More Thanks

Wow!  I did not do a very good job of posting what I am thankful for every day of November, did I?

Today was a fun day for Haley.

Her Big Sis got to work at the Zoo again.  She is currently working the "Winter Program" of the ZooTeens.  I was not able to drive Haley's Big Sis to the Zoo today, I had another commitment, so I asked her Dad to do it.  I also asked him to do something else.  Knowing Haley I knew that she and her Dad would have a BAD day if she didn't get to go to the Zoo too, so I asked him if he could take her to the Zoo.

I figured that he could drop her Big Sis off and then take Haley to the Zoo for three hours and then bring them both home.  Easy Peasy.

As it turned out they did that and then they had lunch and then they went to the Apple store and then they went to Starbucks.  So it was a pretty GOOD day.  Haley was very happy when they got home.  She was happy to tell me that they saw Tigers and Giraffes and Sea Otters.  She also told me that they had lunch and that she had Orange Pop.  After she was home for a while she brought me her empty Starbucks cup and told me that she had "strawberries," which is a Grande Soy Strawberries and Cream Frappuccino, which is her normal drink at Starbucks.

She has told me multiple times that she had a "fun day."  I asked her if she had told her Dad "Thank you," which she immediately did.

Her Dad told me that it was by far the best Zoo trip he had ever taken her on.  She was happy to walk around the Zoo and look at the signs and talk about the animals.   He said that she didn't focus on the next animal like she usually does.  She didn't go ballistic when he told her that the train wasn't running.  About fifteen minutes before her sister's shift was done he suggested that they go to the Gift Shop.  She walked around and looked at things and then when her sister texted and said that she was done they met and had lunch together.

So, the trend continues that she is maturing and is a pleasure to be around.

Yes, I am thankful for that, and so is her Dad.

A Guided Tour

Summer is almost over and although I go to the zoo and back twice a week, we have not been to the zoo since that first trip.

We decided we needed to go.

Haley's Big Sis and I planned the trip and decided not to tell Haley until it was time to go. Her sister wanted to be the one to surprise her, so we went about our normal morning routine. The exception being that Big Sis got up early. When it was time to get Haley dressed we went upstairs and her sister was busy doing her hair.

"Haley, ask your sister where we are going," I said.  She looked at her sister. 

Big Sis said "The Zoo!"

Haley said "Yay!"

I said "Do you want to go to the Zoo?"

"Yeah!"

On the ride to the zoo Haley's Big Sis turned around in her seat and started telling Haley all about the animals. Things she had learned working at the zoo the last two months. She was excited to share these things with Haley. I don't think I have really heard her talk much about the zoo to Haley. I think she was afraid that Haley would get upset. Now was the time, though, and it all started coming out.

As we walked around the zoo and looked at the different animals Big Sis would add her knowledge. I don't know how much Haley appreciated the running commentary, but I sure did.

Not only did I learn a lot about the animals in the zoo, I learned that my daughter learned a lot. She was very enthusiastic and cheerful and helpful. She even explained things to other kids and adults that we would encounter.  If a child made an exclamation about an animal or asked a question, she answered them.

We did just about everything there is to do at the zoo.

Haley got to go in to the pens and pet both kinds of goats that her sister has been working with all summer.  Some of the other Zoo Teens recognized her and asked her why she was at the zoo on her day off.  They also asked questions about Haley, she answered those questions in much the same way that she had answered questions about animals.

I was so proud of her.

I think Haley and her sister enjoyed the zoo just a little more this time and so did I.

A Surprise Visit

Haley's Big Sis has a cool summer gig.  She gets to be a Zoo Teen.  It is an awesome program where kids get to volunteer at the zoo in a number of ways.  She is very excited about it.

She gets to go to the zoo twice a week all summer long.  Our zoo is not exactly close so it is a bit of a drive.  I don't mind.  I think this is a great opportunity for her. 

The thing that I don't want to do is drive to the zoo and back four times a week with Haley and listen to her cry when we don't go in.  I also don't want to go to the zoo with Haley twice a week all summer.  I plan to leave her at home with her Dad most of the time. 

Ironically the second time that I had to take her sister to the zoo her Dad was out of town.  I had to take Haley with me.  I chose the easy way out and surprised her with a trip to the zoo.

There was one little problem.  Her sister needed to be dropped off really early.

It was good news for me because I had no problem finding a parking space.  We were forty five minutes early.  Haley wanted to go in.  We could not go in of course.  We were also the first people there and I wasn't interested in standing in line for forty five minutes.  We sat in the car with Haley crying her eyes out and me alternately trying to cajole her and wiping her nose.

She kept yelling "Goats!"

After a while I decided we could get out of the car.  We basically just walked around outside the zoo.  It didn't really satisfy her.  She wanted to see the goats.  I told her that if she looked through the fence she could see the goat.  She wouldn't look through the fence.

People started to show up so we decided to stand in line.  Haley just kept saying "Goats."  The man in front of us turned around after about the twentieth time and said "Don't you want to see any other animals?"

She was quiet a moment.

"Goats."

He just laughed.

Haley enjoyed her visit at the zoo.  She didn't seem fazed at all about seeing her sister working.  We walked around following her whims all day.  We rode the train, of course.

When Big Sis's shift was just about over we started heading toward the exit.  Haley said "Store."  We went into the store and Haley chose a small plastic cougar and a small plastic african wild dog.  Her sister texted me and told me that her shift was over, she wanted to know where we were.  I told her we were in the gift shop and that she could meet us there.

It worked out pretty well, considering.  We might do that again a couple more times.  I hope the wait will go a little better.

Timon, Pumba and the Goats

Back when Haley decided that we were going to the Zoo she had me write three words on the "magic white board."  Timon.  Pumba. Goats.

I knew that Timon and Pumba were the meerkats and the warthogs.  That was easy.  The goats I wasn't too sure about.  I told her that there might be goats in the barn - our zoo has a family farm exhibit that has rotating farm animals like sheep, pigs, cows and chickens.  It kind of cracks me up, but I guess it is the Big City and some kids may not get exposed to a farm.  I grew up on one so it seems weird to have them at the zoo.

The zoo is for exotic animals.

Sometimes the zoo has a petting zoo that has pygmy goats in it.  Haley has only been in the petting zoo once in her life and it was a long time ago.  I didn't think that was what she was talking about.

To pick up the story where I left off, we got out of the elevator and walked to the Zoo.  Haley got excited again.  This is where she wanted to be.  There was no line so we went up to get our tickets.  My husband took Haley into the entrance, there is a whole section that you can walk around in before they will check your ticket.

I caught up to them and I finally realized what she was talking about.  I had totally forgotten about the Mountain Goats at the entrance.  Haley didn't.  That is what she came for.  She was so excited.  We were lucky because the mountain goats were out walking around.  It was the first of many animals that we would see in action.  It was cold.  All of the cold weather animals were happy.

We tend to go to the zoo in the summer.  A lot of the animals just lay around in the warm weather.  Today they were very active.

When Haley goes to the zoo she has an agenda.  She knows what she wants to see.  She usually names an animal like the giraffes and then won't stop talking about the giraffes until she sees them.  Today of course she was interested in seeing Timon and Pumba.  She took off like a shot.

The bears were active.  Haley's Big Sis and I wanted to stand still and watch them.  Haley was on to the next thing.  She didn't stand still and look at anything.  Her Dad and I took turns following her around the zoo.

At every animal we stopped at she would announce the next animal she wanted to see and she was off again. 

We almost lost her in the bats.  We were all watching the bats and next thing I knew Haley's Big Sis yelled "Haley!" and took off.  I looked around and didn't see her at all.  She was around the corner and gone.

Those long legs of hers were going to be the death of me.

Haley finally got to see Pumba.  Timon was in another area of the zoo.

Then there was the other thing, besides the animals that Haley has to see.  The Zoo Train.  We could here it.  We saw it pass in the distance a couple of times.  We had tickets to ride it. 

After we saw all of the animals that Haley wanted to see the only thing left for her was to ride the train.  Once that was done, she was done. 

We wanted to go see a couple of the more active animals again, but Haley just wanted stand and stare at the train, so her sister and I let her do that while we visited a few more animals.

Then Haley had a fit. 

I couldn't really figure out what she wanted.  She started yelling random things like, "Leopard." "Train."  "Animals."  It went on and on. 

I didn't understand. 

Her Dad said that he thought she had just reached overload and it was time to go. 

She heard that and said, "Store."  We can't leave the zoo without visiting the Gift Shop.  Haley had brought some of her Christmas money and she wanted to shop.

She was prepared to buy every small plastic animal they had in the shop, but I helped her narrow it down to a lioness and a baby zebra.  She wanted to get the mama zebra too, but her sister reminded her that she already had one.  She still wanted it, but I asked her sister to put it back.

Then we got back on Max and headed home.  She seemed to like the ride back a little better than the ride down.

Not What I Expected

So, if you remember, Haley had a Zoo trip planned.

We went on Saturday.

We decided to take the Metropolitan Area Express, or MAX for short.  It makes the trip to the Zoo a bit longer, but it also makes it a little less of a hassle.  I don't like to park at the Zoo.  I have had some experiences parking at the Zoo that I would like to forget, I can't, but I would like to. 

I was excited to ride MAX because I thought Haley would be excited to ride MAX.

She wasn't.

It's not like she had a fit and wouldn't get on.  She just seemed luke warm about it.  She was quiet.  She sat still and looked out of the window occasionally, she played with the horses in her purse.

She repeated the announcements that came over the speaker before and after each stop.  That was kind of funny because what she was repeating was Spanish.  A female voice comes on and says "The doors are closing." and then a male voice comes on and says the same thing in Spanish.  I don't know Spanish, but I got that puertas means doors, the rest, not so much.  Haley repeated the last sound she heard.  I don't know what it was.

She started asking me about the Zoo, like she thought I was pulling her leg and we were never going to get to the Zoo.  I kept trying to reassure her, that indeed we were on the way to the Zoo and that we would be there soon.  It didn't help.  She kept asking me and her tone got more and more irate.  Her sister and her Dad tried to tell her the same thing.  She wasn't buying it.

Finally when we got close I pointed to the sign that changed with each stop.  I said "What does that say?" because I know she recognizes the word ZOO.  We then entered the tunnel.  

She likes tunnels.

She perked up a little bit.

When we got off of the elevator and walked out into the light she finally saw what it was that she was expecting.  She was happy.

We thought she would like the ride on MAX, but I guess we can't really be sure of anything can we. 

There is more about Haley's trip to the Zoo to come.