224 Zoo Fieldtrip - BYOWA

Bring Your Own Wild Animals Thank goodness we had a short respite from this incessant rain!! Tuesday was the First Grade fieldtrip to the Memphis Zoo. The doc gave Katie a release to go back to school (I don't know what would have happened if she had not) on Tuesday so we were all set to play.

I just had Katie and one other little girl, Brianna. Katie's Plague Friend, Mia was there with her dad and they had two more little girls, Sidney and An-he (yeah, no clue how to really spell it, but that is how it was pronounced, and I should know because I said it a hundred times). I felt sorry for Dustin, and I know Katie wanted to be with her buddy, so we all walked around together. One question though ... how did they expect him to take 3 little girls to the bathroom?? I know, moot point since we were with him, but seriously, do they not think of those questions? They are in first grade, and I know they can go by themselves, but I wouldn't want to turn them loose in the potty.

So, we started off with the exhibit that Katie is always dying to see, Creatures of the Night. Well, we tried to start there, but the building was closed. So we headed to Cat Country, but the crowd was so insane that we decided to head to the middle of the zoo and start where we might actually be able to see animals. One thing that would have been really conducive to animal viewing would be NOT screaming at the animals. No matter how often we told one of our girls to NOT YELL at the poor animals she would yell at the next one. Yes, the animals really want to come to your screeches. This giraffe had the most pointed response to the screams ... he stuck his tongue out at her!

We took the most twisted route through the zoo. If you have been to the Memphis Zoo then you will understand. Hippos, Pandas, Elephants, Sea Lion Show, back through the African animals, on through the monkeys, back to the hippos (and a potty break), the Herpetarium, Penguins, Once Upon a Farm, the Bird House, and Cat Country ... and FREEDOM! It makes a bit of a figure eight. The kids would ask to see the animal on the exact opposite side of the zoo from where we were. At least we had to walk past the animals to get to the requested spot.

No matter where we were, the kids were climbing the fences, or shimmying behind the fences, or running too far ahead. Tapping on the glass! We spent the whole time herding and admonishing and trying not to go crazy. Katie spent the whole time trying to talk me into buying her a Hawaiian Ice, but I wasn't about to buy 5 of them. I did promise her a trip to the zoo very soon with a Hawaiian Ice. But really, we had a great time. We ate our lunch while we watched the Sea Lion Show. The kids picked flowers (if they managed to pull one off before we could stop them). We made wishes by throwing pennies in the stream and rubbing the Buddha belly.I only had to say most things twice, which is sadly an improvement. It was all going so well ... until about 20 minutes before we had to turn them back in to their teachers. It was moments after I took that picture. I had one last juice pouch left, and the girls were running and playing in the "Cave" that overlooks the pumas and the jaguars, all except for one. She was THIRSTY! Oh my, dying of thirst ... so I gave her the drink. AND KATIE THREW A FIT! She said I should have saved it for her. I should have known she was thirsty (while she ran around like a wild thing). So, the day ended like most of them do ... in tears. Although she wasn't mad at me, she was mad at the girl for asking for the drink! Kids think of things in the weirdest way! It only made it worse when I stuck to my guns and told her that I wouldn't check her out when she got back to school. She was going to have to endure an entire hour of school before I would be there to pick her up. OH MY GAWD! I am the worst Mommy ever!

A fitting end to a wonderful day :)