Zoo Day - no pics

Today was GLORIOUS weather - the weather that summer in Chicago is SUPPOSED to be: low 80s, with a nice breeze.  So we decided to go to the zoo.  Ahhh, let the drama begin.  Drama??  For what??  First, Zachary did NOT want to go.  He wanted to stay home and play with his toys.  Art said "no way, the weather is too nice, we are not staying home, we are going OUTSIDE".  So off to the zoo we went.  Us an everyone else in the Chicagoland area.  No, it wasn't really that bad; I've seen it way more packed out than that.

The rest of the day will follow with "Yea & Boo" descriptions:
~ Yea: we found a parking place, though Boo, it was not free, but Yea, it was cheapy street parking, and Yea it was pretty close

We brought the double stroller because it happened to already be in the car.  Very sadly, the two who wanted in the stroller were our SIX and FOUR year olds.  Seriously.  Our ONE year old only wanted one thing: DaU to carry him.  Sheesh.

The boys have been watching Wildkratts on PBS Kids (I love you PBS!), and adore it.  They always teach them about different animals, and a recent episode was about Servals (medium sized wild cats, like leopards). Z and W have been going around the house pretending to catch small animals (stuffed chickens, ducks, and even a stuffed Beluga(?!)).  This was the impetus for going to the zoo - Lincoln Park Zoo has a Serval.

First bit of drama.  We stop by the flamingos, always a family favorite, and I want to take a picture of all 3 boys at the fence watching the flamingos fight (this flock seriously belongs on Ricky Lake!).  What?!  No camera.  I did not replace it after last night's VBS show.  Double WHAT?!, no phone either...left it in bed where Z was playing Brick Breaker (he constantly bugs me for not having Angry Birds like Oom Paul and Aunt Staci).  So now our whole outing will not be recorded visually.  Which of course means, blogwise, it never happened.

~ Yea we saw a leopard walking around and drinking from a waterfall.  So beautiful. Yea, we saw the Serval, Boo she was napping, but Yea, the tiger was awake, and Yea we got to hear her "meow" (a sound that deep and scary can barely be called a meow!).  Yea, we also saw the Lynx, another Tiger (this one sleeping), and a lioness.  Boo, the boys were not impressed.

As a note, we have been to the zoo a lot, just not with Art, who is always at work.  Art was excited to go to the zoo and see everything, but the boys were really only interested in seeing the Serval and Polar Bear (this morning's Wildkratts animal).  So they were a bit whiny and unimpressed.

~ Boo the polar bear was off exhibit, but Yea, we got to see the Rhinos up close, which is rare, on the way to the polar bear.

After the polar bear we were all getting hungry and grumpy and decided to head to the cafe area to eat the lunch I packed earlier this morning.  HOWEVER, we were stopped in our tracks by a juggler/comedian (who got no laughs, poor guy).  The big boys were very into it, and sat down to watch for a good 10 minutes.  Art walked off w/ the stroller and Yannick, thinking we would catch up, but finally came back when he realized we were not following him.  Each of the boys gave the guy $1 after he was done.  Even Yannick (with a bit of help from Zachary), which was cute enough to make you cry (if you are a schmaltzy kind of gal). Yet no picture of that. sigh.

Yea, lunch, boo yellow jackets, yea/boo (depending on who you are) sea gulls swooping in to get leftovers, yea Nick eating a good lunch, boo Wyatt complaining about the "seeds" in his sandwich (crunch peanut butter will not enter our house again).

Art had promised the boys an ice cream treat after lunch if they could be reasonably behaved.  Despite a lot of whiny behavior, and fighting over the back seat in the stroller (again, SIX and FOUR), Art wanted ice cream so everyone got it.

Boo, we did not have much cash and had to buy at the Cafe instead of a "fun" cart, yea chocolate chip cookie dough (mommy), yea swirl soft serve (all the males), boo Zach - AFTER much enjoyment of his ice cream - complaining that he did not want ice cream but wanted a Spongebob popsicle , boo Wyatt complaining he would have rather had popcorn. Yea kids enjoying chasing gulls during ice cream time, boo Wyatt getting ice cream in his hair.

Our trip to the bathroom afterwards is a trip I don't need to write about nor remember (long line, 3 of us in a small stall, loud/scary hand dryers). so boo to that.

Off to the monkeys.  USUALLY, this is a big favorite of the big boys.  boo not today.  boo whining about not wanting to see monkeys and monkey house too hot.  fine.  Off to gorillas? Art says yes and puts his foot down when boys want to go home. Yea, gorillas active and awake.  Some outside.  Very enjoyable.  Wyatt starting to lose it, so time to go home. Yea, shockingly, not a bad walk back to the car, no complaining, etc.  I gave Z a piggy back ride for part of it which he thought was super fun!

Everyone gave the trip a thumbs up.  I think perhaps the boys have gone to the zoo too many times recently to be overly impressed.  Next time we'll hit the less visited places.

Boys' Bedtime

Once, many months ago when the big boys were complaining that it is not fair that they have to go to bed and the adults get to stay up, Art uttered a phrase that became set in stone " one day we will let you put yourselves to bed and mommy and I will go to bed; you can stay up and play".  Today was that day.  Crazy yes.

After the VBS performance we came home got the boys ready for bed, and played for a bit.  Yannick went to bed a bit before 9am, which was plenty late for him.  Then Art played computer games with the big boys while I worked at catching up on the blog, until 9:30.  Then Art and I went to bed and gave Z&W instructions on turning off the lights and getting into bed quietly when they were ready (so as not to wake their little brother).  After being in bed for about 5-10 minutes, I decided I would like to have the monitor on downstairs in case one of them fell asleep on the floor or couch then woke up scared in the night.  As I walked downstairs, they were playing with their sticker books.  They both were telling me that they might go to bed soon. Z: "I'm pretty tired, we'll probably go to bed soon", W: "I've yawned like 3 or 4 times, so I'm pretty tired too".  So funny.  Then Zach mentioned that it was very strange, and not all that good to be up when his parents were in bed.  He asked "Is DaU already fast asleep?"  Neither of them was thrilled with being up when we were in bed, which was very funny to me.  Perhaps they won't ask again!   They came to bed not too long after I went back up to bed.  So funny!  I was not thrilled with this little experiment, but it turned out great really.