zoo day

This was one BUSY day! The kids did a really good job of getting ready for school -- hurray for my beautiful children:-) Seth did a good job eating his breakfast quickly :-) We got to the school early enough to take this picture before the concert started (I told Joel and all the kids around him to pretend like they were playing -- good posing kiddos!). The concert was very interesting, especially noting the improvements between 4th grade and 5th-6th grades! I'm looking forward to hearing the 4th graders improve as they get a year or two older :-) -- by the way, if anyone finds out that the parents of these kids wouldn't want their picture on here, PLEASE let me know!!!!!!! I don't want anyone to be offended!
The concert ended early enough for me to run home and switch the laundry -- hurray for Mommy-time-management-skills :-)

Work was a little bit crazy. Not that anyone cares about these details, but the kindergarten through 2nd-grade classes usually get Friday's pizza in a little box. Today there were no boxes, so they had to do things a little differently. Apparently kindergarteners through second graders are my equals for not dealing well with change :-) I got out of work at exactly the right time to be able to drive to the zoo and arrive before the bus of second graders :-)

The zoo was a little on the boring side because Anchorage just doesn't have a super-exciting zoo. But it was fun to be outside, walking around, seeing the kids get excited about the animals, and taking pictures. Seth had to stay in the stroller the whole time. He wasn't too thrilled with that, but I didn't want to have to chase him down or carry him when he got tired of walking. This is a picture of my turkey and the zoo turkey in the background :-)
I think the best "animal show" for the kids was the wolves. We saw two or three wolves in different places in their area, so we went to see them. Then all of a sudden, SEVERAL wolves came trotting over to the fence where we were standing. I looked around and saw some zoo workers walking down the trail with different animals' food. The wolves were hoping for some lunch.
In my opinion, the most beautiful wild animal is the tiger. There were two tigers outside today. One was lying down in the shade, and this one was pacing. I HATE to see the animals pace. I'm pretty sure that means that they've LOST IT and that makes me sad for them (yes, I know that makes me sound REALLY strange, but it's true nonetheless).
Makenzie's favorite part of the zoo was the swans. She wanted to find them first thing, but we had a little trouble finding our way around (map reading isn't really my area of expertise).
I think Seth was a little jealous of that snowy leopard who got to take a nap while Seth had to stay awake in the stupid stroller :-)
And the grand finale of the zoo trip -- drum roll, please -- a little sex education lesson from the brown bears. When we walked up to the bear area, these two bears were just sitting and then walking around a little. Then they started to play a little. Then they started to "play" a little.
And then the "play" turned into the real thing! Another mom and I were in SHOCK and then we started LAUGHING! I heard one little kid say, "Awwww, look -- that bear's giving the other bear a piggy-back ride!" OH MY! Look at the time, girls -- we have GOT to get back to the bus or we'll be late!