Zoo: Before it Went South
June 02 2010 Posted in: Daily Life
Archive for the ‘trip’ Tag
Are We There Yet?
June 01 2010 Posted in: Daily Life
I thought the “are we there yet?” repetition during roadtrips was a family comedy cliche, meant to garner laughs in movies starring Chevy Chase or Ice Cube but not lauded in a lot of real life truth. Like with most everything else, though, my 6 year old son has proven me wrong.
The entire way there, this is what we heard. “Mommy, how much longer?”
“I don’t know.”
“Give me a number!”
“I can’t say an exact number. There’s traffic and a lot of things to consider.”
“Daddy, how much longer?”
And it went on like this for the two hours it took to get there, which could have been half a day for all the fuss from the backseat.
Then on the way home, “I want to go home! Why aren’t we home yet?”
“We’ll be home soon.”
“Mommy, how much longer?”
“Around 30 minutes or so.”
“Daddy, tell me exactly how much longer.”
Between Abby’s incessant blabbering and random ear-splitting attacks of crying, Buzz’s instigating, and Jedi’s neverending are we there yet? loop, peaceful and quiet scene-gazing car rides just aren’t what they used to be. Namely, they are anything but peaceful and quiet. Where’s Ice Cube when you need him?
I Love the Zoo but It Didn’t Love Me
May 31 2010 Posted in: Daily Life
Dear St. Louis Zoo,
The only zoo I had ever visited previously was our local zoo, which can actually be classified more as a farm. Maybe it doesn’t take a lot to impress me because of this, but I was very impressed. Your zoo is big. And where our local zoo houses donkeys and goats, yours has real wild animals. Sea Lions! Elephants! Bears! Up close and personal. I was possibly more amazed than my kids.
Though my favorite experience, hands down, had to be the hippos. To watch these giant creatures swim directly in front of my boys’ delighted faces, their squeals echoing across the aquarium. This alone was worth the trip.
Unfortunately, I missed some of my other most sought after exhibits. I was unable to see the giraffes and the zebras. The rest of my family did, however, and they took a few blurry iPhone pictures in my absence. Because as they were strolling through that section of animals, my head was busy spinning.
And that is really the point of this letter. I wanted to apologize for getting sick in one of your garbage cans. In front of the food court. I would also like to apologize to the innocent patrons who happened to be in the line of view to such a horrible spectacle. I am so, so sorry. Words can not even say. It was not one of my finer moments.
We do plan to visit again in the future, to hopefully see the number of things that we missed this time around. Like the stingrays and riding the trains, and I would love to witness the giraffes myself. Except we should probably wait until the weather is cooler, since there is just something about the sun and my blaring white skin that do not mix. That is if you don’t have a sign posted, banning my entrance.
Signed,
Let’s never speak of this again, OK?
Flint
July 07 2009 Posted in: Daily Life
Surprise! Get a few things together, we’re going on a road trip! To… mow the grass? What could possibly be more fun than driving 1,000 miles roundtrip on a busy 4th of July weekend with 3 small kids in the car all just to mow some grass? Seriously? Mow the grass? If that doesn’t say side-splitting good time, then I don’t know what.
I am envious of everyone who has been able to enjoy the beach as part of their vacation. I got to quickly sight-see around Flint, Michigan.
Amid this excursion, we took at least 20 wrong turns. I have a long list of small towns where we had to stop for bathroom breaks. Abby cried so hard she vomited in the backseat. We spent 3 hours until midnight just to find a motel. We slowly passed through bumper to bumper road construction and Chicago and have I mentioned that I absolutely with every fiber of my being HATE traffic. I was a mess of nail-biting paranoia and stress for the majority of our trip.
In all, however, it was nice to get away. To visit some place that I’ve never been before, but I’ll probably be back to again next month. Because the grass, it’s going to need another mowing. (Seriously?) There was a whirlpool at the motel which was greatly appreciated. It wasn’t as bad as I make it out to be. I’ve never been more excited to see home, though.
I'm Crystal. A 30-something mom to 3 young kids living in the Midwest USA. When I'm not chasing my children, I'm a freelance writer and web designer. I like to tell stories from our days and share what we enjoy...
