Zoo!! Rain!? Crazy??

Two weeks ago we promised our two sons that we were going to go to the zoo! We quickly picked a date, Saturday October 4th, and placed it on the calendar for us all to see! Wes then asked daily if today was the day we were going to the zoo! The past week he asked more then ever, and Phil and I watched the weather daily, crossing our fingers hoping that it was going to be beautiful on Saturday! Finally Friday came and we ended up at the doctors office. Wes had “Strep” for the third time in the past two month, and also had the beginnings of a sinus infection. We got the antibiotics, and other medications all the while wondering if we should cancel the zoo day. But we decided, Wes had had such a bad week, sick and unhappy and just waiting for the zoo! So Phil and I decided that no matter what, we were headed to the zoo on Saturday morning! Wes wouldn’t be contagious, and we had other medications to keep him feeling well, and well - he just deserved to go!
So Saturday we got up, with the rain pouring down, and we grabbed Grandma - this was a very important thing to both of the boys - and we headed up to the Zoo. We kept hoping that the weather would be better the more north we got, or that the weatherman on channel 2 had been correct, and that the storm would be on again off again. We made sure to take umbrellas, and we went, thinking all the time, just how crazy we really were to go to the zoo while it was raining! And it definitely did rain, all day, non-stop!

But that didn’t stop us - and we are all thrilled that it didn’t! We had more fun at the zoo, then I think I’ve ever had before.
There was hardly anyone there, and we seemed to have the place all to ourselves. We very rarely shared any of the “houses” with anyone else, and if we did, it wasn’t for long. It was wet, but not too cold and not too hot. And the best thing of all was, all of the animals were out and about.
We saw the bears playing, the cougars cuddling, zebras and wolves were posing beautifully.

The Rhinos were out scratching and playing with the large logs inside of their habitat. One of the elephants was busy covering himself with hay and straw. The Giraffes must have been surprised at their unusually empty house, and sniffed at Phil’s hands and tried to lick my camera. The cheetah ran and tried to catch the magpies that courageously wanted to share his house.

The tiger prowled just two feet away from us, pacing back and forth. The gorillas were housed inside and we watched them feeding. - did you know that one of their favorite things to eat is elbow macaroni.

The penguins were playing, diving and swimming, instead of all crowded into the only shaded area they could find. Even the animals that are always housed inside, seemed to be more playful. The monkeys came over to the windows and watched us. The lemurs were jumping and doing tricks, the porcupine jumped up on the window and seemed to wave at Wes.

The turtles were swimming and moving and eating. Many of the snakes seemed to be checking things out, and moving around, and the frogs were all leaping and hopping.

And last but not least the boys got to do things like:
- Posing with all of the statues that are usually surrounded by crowds of people.

- Jump and dance in the large puddles, and play under the water that was falling from the roofs.

- Carry and play with umbrellas the whole day!

- Ride on the Carousel without waiting in line, and also got their pick of the animals.

Play in the gift shop, without getting in the way of anyone else, or fear of getting lost.

Yes, we were all soaked by the time we left, and we didn’t get to ride the train (I don’t know if that is such a bad thing) But over all it was a wonderful day, and I’m so glad that we took the time, even though we thought at first how crazy we were, but we had so much fun, and were able to spend a fabulous day just having fun with our family! I don’t think rain will ever stop us from doing something again!