Zoo day

On Friday, we loaded up on our church bus, along with a bunch of other families, and headed to the Tulsa Zoo. We planned to leave at 8:30 AM, which in church trip time means we left right on time at 9:15. Ethan sat next to his betrothed, Avery, while Abby was in the back with the cool kids. Getting out of the bus and into the zoo proved a major ordeal, considering that we had, just between our family and our friends Marla and Chad, 4 adults, 4 children, a wagon, a double stroller, a cooler, two diaper bags and a camera. We made it in one piece, though, and it was off to the animals.

We looked around for maybe 20 minutes before deciding it was lunch time. After lunch, the kids HAD to play on the playground--because that's what you drive to the Tulsa Zoo to do, right?--then we finally got back to looking at the animals. Abby enjoyed most of them, especially a monkey she played with, but Ethan couldn't have cared less about any of it. The only animals he enjoyed were the flamingos. They make a really loud quack-ish sound, and he thought that was just great. He spent most of his time running around or lounging in the stroller sipping his water.

We finished the day with rides on the merry go round (I called it a carousel and Abby had no idea what I was talking about) and the train. By the time we boarded the bus to come home, we were all happily exhausted. Matt and I had as much fun as the kids, if not more. We're just so blessed to have the people we went with in our lives. Our church family means the world to us.

Here are some pictures of the big day. There are a ton, but I just couldn't narrow it down any more.

Abby and her best buddies (and fellow Foxy Loxies) Audrey and Carol Grace ready to roll:

Ethan and my future daughter in law, Avery, being entertained:

Marla and I, along with our kiddos, ready to enter the gates--finally:

Abby and Audrey, too cool for school. Both girls misplaced and rediscovered their sunglasses several times throughout the day. We thought we had lost Abby's for good until I found them in my pocket on the ride home.

This is my favorite picture of the day. E was playing in a big pirate ship, and this shot captures who my son is exactly:

Abby and Carol Grace teetering and tottering:

It's confirmed--my daughter is indeed a monkey:

Abby and her posse checking out a huge tortoise: (Did you know that the difference between a turtle and a tortoise is that a tortoise doesn't have teeth? Hmm.)

Ethan finally found something that can move faster than him:

Jealous that they're mine? I would be!

E doing his best elephant impersonation:

You gotta love a merry go round:

Abby squaring off with a monkey. You wanna race? Okay! On your mark, get set...:

GO!

Believe it or not, Abby took this picture of her dear old mom and dad. By this point, we were too tired to lift the camera ourselves:

AMEN goes to the zoo:

The littlest animals need their rest:

Check back soon--garage sale hilarity coming right up!