Where The Wild Things Are

On Christmas Eve the past two years, we’ve visited the zoo. We’ve loved having the whole place practically to ourselves. The kids love seeing the animals (without having to shove their way through a crowd of equally-eager spectators). And the animals just seem relieved that the temperature has finally dropped below eighty degrees on a regular basis.

That was the past two years. But we decided back in January not to renew our zoo membership. Which meant that Christmas Eve with the animals would be canceled this year. And truthfully? I missed it.

Then Christmas morning rolled around and I started wondering if the kids missed it too. (You know, in a mama-guilt sort of way.) We’d done all the other Christmassy-type traditions. Gingerbread houses… check. Driving around in our pjs looking at Christmas lights… check. Decorating the tree… check. Baking cookies… check. Would the kids notice the glaring lack of wild animal antics amidst all this yuletide fun?

Turns out I didn’t have to worry long. Thanks to a (way-to-generous) Christmas gift from my sister, we were able to spend the day after Christmas, not at the zoo, but here instead…

The kids were mesmerized by the killer whales and really enjoyed getting to talk with one of the trainers afterward.

We all got to get up close and personal with some friendly dolphins (sorry, no pictures. We were busy trying to keep Maddy and Nicholas from going headfirst into the tank!)

The boys got to ride on their first roller coaster - three times (a thrill that was only slightly dampened when Dyl realized he was too little to ride on the “big” rides… He walked around the rest of the day saying “I hate that sign!” every time he caught sight of one of the you-must-be-this-tall-to-ride charts.)

And Maddy enjoyed some one-on-one time with Daddy and his camera. (So far, she doesn’t seem to mind being too short everything.)

She did, however, thoroughly enjoy the huge tube slides.

In fact, all of us did.

Many, many, many times.

Thanks, Aunt K, for an amazing experience!! We can’t wait till the park reopens in March so we can go back for more adventures.