Dance of the Animal Cracker Circus: We're Going To The Zoo...Petting Zoo That Is

Well, we have been attempting to get to the zoo for the past like, 3 summers now I think. Every single year the plans unravel and we've yet to make it to the zoo with the boys. Now Kams has been to the zoo, but she was still pretty young, almost 10 months so she doesn't remember anything so they all need a nice and fresh trip to the zoo!

So yet again we fear that our zoo trip has fallen flat on its face (still yet to be determined! I think the forces are working against us those on going to the zoo but we hope for the best that it will all work out, my husband really wants to see the penguin house and if I have to hear him whine about not getting to see it AGAIN I'm going to go insane.)

This afternoon while the husband was running some errands and Kams had just gotten home from school, the kids and I went out and put together their new toy. It is an early birthday gift from a couple of friends of ours. One of those big plastic play houses, love it. I'm not sure who loves it more, me or the kids!

Anyway between myself and the 3 kids we hauled each piece back to the back yard and proceeded to put it together. Marshall and Kamilah helped hold the pieces up while Keegan handed me the screws to fasten it together. Let it be known, that I am a mom who does not believe in much direction reading when it comes to building things. So I'm sure the neighbors were laughing at me as I put this thing together. I ended up stuck inside of the play house going "CRAP. How am I gonna get out of here?" I figured my fat arse was NOT going to fit through that scrawny door way. Surprisingly enough, it did! However, now we have a new problem. The kids now know that Mommy can fit inside the play house and sit down in it, so that means that Mommy now has to climb inside and play with them. Oh heaven help me. Good thing I do not get claustraphobic!

I also rearranged our tiny little back yard today. Moving the swing set around, and deciding exactly where I want that huge heavy awesome play house to sit and trying to find a place to put my raised flower beds where the dogs cannot reach them and the kids hopefully won't destroy them. Plus the husband and discussed where we were wanting to put our pool this year. It's not a big yard. We have a small cement foundation area that is supposed to be for a little shed, but when we moved here there was no shed. I would like to eventually GET a little storage shed. But I won't be setting it on that foundation because it floods over when it rains! Nice. So instead that little cement area has the kids basketball hoop, sand box, electric jeep, and wagon all smooshed onto it right now. Planning on moving the sand box out into the yard after we get the sand bought and dumped in it (that is on next months to do list). Then we'll leave the basketball hoop there, get rid of one of the battery operated jeeps, and charge the other one up good and see if it works, if not it'll have to go to. The wagon needs to be put away until we get the new axle and handle to repair it. It's still useable but we don't want to push our luck and risk it breaking mid use. We keep all the bikes stored under the porch so they don't get stolen, people in this town are awful about stealing bikes! (And apparently your lawn mower gas out of your gas can too that happened to us this week, thanks a lot).

After the cement area is clear of children's toys, we plan on turning it into a little patio area. Getting a nice patio table and chairs to set out there. Nothing brand new or fancy right now. Something 2nd hand but well taken care of is perfectly fine with me. Not like we have a lot of company most of the time anyway (I'm not a real social person anymore, I used to be a people person, until people ruined it). Came across that on Pinterest this evening and found it to be very fitting!

We have a very tiny front porch so sitting and visiting on it is kind of a no go. So a nice little patio area for BBQing on would be nice. My husband is a huge grill fan. Too bad our grill busted when we moved and we just tossed it rather than hauling it's broken carcass across town. Now we have to get a new one. My husband is on the prowl for the grill he wants. He wants a gas grill. I do not like gas grills. If I want to cook on gas I will come inside and cook, where there is A/C. If I'm going to BBQ I want a charcoal grill with good ol' messy briquettes that never want to light and lighter fluid that almost explodes in your face and singes your arm hair and eye brows. Gives that full BBQ experience. Along with charred hot dogs and insecurities of "Is the fire still going? Better go check the grill!" (seconds later hearing cursing as the fire is out and the griller has to do whatever they can to start it again) Yep. I'd rather have all that than a gas grill.

Get some tiki torches sat up around the patio area with our lawn furniture and a grill, and get a little pool sat up (when I say little, I do mean little, not a big ol 6ft pool, remember we have a small yard!). It'll be big enough for the kids to have a great time but the husband and I will just sit there....wet to our waste in water as the kids dump buckets of water on us. Hey, it's better than nothing, right? Beats hanging out at the over crowded pool that has zero security features keeping the small children out of the deep water, and where my nerves are totaly frazzled after only 20min at the pool because my 3 kids scatter at the pool and get sooo excited and leave me running in circles making sure no one drowns! I'd totally rather have a small back yard pool that is much calmer!

I can just picture our relaxing summer evenings. Get one of those little ceramic fire pits (or make our own which seems cheaper and like a better idea) and light some sticks and have a little calm relaxing fire as we all relax outside. Watching the kids catch fire flies in the back yard with stars twinkling above us. Sounds peaceful. But not realistic. That is totally not how things will go down. Instead I'll have to watch my husband struggle to get the fire going in said fire pit. Then constantly yell at the kids to get away from the fire "Get away! Stop! It's hot do NOT touch! BIG OWIES!" (This will be said probably every 3min with me jumping up from my comfy seat each time) Or chasing a renegade child back into our yard. And not being able to hear myself think over the barking of my two dogs, who would be on their leads in the back yard as they don't stay in the yard at all when off their leads, and I'm not about to chase them and the kids all around the place. Why do terriers and toddlers have to be so much alike with their ADD/ADHD tendancies?

Seems like a peaceful calming experience, but in reality? I think it would end up being a pain in the butt. It's still our goal. Have a back patio with lawn furniture, grill, (some kind of little shelter/tent/awning thing would be nice too for during the day!)

Anyway. Back to my regular scheduled point. Which by this point has been utterly derailed.

Putting together the plastic play house. What an adventure. It's together. It's not falling apart anytime soon. There were NOT extra pieces remaining once it was put together so that is a plus. And it has with stood my children climbing all over it.

While I was inside said play house comptiplating how I was going to get my butt out the door I heard a voice behind me say "OH there you are!" I about added a second sun roof to that play house! (Yes, yes it does have a cute little sky light!)

It was one of my friends, she had stopped by to let me know that there was a little petting zoo in town this week and she was kidnapping the kids and I to go see it. Who can argue with that? So the kids and I changed out of our muddy clothes and piled into my friends van and we went to the petting zoo.

$6 later we're checking the animals out, dumping a little food into each available feeding shovel to feed the animals and the kids were thrilled.

I was the only one excited by the Kangaroo. The kids could have cared less. The Kangaroo could have cared less. The Kangaroo just laid there. I don't even think it blinked. I think it was probably a robot. (or really really bored).

Yep. He looked really enthused didn't he? I kept trying to get his attention and he totally ignored me.

The South African Porcipine had the kids a little more excited though! Especially when it heard a loud noise and puffed up it's quils and myself and about 2 other parents grabbed our kids and threw them behind us and flinched all in one motion waiting for quills to come shooting out at our faces. Poor porcipine, had no throwing quills. We were safe. But took our brains awhile to register that.

I think everyone would probably tense up a bit if this suddenly poofed up in front of you, aimed at you!

There was a Yak. A pushy miniature horse that the kids loved, a mule, an alpaca that was shaved like a poodle (Keegan got up close and personal with said alpaca he was holding up the shovel and the alpaca was ignoring him so Keegan left the shovel held in the air and was looking around him ignoring the alpaca, when he turned back around the alpaca had it's head right next to his head and Keegan got a face full of poofy soft alpaca wool. Not sure which one of them was more surprised.

That's one big poodle. I couldn't help but smile everytime I looked at this alpaca!

This wasn't when he got a face full of alpac wool, I wasn't quick enough with the camera to get that shot, but this one of Keegan and the alpaca is still pretty cute!

Marshall feeding the miniature horse

Kams feeding the pot belly pig

There was an emu that my kids thought was a dinosaur. (That thing creeped me out, not a fan of the emu or anything ostritch like). There was a type of African antelope, (LOTS of goats), and some other kind of horse/deer looking thing. It was pretty though.

They saw it's feet and legs and body shape and said "ROOOOAR" and thought it was a dinosaur. I told them no, it's probably just a really close cousin!

There was a zebra that Kamilah asked if she could bring it home. Had to say no on that one. She was crushed.

"Mommy, a zebra!"
"yes Kams that is a Zebra!"
"Can we have it?"
"No, no dear we cannot"
"Aww man..."

There was some African cows and Indonesian cows, more goats, some little lambs, and a BIG camel.

They topped their whole petting zoo adventure off, with a big huge $3 bag of pink cotton candy. Oh yes. Perfect. Then 3 angry kids who were told no you cannot eat any yet because you just were petting dirty animals. (OK fine just a little that's all you get). Either way someone will have an issue with that. Some would say: "Eww they could get so sick from those animals they were petting then eating the cotton candy" others would say "OMG quit being a germaphobe and just give them some cotton candy, it won't kill them it'll make them stronger we ate worse when we were growing up" Others yet would say "OMG I CANNOT BELIEVE YOU GAVE THEM COTTON CANDY! Their teeth are going to fall out and they are going to be fat fat fat and it's all your fault!" Others might say "*gasp* You went to a PETTING zoo!? Where's PETA. That's awful. Teaching your kids to keep animals in cages. HORRIBLE" and others might say I was awful for letting the kids touch the animals. Aye yi yi. You can't win. So at the end of the day, my 3 kids were happy, had just had a wonderful experience with animals they NEVER get to see on a regular basis, they learnerd about each of these animals, had a wonderful outting with Mommy, had a slight sugar high, got totally wore out and were all asleep by 6:30 tonight. They all fell asleep with smiles on their faces, no doubt dreaming of today's adventures. I finished my day out cleaning up grimey little bodies, getting the most amazing snuggles from my babies. That's all that counts at the end of the day. I did what was best for us. We had fun together as a family. They know they are loved. They know they are special. They know mommy is obsessed with Kangaroos, and afraid of emu's and porcipines.

Easier said than done when you have small children. When we first pulled up and I saw this sign, I laughed and rolled my eyes. I was like "ooook so they have an issue with people trying to feed themselves to the animals? Ha!" And then we went in, and then I had 3 small children with 3 sets of hands to keep an eye on. There was a little finger nuzzling going on from the miniature horse the alpaca and a couple of goats, but no one bit. The kids didn't freak out, and they got a valuable experience. And NO ONE lost a finger.