the zoo goes to the zoo!

Yesterday we took a trip to the Madison Zoo with our play date buddies. It was quite the trip. We all left from a central location at 8:30. Mya was having a tough day...I offered her up for free by 8:35 so that should have been a sign of the way the day would turn out for her. Anyway...we did a little caravan to the zoo and when we were about 40 minutes into the trip, one of the moms pulled over. I decided since she was riding alone to pull over with her. Turns out her little girl (2.5 years old) threw up all over herself and the car. My rider (Beth) and I helped her get Maeli cleaned up and the car in somewhat order so she could turn around and drive home!

When we finally got to the zoo, we had 8 moms, 14 kids (Max was the oldest all the way down to 5 month old twins)1 nanny, 6 double strollers, 1 single stroller, 2 baby bjorns and a partridge in a pear tree! It was quite the sight. We got to see most everything. We couldn't see the monkeys because strollers weren't allowed in their area and the tiger was hiding. The giraffes and the black bear seemed to be the favorite of most of the kids.

Mya's first zoo experience wasn't the best. I know it was 99% my fault. We rode the carousel and she loved it. However, when I told her we had to get off, she turned into different person and threw the biggest, loudest tantrum I've ever witnessed. It was 12:30 and she was hungry, tired, hot and had a very wet diaper. I ended up having to put her on the ground to scream and people were staring big time. One curious, concerned on-looker thought she was a lost child until she saw me standing a little ways away! Another older lady came by and touched me on the arm and said, "this will pass". It was quite the sight, but then suddenly it just ended and I held her until we sat down for lunch. Seems like a diaper change and lunch was what she needed. She had a hard time settling down in the car, but eventually took a nap on the way home. I took a few pictures of her acting this way and was tempted to take a video of it, but then I figured I'd be tempted to put it on you-tube and that probably wouldn't be good...



All in all, a good day with friends at the zoo! Here's what we learned for next time...

1. Probably should take the kids on these adventures once school is in session or at least not on the one sunny day out of 10 because the zoo was super crowded.
2. We need t-shirts for our kids with numbers (Jon and Kate plus 8 style)so we can just say..."Where's number 3?" etc...:)
3. We need one of those rope things with the rings that each kid can hang on to.
4. Arrive earlier in the day so you don't have to deal with bears (the animal) and bears (the children) all at the same time.
5. Make sure every kid has the same thing to drink for lunch!
6. Bring a flask of alcohol for the moms:)