Saturday, July 21, 2007

We're going to zoo, zoo, zoo



"We're going to the zoo, zoo, zoo...How about you? You? You?..." Ah, the music of Peter, Paul, and Mommy (from the CD title). A childhood favorite. (I think that credit goes to Dad, the main CD purchaser in our family). This catchy little tune was running through my head the entirety of our trip to the National Zoo on Thursday. I am convinced I lead a charmed life. This dates back to an experience walking down the antiquated streets of Cambridge and exclaiming to my two roomies, "The only thing that could make this better is if there were bells ringing..." and then, on cue, the church bells began to "Bong! bong! bong!" This time around, we had been concerned about finding parking, so my mom pulled over to let the stroller brigade out at one of the first lots so she could scout out lots D, E, F... A parking attendant rushed up and said that a car had just pulled out, and we immediately took the offered spot. Our Cummings group was going to meet up with the Wride group who had made an earlier start somewhere in the zoo, and we were preparing to use cell phone locating techniques to perform said meet-up when who should appear walking along our entrance to the zoo than the very people we had intended to find! Like I said, a charmed life is mine.



Now for some favorites: Spencer loved the panda bears, the mating turtles (awkward, I know), the elephants, all the creepy snakes, the seals, and the fire engines that happened to be by the panda entrance. Emma loved sleeping in her Baby Bjorn (through nearly the entire day with the slight exception of the moment we took the picture at the top of this post), and she managed amazingly well in the late afternoon shower that drove the crowds away and cooled us off. I loved seeing my cute kids at the zoo and missed the giraffe (my favorite animal) who is down in Florida with friends while his home is reworked.

A cute little anecdote. I was asking Spencer yesterday who was in his family yesterday, having received a perfect answer earlier in the day ("Daddy, Mommy, Emma, Spencer!"). The afternoon's version was "Daddy is in my family, and fire trucks, and policemen..." Apparently seeing the fire engines and accompanying police cars at the zoo brought this boy's passion for emergency vehicles to the forefront of his little mind. What a family reunion we are going to have!

8 comments:

lori said...

We're dying for the weather to cool just a tad so that we can brave a day at the zoo! Looks so fun! Are outings infinately more complicated with an additional child, or does it come pretty naturally? (and I suppose the addition of fire trucks and policemen complicates things even more! Love to hear those Spencer-isms :) And looks like Camelot was fun! Glad you so narrowly avoided arrest for your picture taking!

Marie W said...

We do love the zoo! As for outings with dos ninos, it took me quite some time to work up the courage. I think Emma might have been two months old before I was brave enough to go ANYWHERE with both little ones other than church or my parent's house. I started small with a trip to Costco and Target, and once I conquered that, I felt comfortable going anywhere. I am lucky, though, to have family so close. We often recruit help when going to the pool, etc.

Anna said...

Marie, Spencer is HUGE! He is quite a handsome young boy too. It is so fun to see your new baby, Emma, too. (Well she is new for me. I don't think I have seen any pictures of her yet.) She is adorable, and quite photogenic!

I hope you don't mind, I found your blog through Lori. I was so excited that you started one. I feel like I'll be a lot better at keeping in touch. If you want to poke at mine, it is dandafamily.blogspot.com

Just Katy said...

I LOVED going to the National zoo when I was a kid and like Spencer the Pandas were always my favorite. Going there is actually one of my earliest memories. Aaron and I went back last summer and oddly it was not as big as I remembered. And we missed the turtle copulation and emergency vehicles. I guess we'll have to go back.

Marie W said...

Copulation - that's a new word for my vocabulary. I am guessing that I can get the meaning from context...

Aaron said...

That's kind of funny. You have two kids. I will assume you are familiar with the meaning of copulation if not the word itself.

Cortney said...

Marie, oh how I miss you. Despite your superior grasp of the English language, I marvel that somehow the word "copulation" and its meaning escaped your grasp. This whole event has led me to ponder upon upon a time when you asked me if a "meth lab" was something that children studied in high school. Love you!

Marie W said...

Ah, I remember that court case. What on earth were we doing there? One of my school assignments, no doubt. :0)

You know what I thought about yesterday? Our trip to London and all its travails. My sister Celeste was telling me about her recent trip to NYC with some roomies. It had me reminiscing. Thank heavens for the good folks who return purses in Wimbledon. Minor miracles/tender mercies!