Glutton for Punishment

Sometimes I really make life difficult for myself.

Yesterday was an awesome day. We celebrated Pacey's birthday, had the best kid birthday party you can hope for and I think he felt really special all day. He got some really cool new stuff, including lots of new puzzles which are his current obsession.

Anyway, with all the excitement and the party, the kids went to bed later than usual even not considering the hour time change. They were up at a normal time this morning...anyone doing the math here can figure out they did not get enough sleep. If I was less of a masochist, I'd have just let them stay in their jammies, play with new toys and enjoy the fact that we don't have anywhere scheduled we have to be on Monday mornings.

Instead? I took us on a forced march to the zoo. In my defense, the weather is gorgeous (if chilly) and I don't know how many more days we are going to get that are at all appealing for outdoor adventures. Still...I was punished for my industriousness.

Pacey spent the whole time asking about his new toys, alternating between refusing to walk and running off in the opposite direction, attempting to climb into enclosures and become someone's tasty midmorning snack, and asking to go home.

Brighton was marginally more compliant, but is also quite full of her two-year-old self and seems to be developing an immunity to reverse psychology (crap).

A stroll through the tropics

Sloth breeding program...who knew?

My little scientist insisted on bringing her
magnifying glass

A giant bronze tortoise today, a Harley
tomorrow

Learning about ocean conservation

This bear was...disconcertingly close

Pacey refusing to move (insert the sound of fake
snoring here)

Quite possibly their favorite part of the
outing...watching a digger at work

I think we'll be spending the afternoon at home.

(The most amusing part of the outing for me was the zookeeper talk in the zebra exhibit. He was telling us about how the male had been brought in with the females for breeding purposes and then went on to describe how one female wasn't terribly interested but the other one was "really receptive to the whole thing" and how they were hoping for at least one baby zebra in the spring. It was a little awkward.)

(Also - fun fact: a newborn polar bear weighs about one pound whereas a newborn zebra weighs about 50!!)