Whew! Our Day at the Zoo

Our new neighbor's oldest daughter was out of school for Spring Break, it was a BEAUTIFUL day, and her cousin was in town (increasing the adult/child ratio) so we thought it would be a GREAT idea to take our girls to the zoo.  It was a great idea...but unfortunately, not so original.  The other MILLION people in the greater Dallas/Ft. Worth area were also thinking this same thing.

To start off our day, we first had to figure out how to load 3 carseats, 3 strollers, 3 adults and all other gear you might need for a day at the zoo (i.e. snacks, drinks, cameras, diapers, wipes, suncreen...).  After several arrangements were tried, we finally found a way to fit us all.  Here was my view from the front seat:

Back Row: Alexa, Cousin Marie and Brooklyn

Middle Row:  Addisyn and 2 giant strollers

Erin's Cousin, Marie, was such a trooper for being SQUISHED in the backseat and also being on fussing baby patrol.  She was in charge of keeping all of the kids happy and entertained.  We couldn't have done it without her!!

We made it to Fort Worth in just an hour despite running into construction traffic delays, and that's when we realized how popular the "zoo idea" was.  It took us another whole hour to sit thru zoo traffic, park, unload...well EVERYTHING, hike a mile to the entrance, wait in the ticket line and at last ENTER THE ZOO.  We had gone through many more of B's snacks than I had aniticipated and so, in desperation, I managed to find a package of oreo's to keep her happy while we waited in the ticket line to get into the zoo.

By this time, the rest of us were starving (especially the pregnat lady - ME!), so off to wait in a 30 minute line to get some lunch.  Ahhh...best pizza I've ever had!

So...3 hours after starting our adventure, we were off to finally see some animals!  Keep in mind, the two little ones are already WELL past their usual nap-time by now so we are very short on time and the lines to even get to SEE the animals were outrageous.  We were determined, though, not to leave the zoo without at least getting to see the giraffes, elephants, lions/tigers, and monkeys.

She LOVED seeing the animals.  She would giggle and jump up and down.  Here we are with the elephant.

And the lion.  Even though it took us nearly 2 hours, we had success seeing all of our "goal" animals.  Unfortunatley, I wasn't able to get them all photographed because of the herd of people, but we'll get them next time.  By the end of the day, we were all VERY worn out...especially sweet Addisyn.

The kids were all PERFECT on the way home even though none of them fell asleep.  AND we missed the rush hour traffic as we passed thru Dallas on our way home.  Despite all of the craziness, we all had a very fun day!  Thank you, God, for blessing us with such incredible neighbors!!