zoo | tandem in love

i was super excited for our zoo date with kim, brady, and brooklyn. it had been awhile since i have gone with olive and she is now at an age where she would really enjoy it!

it was a really tough morning…ellie was suuuuuper fussy {very unlike her} and i was having a rough morning getting things done with a crying baby. she was not happy. i was a bit stressed and i was running behind. kim said i could cancel but that would sooo be unlike me to do such a thing! i just told her i would be 15 minutes later than expected.

we finally arrived and it was buuuusy! kim and i had no idea it was a kid’s free admission day…oy! there were droves of people there! i was secretly hoping kids were in school and it would be quiet and easy for us to navigate around. ha! not the case that day!

well, our morning started off right. the animals were out and olive and brady were warming up to each other and having fun looking at the animals. we walked around and it was great. kim and i did our best to watch our kids and catch up with one another. brady was too cute…he so wanted to hold olive’s hand but she was not having it! hahaha! it was too cute.

we were able to see the lions, cheetahs, gorillas, giraffes, sea lions, walruses, and more! we were walking around for a couple hours and during that span, we sat down for a quick lunch. it was after lunch when everything spiraled down hill for me. ugh. and i mean UGH. i won the worst mom of the year award for being so absolutely unprepared! welcome to the world of having two kids and learning a few big lesson along the way!

like i said, it had been awhile since i had been to the zoo and when i did go to the zoo with olive, she was just a baby in a stroller. well, now she is a walking toddler and i didn’t think about how long we would be walking and how tired she would get, on top of how hot it was! i didn’t think it was going to be that hot, so the heat factor killed us!

so, not only was it steaming hot, olive was exhausted and i didn’t have a wagon or a double stroller to put her in. she had to walk and i felt like the worst mom in the world. she cried for me to pick her up but i could only do that for a minute or two before i had to put her down. i mean, carry a toddler and try to push a stroller with one hand?! i was not super women! olive would cry out of frustration that i couldn’t carry her. i felt soooooo bad because she was so tired.

here’s another reason why i win worst mom of the year award, i ran out of the house in a rush and i forgot her water bottle…so she didn’t have water. yes, i bought a bottle of water for her to drink but there was not straw so she didn’t gulp as much as she usually does and of course, i felt terrible! i also didn’t bring enough snacks. yes…who am i?! this behavior is sooooo unlike me!!!

then ellie needed a feeding but i couldn’t bring myself to feed her…it was too hot! i couldn’t fathom putting my baby under a hot cover and feeding her in this heat! i was stressed about that and to top it all off…ellie started to turn into a tomato. yes, it was so hot outside, she started to overheat. argh! i freaked out.

i told kim i had to leave. i needed to get both my girls out of the heat! i felt bad and told her she could stay but she insisted on leaving as well. it was the worst walk back to the car…olive wanted me to hold her the whole way back and i couldn’t. she had mini meltdowns along the way and a few times ellie cried out in hunger. this mama was sweating. we finally made it back to the car and i loaded my girls in and blasted the air. phew! we drove through a starbucks, got drinks for everyone and i fed my little ellie and we were all happy campers! woo hoo!

after this crazy escapade, hc purchased an attachment to our stroller that allows olive to sit down or stand up on it! woo hoo! so, next time we hit up the zoo, {after learning some valuable lessons} i will totally be ready and prepared to be there for a few hours and really enjoy our total experience!!

[me and my girl]

[these two cuties!]

[all the animals were out!]

[cutie brooklyn]

[beautiful kim and handsome brady]

[our little monkeys]

[look at that chunk! she was dancing to the music…she is so cute!]

[such a diva]

[having lunch]

xoxo

it was a beautiful, sunny day. we had a very relaxing morning. we stayed in, had coffee and breakfast, and chilled. olive took a nap mid morning and we planned on heading to the zoo after her siesta.

you can never predict what olive will do and we were hoping we would get out to the zoo earlier {we wanted to get out late morning but instead, we left early afternoon}, her nap was for quite a long time. once she got up, i had to feed her, get her ready, get myself ready, make sure grace got herself ready, and then we could finally head out the door!

when we arrived at the zoo, it was a madhouse! there were at least 25 buses leaving the grounds. kids were leaving the zoo in herds! good timing on our part, that meant it wouldn’t be as crowded. we bought our tickets and trekked inside, ready to explore.

[the crazy, busy zoo]

[waiting to see the animals]

[excited to explore]

[a very warm day]

we were excited to see the new baby bison! it was so adorable to see, the baby was side by side with her momma. she was like her shadow, nuzzling and following her mom…it was so sweet to see. brookfield zoo hasn’t seen a newborn of this species since the 70’s! what a cool moment to experience.

[bison // can you see the baby bison that was born on may 31st?]

[my pensive girl]

[can you spot grace?!]

as we were walking through the zoo, they had little stations set up to give temp tattoos. i asked grace if she wanted one! we looked at the examples and she decided upon the wolf. it’s a pretty cool process, she airbrushed it on and then sealed it with a powder. it turned out great!

[grace getting a wolf tattoo]

while we were at the zoo, i totally regretted that i had not found a sun hat for olive yet. honestly, i had been shopping around for the past month looking for a hat. boutique after kid’s boutique, i still hadn’t found a hat i loved. so now when push comes to shove, i’m out and about with olive in the direct sun and i needed a hat! so, i had to buy one there! i was glad to have found a plain, white, cotton canvas hat. it was really what i was looking for {most kids sun hats have crazy prints and patterns all over it, and i’m not a fan}, i wanted a plain white hat for olive so it could match with all her outfits. voila! it was meant to be!

[a fishy world // olive in her new sun hat]

grace and i had a wonderful time watching the penguins. one of our favorite spots. they were so cute. waddling around, peeking out from the little caves, and there was one penguin that kept on showing off! he would swim around in the water, do flips, turns, and swirl around in the water.

[humboldt penguins]

[heading our way to the big cats]

as we were heading our way to see the big cats, we saw a pop up shop where you can pet stingrays. so cool. grace was hesitant because we had to buy tickets but i insisted! it was something fun and interactive for grace. she had such a great time! she said they were slimy and smooth…ewww, gross.

[pit stopping at the stingray petting pool]

[defending herself against this attack cat!]

[snow leopard]

we were able to see the bisons, aquarium house, african safari, the big cats, and a lot of animals in-between! it was a fun, relaxing afternoon with just us gals. what a fantastic time spent together. i had so much fun with my girls.

xoxo

tandem in love

{life is truly beautiful and it should be celebrated + shared.}

Tag Archives: zoo

zoo date

a day at the zoo