Going to the Zoo...

The last reward on Lila's potty chart was going to the zoo.  Since it was my turn for a special day out with her this month that is what we did. (On the hottest day ever! I still get sweaty just thinking about it....) This was our first outing without a pull-up on or a backup outfit, and she did great!

My favorite thing about having special one on one outings with my children is how laid back and fun the time is. I'm not stressing about meeting time constraints or trying to make sure everyone's needs are met. I just set back and let the child dictate the pace of our day. 

Our first stop was the elephants. This is the baby elephant that was born last year and we got to watch the trainer work with her a little bit.

You can see the mommy elephant in the background there, next to the wall. 

We went to the bird show next, which she enjoyed until we got buzzed by a low flying eagle and after that she just wanted to leave. I convinced her to stick it out but I don't think birds rank very high on her favorite animals list.

We rode the carousel and she was so happy that she got to ride on a giraffe (which does happen to be her favorite animal.)

We splurged on a lion shaped water bottle filled with cherry lemonade. She downed hers and half of my can of lemonade in about ten minutes! (Did I mention it was HOT!)

From there we went to see all the big cats, who were sleeping in whatever shade they could find. I don't blame them, I would have been happy to curl up in a shady spot and take a cat nap myself. 

We didn't stay there long before she got bored with watching sleeping cats.

But next was the giraffe house! We stayed in here for a long time, both because giraffes are her favorite animal and because it was slightly cooler inside.

We were pretty hungry by this point so we split an outrageously overpriced hamburger and a bottle of apple juice. Her day, her choice...

Then we wandered around the new Rocky Shores exhibit which houses grizzly bears and a polar bear. They were a lot of fun to watch because they were all quite active and playing in the water to keep cool.

Right after getting out of the water the polar bear turned his back on us and did what bears do in the woods. Lila was quite (loudly) grossed out. 

"Hey Mom! Take a picture of me being a bear!"

By the polar bear tank.

All the monkeys and gorillas were sleeping in the afternoon heat, we only saw a few. 

I think she was just thrilled to have all of my attention for herself. 

We rode the train and by this point I decided that I was not going to last walking for much longer. It's funny how you don't notice how bad your legs and feet hurt from walking a lot until you stop and rest them for a minute.

Our last stop was the gift shop to pick out a souvenir of our day. I was sure she'd go for a stuffed animal of some sort but after a really long time hemming and hawing she found the giraffe umbrella. She walked with it like that all the way back to the car. 

The heat was so unbearable that when we left the zoo we still had several more hours before I had told Brian we would be home. So we went to see Madagascar 3 to round our animal themed special day, and to cool off in the nice air conditioned theater. Lila enjoyed the movie, and even more I think she enjoyed not having to share the popcorn with her brother and sister. 

As we walked back to our car after the movie she threw her arms around my leg and squeezed as tight as she could, "Thanks for going to the zoo with me today Mommy!" 

Awww. Thanks for being potty-trained Lila.