
The "Small Mammal House" was air-conditioned so we took two laps around. We even let Luke out of the stroller for a walk around.
Lions, Tigers, and Bears, Oh My! . . .so this was the lions and tigers section (and the bears must hate heat even more than people because they were no where to be found).
We definitely had to stop for ice cream - very hot day - Cora and Luke wore as much as they ate!
HIPPOPOTAMUS - This was Cora's FAVORITE part of the day. The hippo actually walked in from the right, swam around, made some noise, opened her mouth WIDE for a yawn, then walked up the steps and out the other door. We had just arrived to an empty cage/pool only moments before so we had a front row view - about 6 feet away from the entire event. The look on her face was priceless!!!!!!!!
There were "misting posts" where you could walk through misting water to cool off. Another highlight of the afternoon - until Cora fell down and got all muddy!
After the zoo we decided to stop to eat (we were in DC at 5:30 pm and needing to head out of the city with everyone else during rush hour - certainly didn't want to take two hours to get home). Dinner was a less then perfect event; Luke was not interested in the food we picked for him and Cora was sleepy from not taking a nap as well as cranky (when she got out of the car she decided to touch the tail pipe and burnt a tiny little blister into her thumb - I know parent of the year award here we come). So we cut our losses, got the check, and decided to take the scenic route home.
Overall, I was pleased with the day and the children's behaviors. I look forward to doing it again as well as heading over to the Baltimore Aquarium for another outing. :-)
0 comments: