The *2007* school trip to the zoo

I realize you're all zoo-ed out, as am I, but I figure now's probably the last chance to realistically work in the post about the 2007 zoo trip, long promised and long delayed.

As I mentioned on the prior post, I chaperoned YaYa's K5 class last year. We were allowed to wander off and do what we wanted with our groups for the five hours of the trip, and I admit to being a little overwhelmed at first by leading a group of 4 girls.

By the end of the sweltering day I think we'd all had a fun and pleasant time, and I think our group did well, with two exceptions. The first is when we were in the playset area. Unlike the '08 trip it was SUPER crowded with scores of kids, and when it came time to regroup I was missing the blonde girl  in the front of the picture. Never mind the warnings to stay in the area, or the constant head-counts, she skedaddled. I found her minutes later playing in another area that had been called off limits for all the K5 kids, but yikes . . that moment wasn't good for the ol' heart.

I'll get to the second moment later. But first, some animals.  Why? Why not?

In a the last zoo post Beth asked if the zoo had any big cats, and mentioned that it seemed Milwaukee had a fairly large zoo. Yup on both counts. The zoo, which I've never failed to appreciate (even as it bores me most days, having seen it so often) hosts 1800 specimens of 350 species on its 200 acres.

Here's some of the cats from that day. Most shots failed to turn out because of the reflection of the glass. Just our luck they weren't strolling around the outdoor areas that day.

Brief interruption: one thing I failed to mention about the 2008 trip was that a lion suddenly jumped to attention, stood up on a large rock, and began to roar and bellow at the crowd for mintues on end. It was a loud, fearsome, wonderful display of his strength.

Here's the girls holding onto the baby gorilla statue for good luck.

 

Here is one of the 'dinosaur tracks' the girls were intent on following.

I think this next one was in the aquarium or bat area. Either way, YaYa looks cute.

Remember this from this years trip? I honestly would've sworn it was a new addition to the zoo this year.

As I said, it was a sweltering day. I let the girls go hog wild with the water from the hand-washing station near the goat feeding pens.

A waterfight errupted and we all left the area soaked.

Here's the group trying out a foot massager to rest their weary bodies after a long day of walking.

Like I said, a fun day, and a nice introduction to YaYa's friends.

Oh, yeah, that other 'moment'?

After the giraffe area YaYa threw a hissy fit (the joys of chaperoning your own kid) and ran away from the group and hid in a crowd. She didn't go far and I knew she was within hearing range but I was boiling mad, especially since I knew she was egging me on after the play set incident.

She finally emerged from behind a sign, all smiles and 'ha-ha', and I let her have it with both (verbal) barrels. I petered out as I noticed she kept looking over my shoulder. I turned around, and who was there ? ? ?

Why a stunned, emotionally damaged Quaker family, with their children now near tears, that's who. I'm sure they thought me a heathen brute, and I'm equally sure they now use me in sermons as an example of the evil of the outside world.

Thanks YaYa ;)

The June 12th School Trip to the Zoo

Last year I chaperoned YaYa's K5 trip to the zoo. This year Lisa was picked to chaperone for her, while I pulled duty with LuLu's K4 class. This had the unfortunate side effect of preventing us from attending Smiley's 1st ever year-end school picnic, scheduled on the same day. Thankfully my mother-in-law picked up the slack and took him, and I owe her (and Smiley) one.

Lisa and I had planned on linking up at the zoo and merging our two groups, but alas K4 was told to stick together. I had five kids, including LuLu, under my watch. We went the opposite way of everyone else and hit the kids 'family farm' area first.

True fact: cows are prone to swallowing nails and other metal objects mixed in with grass. To prevent that from doing damage they are intenionally given a magnet to swallow, one that sucks up all the nails before they do harm.

4 million animals and the kids reacted the most to seeing a playset to attack.

Then finally, on to some animals.

Then, on to a snack.

We took the snack break on a patio with a gorgeous view of a pond.

A peacock wandered onto the deck and the kids gave (polite) chase from a distance.

We bumped into YaYa and Lisa and caught up on our activities. YaYa had gone on the overhead glider across the zoo and back, but K4 was prohibited (and rightly so, to my mind) from engaging in any activity that cost exra money.

We split up again and K4 had lunch. Then we went through the bat house, the reptile area, the monkeys and apes, the aquarium, etc. Suprisingly we actually had some learning experiences, as a snake was shedding its skin and there were dead mice hanging from a branch as a snack for another reptile.

Here's my group, plus a few hanger-on's.

I've tried hard not to post pictures of the animals because, as I told a mother there 'every year I come here, and every year I take the same pictures' and besides, if you want to see what a giraffe looks like, go hit wikipedia.

But somehow it'd escaped my notice that the flamingo's, which I remembered vividly from my youth, had been removed from the zoo in recent years. They were reintroduced this year, and I feel compelled to post a pic of them here.

By this point the kids were exhausted and fights errupted, so we hunkered down in a park-like area to rest. The adults did most of the resting, to be honest, while the kids played.

I do this gimmick where I put my palms out, encourage my kids to lock their elbows and put their palms on mine, and then I lift them in the air.  The trouble is, when I lifted Lu up in the park all the kids wanted to try it out, and my arms got the biggest workout in quite awhile.

I don't remember where we went after that, but I thought this was neat:

We headed back to the bus just in time, as tornado warning were again threatening the area and a storm was coming. We just barely missed the rain, as the sky's opened up as I was getting into my car in the school parking lot.

A good time. Exhausting, but fun.

Oh, yeah. At the zoo we only had one camera and I had it with me (remember, we were supposed to have been together all day) so all these shots are mine. But she did take some pics with her camera phone. For whatever reason they came out super small, so enlarging themt made 'em less than perfect. But they give you some idea of the fun the kids had with her.

Here's two I sent her in reply

Egads! More Daddy Blogging.

Never fear, a normal post will show up in the next day or so. In the meantime, if you want a taste of grown-up schtuff, you can click here for a WWII post, or here for one on Marquette's name change.

*****************

Subscribers: Check out the new graphics in the 'about me' section! Courtesy of a friend who wishes to remain anonymous (cough *Oftencold *cough) and via a trick learned from Patrick's Place.

****************

A slight change of pace: my wife took YaYa to the zoo with her class and took some great pics, three of which I'll include here.

I know, I know; I did a post on the zoo already, but two of these pics just downright rock (although at reduced 'best for web' quality they lose a little something).

Wonder if that trip counts towards the mind-boggling summer to-do list?

Oh, and in the small world category, a casual reader of this site turned out to have a granddaughter in the same dance studio, and at the same recital, as Ya Ya.  Neat :)

Ok, here goes:

 

Comment on this Post (non-AOL)          View Comments

The Post about the Zoo March 30th

I didn’t plan on going to the zoo today.

I didn’t plan on taking five kids.

I didn’t plan on severe thunderstorms making a beeline for Milwaukee County.

But then again, I did plan on traveling the world after college.

Since we all know how that turned out, it only makes sense that an unplanned, haphazard trip wound up being a success.

Spurred on by a half-forgotten email about reduced fares, my wife decided at 11 o’clock we were going to pay the rhinos a visit.

Which was easier said then done. My eldest was still at a friends house following a sleepover, and the rest of the clan had spent the night at my mother’s.

So we swung by my Mom’s and picked up my daughter, but left Parker behind. What was a three week old going to do at the zoo other than sleep?

In exchange we picked up both of my sister’s daughters.

Then it was on to pick up my oldest.

Where we added another kid, her five-year old friend.

Get rid of one, pick up three. Interesting math.

I’ll let you in on a little secret. While the Milwaukee County Zoo may be one of the best, most progressive zoos around, it bores me to tears.

Just like the museum, I made a trip or two to the zoo every year of my childhood. Maybe there’s someone out there who can pick up subtle differences from year to year, but as far as I can tell it’s the same elephants eating the same hay and making the same steaming piles of waste as the ones I saw 20 years ago.

In addition, maybe the zoo’s cheaper than most, but to my mind the mob’s gotta have a hand in it.

Even on a ‘reduced fare’ day the cost is prohibitive. And the cost of food/beverages/rides? Just sign over your paycheck and be done with it.

But the kids, they love it. And for them, it’s worth it.

The primate house continues to be the universal favorite (although to my eldest’s disappointment, there was no repeat of the gorilla-who-ate-his own vomit.) My middle child adored the aquarium, and I dug the elephants.

But to my wife’s disappointment, the big cat exhibit was closed. As was the petting zoo, the goat-feeding yard, and a bunch of other stuff.

There’s always a reason for reduced fare days.

But the kids loved playing on the playground next to the empty goat yard, and they adored what animals they did see.

The highlight for me? We loaded four of the girls into the double stroller, making it heavy as all get out. But in response to the girls’ cries of ‘faster faster!’ I ran - yes ran - the stroller down a roadway and up the length of a hill.

Normally you don’t see 300 pounds move that quickly outside of the bear exhibit.

We capped it off with a trip on the carousel and an in-depth examination of a stray ladybug, then headed home.

But not before a bought a one year family pass.

What can I say, it’s not that bad of a place to spend a day.

Oh, and by the way - the T-storms held off until we were at home.

Like I said, it only makes sense that an unplanned, haphazard trip wound up being a success.

 

Comment on This Post       View Comments