Lions and Tigers and PEE, Oh MY!

On Sunday, we decided to take the family to the zoo. I have personally been to the zoo a thousand times since it is about a half hour from my house, but NEVER have I been on a day like this. We got there, and there was traffic out the wazoo. We ended up getting the VERY LAST parking spot available at the VERY END of the lot. We had to walk at the least more than a half mile to the entrance. You would have thought we were at Wally World with the Griswolds. My question at that time was:

Were they giving baby animals away or something????

Here are Jeff and Alli right by our car... in the upper left by the mountain is the zoo entrance... it was hot and very crowded.

We saw several of these, but no celebrities... or even obnoxious "Sweet 16" parties of girls!

We took the elevator to the top level...I threw a diaper and a package of wipes in the stroller plus a zippy of ice water... all important information for later...

I was trying to make the most of it but attempting to get Alli to "fake put" her hand in the "lion's" mouth on the wall of the elevator.. she was having no part of that... mom is so lame.

*as soon as we stepped out of the elevator into the heat, Alli came within inches of stepping into a pile of vomit...between the anxiety of the traffic, crowds, lines and vomit... I was an unhappy camper.

Mario sucked down this ice water within about 3 minutes of getting out of the car....nice.

"seriously, guys, it is too hot out here...why are there so many stupid people?"

OOOOOOH, the baby elephants who were born... Lord, I will just look up pictures on the internet... I would SO not wait in LINE to see these things.... you should have seen the line! I know, lame again.

"It is too hot to go see stupid elephants... let's go home."

These animals agreed... no one was moving an inch due to the heat...

We tried and tried to get him to "see" the animals, but nope... he was just not looking where we wanted him to for any of these....

We... well, Jeff, carried him A LOT since there were so many people... it has to be scary to be in the stroller with all of those big people walking around you...

The zoo has an awesome aquarium, so we thought this would appeal to Mario a bit more.

Alli was a good sport!

This area (you can see Jeff and Mo in the left corner) was where the fish go over you.. the penguins were off to the left... he liked that, but there were seriously 100 people in this little hallway... I had to go out and wait for them with the stroller.... I met some nice people while waiting who were all a bit stressed out!

Mo went back in to the stroller, and we put him in front of a large tank where the fish swim right up... he FAH-REEEEAKED out! (Holls, this pic is for you!)

Jeff took him out... and he hung on for dear life.. then did this...

HEEEEEELPPPPPPPP!!!!!!!!!

"That was a close one!"

"Good LORD, Dad, these fish are scary!"
"maybe I'll just try to touch one!"
"Cool!"
Alli was so good with him, just showing him everything...

right after this picture was taken, Jeff took Mario and stood by the gift shop while Alli and I went in and bought something...I looked over at Jeff and saw pee trickling down Mo's leg and JEFF's leg due to him holding Mario! I grabbed Mario, took him in the bathroom where I realized I had no changing pad, no change of clothes and FOUR WIPES! AHHH! Bad Mommy! His shoes and socks were soaked along with his shorts, so he was bear foot the rest of the time (being held and in the stroller of course) AND had wet shorts from me rinsing them out... poor Jeff had to live with the pee on HIS shorts which thankfully for the heat dried quickly! lol!

Jeff and I... not as young as we used to be and growing weary by the second!

We stopped to get drinks... they had NO cold water... only warm bottles... ugh.
Alli entering the extra-warm-smelly rain forest! Do I sound like Debbie Downer or what?
HOTTTTTTTTTTT!!!!!!!
" Oh, I see MONKEYS!"
I just thought that this was funny... the sign says "flying monkey" (Mario) and "sloth".. hee hee... just kidding, Jeff!
I love this picture... pink cheeked sweetheart... I love Jeff's bluest eye and Mo's dark, dark eyes!
Me and my girly!
Okay, so the giraffes were really close, really visible and MOVING.. yet, we tried and tried to get Mo to see them... and all he did was this...

he stared straight down and looked at FISH in the pond below!!!!!!! Ahhh! We keep saying LOOK, LOOK, LOOK! I am sure the people around us thought that we were crazy!
We are not past faking smiles.. let's go home!
Alli and Jeff took the escalator down... I took Mo in the elevator. The escalator was MY favorite part of the zoo as a kid... it used to be uncovered and went straight up the hill... it is so steep and cool!

We had a good time in spite of the heat, pee, vomit and people. Next time, though,

WE GO ON A WEEKDAY!