ZOO

After my shitty smug post yesterday about grading, I FORGOT TO GRADE THE REST OF THE FRIDAY STACK of papers because I SUCK.  And I was doing more important things like changing sheets (actually NOT more important), shopping for a suffragist costume to wear to the polls and to my class on Tuesday (might be AS important), and taking the kids to to the zoo because the big kids had early dismissal (definitely MORE important-- harry is 10.  How many more years is he going to want to got to the zoo and play at the park with all his siblings?)

Early dismissal was such a clusterfuck because the little kids and the big kids got out at the same time, and I meant to get the little kids early, but then I got caught up in sheets and grading and forgot, so Jack had to let himself into the house because Harry was on safety patrol. Jack din't mind AT ALL and was kind of pissed that I got home only 3 literal minutes after him because he wanted some alone time on his computer.

Okay-- you guys know I think I want to have another baby even though basically every person in my life tells me what a bad idea it is? Well, a point in their favor after our zoo trip which was stroller free, diaper free (I took my big purse to carry all the coats), and SO EASY.  It was just me at the zoo with 4 people-- and 2 of them could even read their own damn signs and spout the animal facts that I always feel silly reading out loud in case I am saying something wrong and another parent hears me and thinks I am an idiot. (Shut up.).

The kids ALWAYS run the monkey house to test their arm span, but yesterday, Jack took things to a whole new level and posed next to ANY cardboard animal he could find, even ones that didn't offer a measurement.  It drove Harry bananas by the end of the trip.

 Hanging out by the giraffes

 Harry always tells Cooper he should move in with the white handed gibbons because Cooper is a silly little monkey. but Coper has always assumed it's because he also has white hands.  Erm?

 This snake LOVED Dorothy and kept showing her its weird forked tongue.

 These tortoises are my relationship idols.  Look at them cuddling so sweetly!  And they are like 80, but they still get it on really slowly and don't mind an audience.  (That has nothing to do with my relationship goals, actually).

 GETTING SO ANNOYED with the measuring.

 I briefly fantasized that this polar bear relocation trap was real.

 We waited patiently behind another family to take this picture and then I realized that all I really got was Jack's butt and the back of Harry's head, so we had to wait again after the kids spent a TON of time in the new badger exhibit.  Maybe because it is new, or maybe because they have a lot of state pride.

 Harry tried valiantly to explain that this bison was just there so you could see how big the bison are up close.  It wasn't asking you to measure your wingspan.  Jack and Cooper did not care.

 They were fascinated by the prairie dogs and spend at least 30 minutes running up and down the bridge looking at their holes and laughing at their exploits and imagining what goes on underground in their village.  In truth, I think all 4 of them could have moved right in.

 A fairly FAIL-y photo op.

 A cut-out with 4 faces-- almost unheard of

 Jack really needed to check out the other side of the penguin enclosure (see him over there in the glass?) even though all of the birds were clearly huddled outside the door to their inner sanctum, clearly ready for dinner.

 Harry could not even.

 PARK!

 She's such a lady:

 They tried to climb back into the zoo on the way to the car but the joke's on them because it's a FREE ZOO, so they could have just walked right back in the gate.  Also this entrance is practically inside the lion cage, so BAD IDEA all around.

Now I have like 13 papers AND a whole house to clean and a grocery order to pick up.  Woe is me.