A Great Family Day

We haven't spent much time as a family in quite a while. Waylan has been enclosing the garage for I believe more than a month now. Basically, EVERY day he is off he is in the garage from sun up to sun down and then some. But today was not such a day. Instead we spent the day together...a much needed family day. We got up in the morning and just hung out and ate breakfast. Then got dressed and ready to make it a day at the Dallas Zoo.

Justine was so excited to go and had been talking about it for several days at this point. She kept telling us what animals she was going to see at the zoo. One animal she wanted to see was the lion. But the lion died recently at the age of 18. There was a poster up on his cage area in his memory so we saw him, just not in the flesh. Or should I saw no in the fur? We told her that the lion died and all day long she kept asking why he died. I'm not sure why he died but told her he was just old. Anyway, she was so good today! She loved the zoo! We rented a wagon to wheel her around in but she pretty much walked most of the day. It was a crowded day (we parked in the back 40) but that didn't seem to be a problem. I guess a 9500 acre zoo can hold a lot of people. Some of the highlights of her day was getting to ride a pony and also riding the "winning wheel". Translation--carousal. Besides the lion some specific animals she requested to see were the rhinos, elephants, giraffes, snakes and penguins. And we saw them all.

Towards the end of our day at the zoo we were walking towards the carousal (which was out of sight at that point) and she was walking, dragging her feet, looking at the ground. I asked if she wanted to ride in the wagon and she said no. Then she said, "Mommy, I getting hot." It was a warm day but a perfect zoo day. The temperature in my car read 88 degrees! But 2 year olds bounce back quickly. All it took was one glance of the "winning wheel" and she began to do a little dance and RUN to the carousal. She rode on a rhino on the carousal and waved to Daddy at every trip around. After the ride was over we headed to the car. I carried her and she turned into dead weight! I think she walked more today than any day in her life. She was asleep before we made it out of the parking lot. And as I mentioned before--we parked in the back 40 so we were only 1 row away from the exit.

She slept all the way home then went right back to sleep at home (as did we) and we all slept until 7pm!! After that we went out for dinner together to end our family day.

One last thing before I sign off. Let me set the scene: Justine has had her bath and is ready for bed. She is cuddling with Waylan as they watch TV (something they do on occasion). They were watching a deer hunting show (woo hoo--not!). Here is the dialog:

Waylan: "Are you going to go hunting with me?"
Justine: "Yes. Mommy too?"
Cindy: "I've already shot a deer before so I'm good to go."
Justine: "Why you shoot a deer?"
Cindy: "Cause Daddy wanted me to."
Justine: "Why?"
Cindy: "Cause that's what you do when you hunt."
Justine: "That not very nice!"
Cindy: LOL

Then it's off to bed and we never heard a peep. If you want wear your child out and get a good nights sleep...take her to the zoo!