Goodbye, zoo!

 Last weekend, the kids and I met Janine and Daelynn at the zoo to say goodbye for the season. Actually, I should say the kids and I and ALL OF FORT WAYNE went. We've gotten pretty spoiled going in the evening hours when the zoo is ours.

Bye Bye, Train

Silly girl!

I feel I should just get this out of the way. The train that kids can play on at the zoo is named Lil Toot. That's right. My kids, and all kids from what I can tell, love Lil Toot. The kids had a grand ole time playing on Lil Toot.

The train is so captivating, X
refuses to look at the camera.

Daelynn uses our visits to do some babysitting training. She got a quick lesson in Xander, who now feels that it's completely appropriate to run away AS FAST AS HE CAN toward, if possible, moving vehicles or large bodies of water.

Bye Bye, Sea Lions

While I've always been under the impression that the meerkats (or the things that look and act like meerkats but could actually be mongooses...mongeese?...whatever) are Ainsley's favorite animal at the park, on this visit, she explicitly asked to see the sea lions.

It was a nice day and not too long after feeding, so the sea lions were particularly active. It's possible that A could have sat and watched them all day. But we had ice cream to get to...

Daelynn learned to adapt to Xander's attempts at suicide by containing him. Brilliant.

Bye Bye, Boat

Loving the boat.

The Children's Zoo has several rides: the carousel (A's favorite), the train that goes in a big circle and doesn't show you any animals except for invading geese (effing GEESE), the world's most depressing pony ride (which we have and will avoid FOREVER), a skyride (not until Xander gets over his desire to kill himself), and the boat rides. We normally hit the carousel because we like it best. But Ainsley had been pleading for the train and boats the last several trips to the zoo. I finally relented on the train a few weeks ago...and this trip it was ON for the boats. Because all of greater Fort Wayne was at the zoo, the line was emotionally destructive. Janine and Daelynn wisely determined it was time for them to go home. We toughed it out. The boat ride was pretty enjoyable, actually. We'll have to do it more often next year.

Bye Bye, Monkeys...and Wall

We decided to watch the monkeys as we left...the monkeys weren't saying goodbye. They were all hiding...but A still diligently searched for them.

I have to say, I'm kinda glad that the zoo will be closed for the next few months. It's not that we won't miss it (we will be going to Halloween at the Zoo and Christmas at the Zoo)...it's just that I'm thinking/hoping by the time it opens again, Xander will be over his continual attempts at suicide.