Today’s happiness was two-fold: spending time with friends and spending time outdoors!
I took Baby Boy to the zoo today with two of his friends (my friends) and we had such a blast. The weather was comfortable — warm, but not overly sunny so we weren’t baking — and the company was wonderful.
The drive out there started a bit dicey. We were listening to some John Mellencamp (yes, we were) and I was actually quite digging it. Baby? Notsomuch. Whine, whine, whine. Mom’s blood pressure rising. Fine. Switch the stupid CD. Raffi! Not another peep out of the boy.
So fine. I’ll give up my music for a bit of silence and sanity in the car.
We got to the zoo and holy hell it was busy! Totally not what any of us were expecting. Yowza. The ticket line was exponentially long (did that even make sense? Do I care?) and there were so many people, it was insane. Turns out it was the neighboring county’s “free” day. Bah humbug. Note to self: check “free” days before visiting any popular entertainment destination. Rookie mistake.
But despite the crowded ticketing area, it wasn’t too bad. We started at Boo’s favorite part of the zoo: the new Elephant Crossing exhibit. The boy loves elephants! It’s actually a really cool exhibit. The first time we saw it, we just stood outside of the pen and watched the elephants. But this time, we went inside where you are literally within spitting distance of the pachyderms. It was really incredible. Boo loved it. Oh, and the highlight? We got to witness an elephant bowel movement. Awesome. (Actually quite hilarious for the adults who have the sense of humor of an eight year old. Those things can poop!)
We ate chicken fingers, a soft pretzel, a cheese cube dipped in cheese sauce (Baby Boy’s doing), an Icee… The kids ran around like wild animals (the theme for the day), jumping and laughing. We took pictures next to a bronze statue of a wolf. We walked for miles and probably lost ten pounds worth of water in sweat. It was great!
We laughed, we went for a long walk around the zoo, we saw animals, we got to hang out with friends. Overall, it’s been a good day. So far my personal happiness project is turning out to be quite the success.
Let’s see if we can top it tomorrow!
Thanks, friends.
🙂
