There are days when you try hard to remember what is great about your kids, and days like today when it’s all out there on the surface. After putting off a trip to the zoo due to sickness and rain we finally made the trip up the hill to Washington Park. We brought Beautiful to work so we had a car and since we were a bit early we found a play area at a local McDonalds where I got a coffee and the boys got to climb through tubes like giant hamsters. Once at the zoo we were treated to an empty parking lot and a cold quiet space to roam. The boys ran down the ramp past the mountain goats to the leopards. The Charge commented on the vegetation “Look Dames, is boootiful!” and we stood a foot away from a leopard laying on a rock. This was already a great morning and the boys were so excited and engaged with everything around them.
We navigated a bathroom break getting all three boys to use the restroom and wash up with out incident and wandered the grounds some more. We watched a polar bear play with a giant green barrel and nearly touched noses with a lion through the glass. We read the cards for the animals and Primo asked follow up questions about each of the animals. By this point a 4, 3, and 2 year old are walking all over the zoo without whining about being carried or falling behind. I noticed it early but knew not to talk about it or even think about it too much. It was like a no hitter, or more appropriately, a perfect game. You don’t talk about a perfect game when it’s happening, you just pretend everything is normal. We saw so many active animals this morning and when we headed to the sand pit to play it was wide open. The boys built roads and castles and shared trucks and shovels like they were on Sesame Street. I gave them a 5 minute warning and then when it was time to go they brushed off and left the sand pit without a complaint.
We had zoo keepers commenting on Primo’s questions, and a lady at the lion exhibit saying what sweet tender hearted boys I had. There were parents fighting to get their kids out of the sand pit for 15 minutes who commented how easily mine came out. I wanted to tell them it wasn’t usually like this but I was in the midst of a perfect game and we can’t talk about it while it’s happening. We walked up the hill holding hands, Primo carrying his brother’s coat because Segundo didn’t want to wear it anymore. They were helping each other, taking turns, and genuinely enjoying walking together. Another issue free bathroom stop on the way and the boys climbed into their own seats and got buckled up in record time.
We stopped and had lunch with Beautiful and I told her all about it. I thought it might mess up the perfect game but it didn’t. They were great at the Deli, played with the owner and ate their lunch and when we made it home played outside for another hour before it started to rain. We came inside and got ready for naps and here I sit typing this up in a quiet house. This may ruin the perfect day but at this point I don’t care. I had fun today, and I know they had fun too. We were the best versions of ourselves today and rare as that it, it’s worth remembering.
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Oh how I love days like those! Maybe we could all go back to the zoo when we visit
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I’m not surprised you had a perfect day.
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Awesome. Good call on not talking about it. And there was no crying either, was there? Never is during a perfect game.
Seattledad´s last [type] ..Older Dad Blues
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