I went on down to the Audubon Zoo......

I was so excited to have a family day last week and take our kids to the zoo for the very first time. I have been wanting to take Dixie for about a year now, but Evan is no fan of the zoo. He thinks it is cruel to see all those animals locked up in these tiny spaces. While it is sad, I have very fond memories of visiting this zoo when I was a kid and wanted to share those with my children.

The weather was perfect, overcast yet warm. We arrived shortly after the zoo opened and started to unload everything out of the van. It is amazing how much stuff you have to pack with 3 kids. As soon as the van to the door opened Dixie started crying that she had to pee (go figure). There was no way we were going to make it into the gates, so I pulled down her pants as quick as possible and as she started peeing in the parking lot. I tried to hold her out at arms length while propping up her legs as if she was on an invisible chair. I was pretty impressed with myself for getting her in this position so quickly but to no avail, I still ended up with pee on my shoes and Dixie had to change clothes. We haven't even made it into the zoo and we are already changing clothes...this was going to be a fun day!

   This was Savannah's first outing and she did great overall. She decided that mommy having pee shoes was not enough, so as soon as we walked into the zoo, she spit up all down my shirt. At this point I just had to laugh. The day hadn't even begun and I was smelling worse than the monkeys.

 After her spit up session, Savannah pretty much just slept in the stroller. Knox was basically satisfied with just riding in the wagon. Sometimes I wondered if he even realized that there were animals there. Dixie was thrilled. She loved everything and had so much fun. I think her favorite part of the entire zoo was the big pool in the middle where the elephant statue was. She kept wanting to go back to it. I think she would have jumped in if I let her.

It was a great family day, but exhausting. Going to the zoo with little ones brings the trip to a whole new level. But man, it felt great to get out of the house, walk around and get some fresh air. I would say that our first family zoo trip was successful...and smelly!

I think Savannah liked being out for the first time

 Dixie's favorite part

She liked this baby elephant statue over the real elephants because it was a baby.

Give him a wagon and some cherrios and he is a happy kid.

I love the discovery walk. I couldn't believe that Dixie touched things...even a snake..YUCK!

You gotta pose with all the statues..it's a family tradition.

Daddy B'jorn's Savannah for the first time.

The 2 studs in my life!

This peacock kept trying to eat Knox's pb &jelly sandwich. He was more than willing to feed it to him.

Here I am telling the peacock "no..no!" Hmm...am I a mom or what?

Up close and personal 

Isn't he so adorable??