Trip to the Zoo
It was a spring day in 2016 when my oldest daughter asked my husband I to go to the zoo with her. It seemed like an odd request for an adult child to ask her parents to go to the zoo but we couldn’t wait!
She also invited her sisters and cousin but the middle sister was unable to join us. Now if you know my oldest daughter, you’ll know she is a BIG picture gal and doesn’t always think about the details, such as what time will we meet to go to the zoo, who is driving and are we packing a lunch? She had done her job of suggesting we all go to the zoo :-)
Once we put all of the plans together and we arrived at the zoo, it was a walk down memory lane. When my girls were small I worked part-time at the YMCA and for sometime I sold Avon and Cooking the American Way. This allowed me to be home much of their childhood. We had a “Friends of the Zoo” pass for many years and would go a dozen or more times each year. When we’d go often, and because they were small and the zoo big and spread-out, we’d go to a different country each time we’d go. One time we went to Asia then we’d go to Africa, then Australia. It also kept the tantrums at a minimum because we’d swing through, arriving early and getting back home in time for naps!
This trip though, I wasn’t pushing a stroller or carrying anyone on my back! My girls and nephew were in high school and college and it was a whole different experience. As we walked through the zoo, each of us shared stories of a previous visit, we read animal descriptions and discussed their habitats and crazy facts. They could even take themselves to the bathroom and they brought their own backpacks with water bottles - well, except my nephew needed to catch a drink along the way.
Taking this picture was one of many times we giggled like children, watching my nephew cautiously approach the water fountain, someone roaring as he got near, it probably took a good ten minutes for him to get a sufficient drink. And, even though this is a water fountain, it still reminds me of the story from the Bible about Daniel in the Lions Den. God commanded the lions not hurt Daniel. In the actual scripture, God closed the mouths of lions but I think sticking your head into the mouth of a lion, even a lion water fountain gives a person pause.
Though my family has many happy zoo memories, this one is close to top billing. No, it wasn’t perfect. It was hot and we got tired of walking and there might have been a couple of snarky remarks back and forth between a few of us. Overall, we walked out of the zoo with smiles and happy were were able to have the time together with all of the crazy animals!
