It Was A Zoo At The Zoo Today

Yesterday Paul and I tried to take Madeline to the zoo. I should have known from the beginning that it was going to be more work and irritation than fun. When we originally left the house I forgot our zoo membership cards and also to take out some meat for dinner tonight. So, we had to turn around because Paul is NOT going to pay for parking or to get into the zoo when we paid for a membership, and I completely agree with him, but it was still very irritating to have to turn around and drive back.

So, second time around I took some meat out for dinner (check) and we were on our way to the zoo with our membership cards (check). On our way we decided to stop at Sonic to have some lunch, rather than pay for lunch in the zoo cause it is expensive. You know how you drive up to the thing and push the button and the girl talks to you? Well, for some reason the girl couldn't hear Paul and he couldn't understand her. I understood her, most of the time, but she was really quiet. There was a lot of, "WHAT??" and "NO, I don't want that."
At one point Paul told her - "I want your cheeseburger meal with fries, but replace the soda with a cherry slushee."
And the girl comes backs with - "Mus sher her her May-o-naysh"

And Paul was like, "WHAT?!!" and I was like, "It's okay babe" and he said, "I can't understand a damn thing she is saying!!!!" and I was like, "I think she said mustard or mayonaise... just say mayonaise back to her".
Then she was like, "Do you want CHEESE on that?", and Paul goes.... "NEVER AGAIN. NEVER AGAIN" and I started getting irritated cause, HELLO>>> we ordered a CHEESEburger meal. This girl was an idiot. The fiasco continued when Paul tried to order his chicken nuggets - who knew BBQ sauce was such an ordeal?

So we got our order finally and ate it right there at the Sonic. As I was trying to get situated, Madeline, who was sitting next to me in her car seat, managed to grab a french fry. I was slightly flabbergasted when I finally saw that she had one and was chewing on it. I have always had a personal idea that I wouldn't let my baby have french fries for as long as possible because of the salt and grease content. So I took it away and she was visibily upset, what with all the kicking and crying.

We got to the zoo, but Madeline was hungry and she had a poop in her pants. So we decided we would park in the back of the parking lot so I could nurse her and we could change her real quick in the car, since the bathrooms are gross. Of course, the main parking lot was full so we were ushered to the far away parking lot. I totally saw like 5 open spaces in the main parking as we drove by it... grrr.

It was hot. It was muggy. We got into the zoo and decided to go right - toward to elephants, giraffes, monkeys, sea lions, polar bears and pandas... It was SO CROWDED, and there was this one family that seemed to be right in front of me the whole time in JUST ENOUGH TIME TO CUT ME OFF AND GET IN MY WAY. I knew that the zoo would be a zoo today - being Memorial day, but for some reason I thought it would be fun and pleasant and not irritating at all and we could totally handle it in a peaceful zen we-love-people-and-being-out-in-the-sun sort of way. What was I thinking??

The only zen moment... sitting by a Budah statue. Of course, I fell on my hiney right before taking this picture so that was fun.

So we decided to see the Sea Lion show. We've seen it several times but we like the sea lions. We like how they flip and wink and teach great lessons to the public about recycling! We moved seats three times before deciding what side to sit on due to a chance of rain. So we got seated but then, poop time again. Madeline had a poop in her pants. So I took her and the diaper bag to the nearest bathroom and found the pull down thing-a-ma-jig. I get her all situated and start to change her and all the sudden I am surrounded by people. A girl was waiting to use the changing table, which is fine, but does she and her mom and her freaky sister have to stand there right with me and watch me change Madeline? The freaky sister was totally looking at Madeline's unmentionables. Hello?? This isn't a peep show ladies! Excuse me. So I scooted myself in front of Madeline so I was facing her perpendicularly and giving her some privacy and quickly finished and booked it out of there. Crazy!

When Madeline and I returned a woman behind us, who clearly needed some attention, began talking to me. She goes into this huge story about how the little guy she is holding is now 14 months old and he isn't walking yet cause she just can't ever put him down. He won't let her. He won't go to ANYONE but her. Ever.
I was trying to be nice so I said, "Well he must really love his mama."
And she says, "Oh, I'm not his mama, I'm the baby sitter." Paul and I thought it was weird that the baby sitter and two little kids and a man who looks exactly like the little kids were at the zoo. Why is a dad going to the zoo with the baby sitter and his kids? Is that weird? I don't know, maybe it isn't. Of course, we know nothing about these people. But we both thought the same thing.
"Oh, well then he must really love his baby sitter." I said.

She kept talking and I gestured and smiled and listened as best I could but Madeline wanted some pears so I started to feed her. Then I was wiping her face and the lady behind me tells the guy with her to hurry and give her some wipes because the little girl who was next to her had a filthy face, oh just FILTHY, and she can't let her sit there like that. It was just strange. She was sort of copying me.

The show was fun. Madeline just isn't interested in the animals right now. We got a couple shots on the camera - maybe 4. But then Madeline was WAY tired and hungry cause she didn't eat a lot earlier and she hadn't taken a nap yet. So we headed for the car and home - but they had this sign at the exit of the parking lot saying we couldn't go left - the way we wanted to go - so we went right and then with Madeline crying and me trying to get her to calm down I didn't watch and we got lost. We drove around and somehow ended up in a scary, bad place. I think it was the same area I did a community project on in nursing school. Not a happy place. Thankfully we had a full tank of gas and locks on the door. We finally made it home and Madeline crashed for a 2 1/2 hour nap.

Fun Fun Fun til your daddy takes the t-bird away!!