Thing 2, age 3
Tuesday morning was filled with the laughing and giggling of excited Things. Day trip to the zoo!
We were going with Nanna and meeting Thing aunty and Thing cousin there. Thing 1 was extremely excited to see the dinosaurs at the zoo and in honour of this we had listened to dinosaur songs all the way there... I say listened...myself and Nanna had sung along to the songs and three Things had argued and bickered in the back of the car. It was a relief to finally arrive at the zoo and I cannot be sure as to whether I or the Things was the most excited....
Firstly we went to see the elephants, but only one was out when we got there, so we resolved to make a return trip to the elephant enclosure, and set off walking around what is quite a large zoo. It's amazing how far you can actually walk without feeling tired!
We went to see the giraffes, who had drawn quite a crowd considering that the latest addition to the giraffe family was only two weeks old. Thing 3 was in awe of these tall creatures that must have looked amazingly huge to the little Thing 3. She stood stock still for ages just looking upwards and occasionally waving at them.
Thing 1 asked if we could go and see the dinosaurs. We told him we would when we got to them but we were going to work our way round rather than zigzagging back and forth. We went to see the monkeys. Things 1 & 2 dashed off to press buttons on an interactive unit and paid little attention to the actual animals.
We decided it was time to consider finding somewhere to sit down for lunch. Perfectly timed, really as we were right by some benches and the park. By this time the weather had also brightened up considerably and so it was pleasant to sit, eat and watch Thing 3 mush food into the table, her clothing and her hair. Thing aunty hadn't been as organised as us and hadn't brought a packed lunch, instead deciding to purchase something there. So, whilst we tucked into our soggy ham sandwiches, bottles of corporation pop and single penguin biscuits, Thing aunty swanned off to buy some food, then returned with a box of pizza and a cup of hot chocolate.... I have never wanted pizza so much! And hot chocolate?! in an act of defiance I took myself off to the nearby kiosk and soon myself and Thing nanna also had hot chocolate. . . Unfortunately, my quick trip to the kiosk was with the accompaniment of Things 1 & 2, and so resulted in the purchase of three ice creams as well... I can't complain. It kept them quiet for all of ten minutes!!!
We went to see the lions and tigers, then finally headed round to the dinosaurs. That should read 'round to where the dinosaurs WERE', that is until last Christmas, when they were removed pending a new exhibit. Thing 1 sobbed. It was heartbreaking and now I'm researching where I can take him to see dinosaurs! He was however bribed to cheer up, with the purchase of a dinosaur grabber which is what he'd been saying he was going to buy from the zoo! (luckily remnants from the dinosaur shop remained in one of the other shops).
We went to see the butterflies. The Things were dubious at first but once inside they were amazed. Thing 2 was happy until one rather big butterfly settled on her back. I whispered to Thing 1 not to say anything whilst I removed it, but of course he very loudly announced to her that there was a butterfly on her back; cue lots of flapping and spinning round in circles by Thing 2 as she got increasingly more hysterical. I managed to get the butterfly onto my hand and then Thing 1 had to hold it. He was adamant that it had "fangs".
We still had so much to see. We went in the bat cave, which we ended up walking through twice as Thing 2 got almost to the exit, decided she wanted to leave and as only a three year old can, stubbornly insisted that the exit was where we came in, thus dragging myself, Thing 1 and Thing aunty back the way we'd come, against the tide of other visitors to the bat cave, which of course, at that moment in time consisted of a large school group, all dressed in red, just like the Things. We finally convinced her that the exit was the opposite way and managed to get her out. Thing 3 had fallen asleep in her pram before we got to the bats, so we left her and Thing cousin outside with Thing nanna whilst we went in. That's not really a bad scenario, as last time we went to the zoo, when Thing 3 was six month old, the bats had taken the decision that she looked like a latrine and therefore pooed all down her leg. Poor Thing 3!
We had such a great day. The Things behaved exceptionally well and enjoyed themselves although they were very tired; we worked out that they must've walked solidly for the best part of six hours so they did fantastically well. Roll on the next day out!
*special thanks must go to the lovely lady and her husband who sent us zoo tickets, as without them we wouldn't have afforded the trip... If you read this, you know who you are and you really are fabulous. Thing 1 says that you are his fairy godmother! *
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