It has been my game plan this summer to spend our mornings out at parks and our afternoons quietly regrouping, reading, crafting, relaxing, and playing together. Since we don't have much of a yard in our town home this allows us an opportunity to enjoy the local parks, meet up with other families, or visit some local field trip type events. One of the darlings had a very tough day yesterday, so today's scheduled trip to Como Zoo was looking a bit overwhelming as I headed to bed last night. Thankfully the kids *usually* do better in public and today was no different, so our trip went swimmingly.
Unfortunately, it was really crowded right away when it opened. Who knew that half of the day cares in the metro would be there on this particular Wednesday in the summer?!? We were the only people there without matching shirts, so it was easy to tell us apart from the rest of the children. Regardless of the fact that we did not wear matching shirts for identification purposes, the kids did a great job of staying together, asking good questions about the animals, and enjoying being together.
Besides being extremely crowded it was hot, hot, hot and humid. There are just so many opportunities daily to learn how to be conformed to the image of Christ, and our trip to the zoo was not without it's unique learning opportunities. One such opportunity came when we stood in a long line to see the polar bear. The line extended far outside of the building and moved at a snail's pace to enter the building to get a glimpse of this furry beast. The kids were excited and willing to wait - patiently. When we got inside the building we could see the animal from across the room but by the time we made our way across to the other side they had taken the animal through a door to the back away from the viewing area and out of sight, not to be seen again during our time at the zoo. It was rather anticlimactic for the children who had waited outside in the heat and then stared at the backsides of adults much larger than themselves while shuffling across the room, hand-in-hand, waiting for their turn to see the polar bear. They had a good attitude and chose contentment as we decided to wander through the aquatic animals building while waiting for the Creature Feature live animal show to begin outside in 20 minutes.
Mr. 4-year old is practicing to be a gentleman in our house, and was trying to pull open the door to the aquatic animals building when a man came walking out rather quickly and either he didn't see my sweet gentleman or he did and he wasn't a gentleman himself and he didn't bother stopping, but he swung the door open hard, right onto my sweet gentleman's toe, taking off Little Gentleman's big toe nail and ripping up the skin above and below his nail. Lots of blood and crying followed, but by the time we got three Band-Aids on and walked over to see Sparky the Seal he had quieted down.
We finished our trip with the Creature Feature show and a picnic in the shade under some nice oak trees. Since Mr. 4-year old's toe was so severely wounded, he had exclaimed upon seeing it, "My toe is rotten!" His foot hurt so bad that I ended up carrying him nearly all the way back to the van - and it was my strategy when we arrived to park away from all the other people (and near the picnic shelter) in one of the furthest lots! It was hot, humid, and I don't do great with blood, so by the time we sat down in the shade for our lunch I was a bit woozy from carrying our "big boy". You know, nobody wants a rotten toe. Twelve Band Aids later and I'm so glad I was a teacher in my former career and not a nurse or a doctor or anything else bloody. All-in-all it was a great day except for the toe incident. We even got to practice some extra patience, contentment, and service for a brother in need.
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