Finding Joy in My Journey (Through the Zoo)

Free Zoo Day! Oh the joys! In the past these words have made you squeal with delight, but they've made me cringe. You think, "The fun, the excitement, the wonderful things to see." I think, "The lines, the parking, the millions of children fighting to get a peek."

This past Wednesday I made it my goal to live more in the moment, to try and see life through your eyes. The absolute thrill of seeing a giraffe and a giant turtle isn't going to last forever. We may as well enjoy every step of the way. I had it in mind that I was going to be uber chill. No rushing through all the exhibits and back out to the car in an hour or less. You want to sit and watch the penguins stand around for 20 minutes? Let's do it! You want to drive all the way to the zoo just to play on the playground? Why not? Today was a different sort of day. I put the mountains of laundry and the dirty house out of my mind. Today I had no worries. No places to go. Today was all yours.

The first thing you wanted to do was hit the playground. In the past this would have frustrated me immensely, and you would have heard me say something like, "No. We're here to see the animals. You can play at one of the playgrounds in our neighborhood." That wasn't the case today. We found a bench smack dab in the middle of the park and settled in for some fun.

Khursten, you loved watching the pelicans that were swimming just a few feet away. My favorite quote of the day came from one of the Beebe boys, "Pelicans are really nice. They like to give fish a ride." (Thanks Nemo for being so informative. )

Nicole, you had to try out everything. You ran back and forth between the slide, the caterpillar, the spiderweb, the seesaw... and back again. I'm always in awe when I watch you. How one little girl has so much energy, I will never know.

Audrey, you spent the entire time going down the slides. You stayed with the little elephant slide for a long time, but eventually you got really brave and ventured out toward the big slide. You were so proud of yourself! That was a big step! I was proud of you too.

You two are so cute together. Are arranged marriages still legal?

It could be a great set-up!Finally it was time to go and see the animals. We let you lead the way. You each had your favorites, and it was fun to sit and watch you watch them.

But we couldn't go home before heading back to the playground for a little while longer.

Khursten spent the whole time trying to climb up the big, padded pole.

I just sat on my little bench and watched. This was a big step for me. Usually I'm be the mom running over and trying to stop you from being a hoodlum. Not today. You go ahead and have fun. I'm just proud you finally made it!

And how nice of you to help your sister up too.

You guys are lucky to have each other.

Thanks girls for the fun day. Who knew I could have fun at the zoo for 3 1/2 hours? I would never have believed it before today. Thanks for helping me slow down and enjoy life just a little bit more. I really love being your mom!