Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My!

It's sort of embarrassing to admit, but Matt and I, until yesterday, had never taken our kids to the zoo. That's such a staple of childhood, and yet, somehow, we'd just never quite made it there. Maybe it was the fear of driving an hour with three kids who potentially might scream the entire way. Maybe it was concern over becoming one of those stories you read about where a parent looks away for two seconds, and next thing you know, a toddler's in the lion cage. (That actually isn't too far-fetched- y'all know how Will is.) Most likely it was the astronomical costs of taking a family of five to the zoo that's kept us away. $65 bucks for tickets alone- keeping in mind that the twins don't even need tickets yet- is enough to make anyone think, "do they really need to see lions and panda bears?" But since my mom was kind enough to buy us tickets, and we have, after all, made it driving 5 hours to the beach every summer without killing anyone, it was time to man up and take the kids to the zoo.
Saturday was perhaps the most perfect weather on earth, and my sister and her husband kindly agreed to meet us to help wrangle the children. And I think everyone actually had a good time. Hays LOVES animals, so he was in hog heaven. He greeted all the creatures enthusiastically, "Hi, famingos! Hi, zebra! Hi, gidaff!" And he really wanted to get close to them. He told the elephant, "I hold you? High five?" Unfortunately the elephant didn't seem too interested in letting Hays hold him. Neither did the meerkats. Luckily, the goats and sheep at the petting zoo were happy enough to have Hays love on them. Good thing since he insisted on kissing each one. Will, on the other hand, was way more interested in the hand washing station. Why pet a goat when you can play in water?
I thought that they would all love the panda bears, and I was sort of right. Hays did indeed love the pandas- the stuffed pandas in the gift shop that is. We passed the store on the way to the panda exhibit and he practically had a conniption fit trying to go in. I promised we'd come back after we saw the real pandas. Well, he took one look at those adorable bears being all cute with their bamboo, and was ready to head back to the gift shop. Sigh. At least I managed to talk him out of the $75 life size panda and convince him that the $8 version was even better.
Mason liked the zoo but he told me it wasn't like he'd dreamed. When I asked what was different, he told me "Well, I thought it would be one big building with lots of animals in different cages." I explained to him how animals are much happier and healthier when they're outdoors in areas that resemble their natural habitat, but he didn't seem too impressed. I'm pretty sure he would have preferred his version. Sure the animals are miserable, but you can see them really well!
All in all, it was a great day. We were whipped by the end of it, but it was worth it. We fulfilled our parental obligations to take our kids to the zoo, and nobody screamed the hour there or back- not even me!