The Boulton Blog: We're Off to the Zoo!

2 Fridays ago my siblings had off school and I was equipped with our recently acquired zoo membership that Caleb was dying to use, so we headed down to Cincinnati. It turned out to be a little adventure, so this is just about our trip there. Don't feel obligated to read it...You'll probably get bored. ;)

I had forgotten what time the zoo opened, so when my mom called at 8 wondering where I was, I felt a little rushed to get my act together since Caleb was still asleep, David was in his PJ's and I had just stepped out of the shower.

I managed to get Caleb dressed while he dozed through it (he had been up until 1 am with a rash from an allergic reaction and had gotten up again at 4:30. Rough night for him and Byron) and got David and I ready and all 3 of us in the car with a loaded diaper bag, water bottles, and small variety of snacks to get us through the day by 8:30. I was feeling pretty awesome. The drive to the zoo went pretty smoothly, my gas light turned on about halfway there but Byron constantly assures me we can go about 60 miles on the gas light, so I figured I was okay.

I felt less okay right after pulling off the highway for the zoo exit. Caleb woke up right then and I realized he had no shoes....and I had forgotten to buckle him into his car seat. Fortunately my darling 3 year old knows how to buckle himself in and quickly amended my mistake while I looked frantically about for a store that might sell children's shoes in downtown Cincinnati....There was nothing.

As I pulled into the parking lot I realized I had also forgotten the printed paper that served as my temporary zoo pass until I get my real card in the mail....So with a fervent hope they could look me up in the system and a prayer that the gift shop had rain boots or shoes of some sort, I unloaded my children, scrounged an extra pair of socks out of the footwell beneath the car seats, and realized it was a bit chillier than I had realized at my house and the rain coats and lack of gloves and proper hats for my kids was going to eat at me a lot that morning.

My mom assured me we would be okay, we loaded the boys in the wagon, and headed in. The office was able to print off a day pass for me (thank goodness! Zoo admission is not cheap!) and I ran into the gift shop while my wonderful sister and Mommy took my boys to the restroom. I searched through the store pretty quickly looking for anything Caleb might be able to wear on his feet and happened upon some pretty intense looking slippers. No other form of shoes except the adult flip flops with faux grass on them. I balked a little at the price...$20 for a pair of slippers is not something I would usually be okay with, but I was desperate, and they were pretty cute. Kind of a boot style with penguin heads on the toes, so I went ahead and got them then ran over to stuff Caleb's feet into them before we headed off. The rest of our visit was wonderful. They have a lot of indoor exhibits so my children's hands didn't suffer too badly from the cold, one of the Bengal tigers was incredibly active and came right up to the glass to see us. and We had a good time having the zoo pretty much to ourselves. I ended up getting a little cold since I had given my jacket to Gabby (the tiny girl hadn't brought a coat!) and ended up stealing my moms coat when we went on the train. It snowed a little bit after that, but my boys were thrilled the whole time we were there and Caleb can't wait to go back with his Daddy.

I guess that's it for this post, thanks for reading if you took the time. Hope you enjoyed it!