To the Zoo!

Within 6 days we went from snow day to spring day! Crazy, but hey, we'll take it! Saturday morning Lily and I headed off to the National Zoo. Before I get to the zoo excitement, let me just give you a taste of navigating through the streets of DC. We drove all the way down Connecticut Ave to the Zoo. About half way there, traffic comes to a halt. There are three lights with about 2 blocks between each light. For some unexplainable reason, it took us almost 20 minutes to get through those three lights....ok, maybe it was really only about 10 minutes, but when you are not moving and you have no idea why, time moves slower than the pace you are or in my case, are not moving!

We finally get to the zoo gates and turn in to park. This is the National Zoo people, you would think they often get large crowds right? Apparently, parking is not the priority here....three lots, yes three is all they have! These lots probably accommodate, oh, maybe 75-100 cars. Lovely. So we flipped a u-ey, and drove through the little side streets to find a place to park. Now I am a little directionally challenged, so after parking, I mapped out our parking location, pictures, landmarks, street names, the works. After almost one hour in the car, we made it the 9.5 miles to the zoo! I love DC!

Anyway, now to the good part, pictures! Lily had a great time. We saw an elephant get a bath, sea lions do some nifty tricks, lions lazily prowl about, tigers pace back and forth, gorillas pound their chests (hopefully out of happiness?), an orangutan walk a tight rope, pandas munch on bamboo, and zebras stand like statues. It was a great success, with only one meltdown! Oh and if you are wondering, we made it back to the car just fine, and it only took us 30 minutes to get home :)

Snow Day #2

Ahhhh, you have to love these east coast snow days! I must confess, I have acclimated to the east coast view on snow. No it doesn't snow that much where I live, but when it does I prefer the safety of home, compared to the un-plowed streets with people driving around with their hazards on....I'm still not sure how the hazards on transfer to safer driving, but whatever.

So I was very grateful to be home in my jammies with Lily and Ryan (yes it is true, I'm not just saying he was home so that you wouldn't feel badly for me!). My joy about the snow however was not the same as Lily's today. In an attempt to be adventurous, I bundled her up, plopped her in the jogger stroller and off we went for a walk in the snowy wonderland to Safeway. Usually on our walks, she is super talkative "Look Mama," "Oh no Mama," or "In the stoller Mama!" Today was a different story.

Halfway to Safeway I said "Are you ok Lily?"
No response.
"Lily?"
"Oh snow my coak (oh snow on my coat)."
I stop and peer into the stroller. She was as still as can be, snow flakes on her eyelashes, nose, and coat. "Go soam Mama (go home Mama)." she says.
"Not yet." I say cheerfully.

I did a few little "doughnuts" with the stoller and that seemed to perk her up a bit. After our jaunt to the store, I decided to shovel while she played in the snow. Lily is an active kid, and now I know how to stop her in her tracks. Snow. I put her on the driveway and she did not move. All I could hear was a soft and low "uhhhhhh, uhhhhh, uhhhhh" followed by an occasionall and dramatic "ohhhhhh noooooo!" if her glove fell off, or snow got on her pants, coat, shoes, etc.

We went to the backyard to play with her slide and ball. That was successfull.
"Lily, let's go down the slide!"
"No, uhhhhh, uhhhh, uhhhh. Go slide Mama?"
"Yes! Let's slide!"
"Yep, no, uhhh, uhhh."
"Ok, go get your ball."
"Oh my ball, the snow, ohhhh noooo."
"Ok should we go inside then?"
"Nooooo, uhhhh, uhhhh. Go slide Mama."
I pick her up and put her on the slide.
"Nooo Mama."
I pick her up and take her out. She tries to walk and falls on her knees. Gloves off, knees wet.
"Ohhhhhh nooooo Mama."
"Ok Lily, let's go inside."
"Yep."
"Did you have fun? Do you like the snow Lily?"
"Yep, uhhhh, uhhhh, uhhhh."

So much for snow experience deux! Maybe next time. The moral of the story, toddlers are incredibly indecisive....isn't it great being the ones to figure this all out? Enjoy the pictures. Notice the difference in demeanor of the little one compared to our first snow day a couple posts ago!

This last one is just to prove that I didn't scar her for life in the snow. She recovered nicely :)