A Positive Energy Day

Had a great day today. I took the kids to the National Zoo down in Washington DC. I picked up some Lunchables and a few bottles of water so we wouldn’t have to buy food there. Then we drove to Rockville to the Metro and took that to the Zoo rather than me driving. Parking at the zoo is outrageous – $30 or more for the day. I spent less than that in gas and train fair. It was the first time the kids were on a real metro liner and they loved it. Zach was especially fond of going through the tunnels. Once we got to Cleveland Park Station we walked about ten minutes to get to the zoo but it was a really nice day.

When we got there we got a map – admission was free so I didn’t mind paying the $2 for the map – and headed out to see what we could find. The kids were so excited they didn’t know where to start first. I let them read the map and tell us where we were going. They did a pretty good job too. The map is kid friendly, with pictures as well as words, so it was even easy for Dolly to follow. We made our way through each exhibit as it arrived and took tons of pictures along the way. We didn’t get to see any elephants because they weren’t available, although we don’t know why. But we did see a panda, which Dolly loved, and a lot of gorillas and orangutans. The kids thought they were hilarious.

Believe it or not, we only had one potty break the entire day, and that was Dolly. It was really hot with all the walking we were doing so we were sweating out most of the water we drank. It was a good thing we didn’t have to stop too often, too, because the bathrooms were spread really far apart across the park – and they weren’t marked on the map. What’s up with that? I’ve never been to any kind of zoo or amusement park that didn’t indicate where the bathrooms were on the map. No matter, we did just fine.

We did a lot of walking, and laughing, and only had one emotional outburst – and, again, that was Dolly. It didn’t last too long and it was at the end of the day, as we were looking for the souvenir shop just before we left to come home. Other than that, the day was great. We all loved the zoo and hit every single exhibit – even the elephants because we didn’t know they weren’t out – except two. We didn’t visit the reptile house because the line was really long, and we didn’t do the bird sanctuary. We hit all the rest, though. By the time we got to the last exhibit, the Kid Farm, everybody was ready to hit the road. What we didn’t realize during all of our walking was that, from the far end of the zoo back to the entrance, it’s an all uphill walk.

Sure, as we were walking throughout the day there were minor ups and downs but nothing really noticeable. It wasn’t until that last, really long walk, that we realized just how far downhill we’d been. We’d go up, up, up, then level off for a minute or so, then go up, up, up, and repeat until we reached the gift shop at the entrance. Holy Moses was that a climb. My knee (I had a reconstruction on it when I was sixteen) felt like it was on fire it hurt so badly. My back was hurting also but that I could handle. My knee was just a big ball of pain. That’s okay, though. It was worth it to have such a great day with the kids.

After we got close to home, we went to McDonald’s for dinner. They’d wanted a bunch of snacks and stuff at the zoo but I made them a deal. Just get one thing from the gift shop, don’t have any snacks, and they could have Kid’s Meals and ice cream afterward. They readily agreed. That was even pleasant. Just a lot of happy chatter and talk of the things we’d seen at the zoo; no arguments, no fussing, no fighting. All in all it was one of the best days we’ve had in a long time. The kids didn’t even mind that we couldn’t go to the Frederick County Fair. I didn’t have the money for it – it’s seriously expensive – so we opted for the zoo instead. There was definitely a lot of positive energy flowing around us today. Now I’ll just have to make it stick with us.

Until next time…peace to all.