Zoo Trip

With Chris on a four day TDY to sunny Florida for some golfing and beach-going (yes, seriously, although I'm thinking there was a day of work somewhere in there too), we ventured out for fun things to do. With our newly purchased zoo pass in hand and the triple stroller shoved in the front passenger seat because it doesn't fit in the trunk space of my SUV, we made a trip to the zoo. It's been a rainy week here in San Antonio, which is wonderful because of the beautiful flowers that keep popping up from the ground, but toting around five kids, including a toddler and a little baby, in the rain, is not easy. Still, we took our chances one morning, and four umbreallas, and made it through the zoo with only a few downpours.

Before we even arrived the boys asked if the train was running. I thought that since it hadn't been running the last time we went, that it only ran on the weekends until the summer. Low and behold, when we got there, the train was chugging into the station and my boys, who absolutely love trains, asked to go on it and I couldn't squash their enthusiasm. They were so excited to be able to sit on the 'caboose' facing backwards.  The girls and I sat in the seat in front of them, except for this shot when I squeezed them all on the seat for a picture.  What a great bunch of kids that is.

The train didn't go through the zoo like I thought it would (and it's name 'zoo train' would suggest), but went throughout Breckinridge Park, which was gorgeous and full of beautiful wildflowers.  Gabriel asked me, "Who planted all of these flowers?" since a lot of them were in the backwoods area.  Leah loved the wind blowing in her hair and was happy to just sit next to me and watch the flowers and trees and ducks and cats go by.  Yes, for some reason, there were a lot of cats roaming around.

Then we went into the zoo and explored the exhibits that we didn't get a chance to at our first visit a couple of weeks ago. 

And this girl was sweet the whole time.  Although I'm sure she wonders why she keeps getting a little bit wet when we're outside lately.  Which reminds me, I told the boys the joke, "April showers bring May flowers, what do Mayflowers bring?"  (Pilgrims) and they totally thought I was NOT funny.

So, a nice grandma type woman asked Matthew for a piece of his popcorn so she could feed this bird.  And then my kids all started feeding it, including Leah!  It was cute, and hopefully the bird is okay with eating popcorn.

And that grandma was there with her family including her grandson who was 18 months old, and who loved Leah.  He kept walking right in front of her and looking right at her and she'd get all shy and tilt her head down and look up with her eyes at him and the little boys' family loved it.  He was giving her hugs and she'd shyly give him a tiny squeeze back, all the while keeping her head down.  They were taking pictures of the two of the little ones together so I thought I'd try for one to, but was a little too late to get it while they were looking at each other.

I thought this was so cute.  She was just walking down the sidewalk, holding her hands behind her back, waiting patiently until we got to the next animal.

At most of the exhibits we went to, Leah thought that she should sit down on the ground to look at it.  It was funny to watch her.

By the end of our trip, everyone was tired and if you can imagine this...our triple stroller, Gabriel in the front seat, Leah in Anna's infant seat in the middle seat, and Matthew and Christopher taking turns on the sit&stand part of the stroller, with Anna being carried in the Bjorn...yes, we are quite a sight!