Success At The Zoo

I'm talking about a real zoo - not our house. My sister and I met up there with all the kiddos last week and it went surprisingly well, even when what I dreaded most ended up happening.

This is the deal: I'm not that afraid of attempting fun little outings, on my own, with all four kids. I even considered going to the zoo by myself with them the previous week, but chickened out because of my only fear - that Ainsley would have to go to the bathroom (highly likely) and how-in-the-world would I get the wagon inside a restroom in order to avoid public urination. Our zoo is pretty big and old and the bathrooms were not designed to handle the choo-choo. I also trust no one, not even your grandmother, so asking a stranger to stand outside with the three while I ducked inside with Ainlsey would NEVER happen. I would rather find some bushes for her to use first.

So I jumped at my sister's suggestion for an outing and it was fun. I don't get to hang out with Trish and her kids often enough and Ainsley thinks the sun rises and sets on her older cousin. Plus, Trish's twins (you read that correctly) are only 10 months younger than the Big Three and I think it is going to be fun watching them grow up together.

A pic of all of us eating lunch. It was 100% ridiculous trying to find a table and 5 high chairs. I hadn't thought of that...and since we were on a balcony I couldn't back up any further to get that great of a shot. Notice the lady at the next table staring. Classic.



We eventually had to split because of afternoon commitments and not 4 minutes after saying good-bye at the giraffes and 5 minutes after I had asked the "do you have to go potty" question, I got the "Mommy, I really have to go potty". Seriously. My sister and her crew long gone, we walked around in search of a bathroom and I prayed it would somehow work out. Maybe I could ask a zoo worker to watch the triplets scream while I took Ainsley in (my insane mind "rationalized" that if something horrific happened to my babies there would be an organization I could go all-levels-of-crazy-on). No zoo workers present. Maybe she could hold it? "No, I have to go now." Maybe...oh man. It will work out. It will all work out. And it did. Not perfectly, of course, but we survived. There was an ancient handicapped restroom near the bird house and I was able to pull the wagon straight in, block all the stalls with it (and did not care), find relief for A, and then pull the wagon back out the way we came. The three totally flipped out over the hand-dryers and the whole thing was completely unsanitary, but it was fine. Add the zoo to our list of activities.

I did notice that the monkey house at our zoo was much, much cleaner and neater (albeit smellier) than Chez Laird...