Family Fun Day

This past weekend was the unofficial end of summer. This year I honestly can't say that I'm that sad. Summer with a newborn is kind of a tease. You can't really go to the beach, babies and toddlers get really cranky in the heat and pools and spray parks are out because you can't keep your eye on the toddler without leaving the baby. So, most of our big outings this year have been all together as a family. With two parents and two kids we divide and conquer. Our most recent outing was to The Southwick zoo in Mendon, Massachusetts.

Lucy had lots of fun looking at all the animals. The zoo was great, it was very manageable - they had a lot of animals and you could get close enough to actually see them. We saw camels, monkeys, turtles, rhinos - so many animals. The lion and the tiger were sleeping, so Lucy dutifully yelled at them to wake up but only the lion stirred briefly and then relocated to a new napping spot. We looked at the snakes and she did not like them - just like her mom. I am doing my best not to have Lucy inherit my neurosis as her own, so I pretended that I thought the snakes were neat and tried no to hurl when I saw the gigantic python slithering in the giant snake tank. But alas, she seems to just not like them on her own accord. Maybe she will also not rest easily in a bed that has sheets that are not tucked tight and neat.......Anyway, back to the zoo. Josh had fun, he is as usual mostly along for the Lucy ride. Now he likes facing out in the baby bjorn. He can check everything out and be part of the action. One of Lucy's favorite parts of the zoo other than getting ice cream was the bear ride. They had a little amusement park-like section which had pony rides and little honky-tonk carnival rides. She rode the flying bear ride all by herself and looked so grown up. She was mostly all business steering her bear and then eventually relaxed a little and tried to wave at us as she flew by in her big pink bear. It was so sweet to see her humoring us with her little waves. When she got off the ride we all had a big "family hug" and she said, "I love you family," and I fell in love with my little girl just a little bit more.

Okay, on another note, the zoo in general has a lot of things to generally throw gasoline on the fires of the neurotic mom. First, when we were going into the zoo there were signs that it was bee season and to beware. Well when we sat down to eat lunch bees were swarming. I was flailing my arms about like a windmill and Michael kept telling me to ignore them, but it was tough when they were trying to climb into Lucy's drink box. Okay, I survived lunch without needing to be medicated but then Lucy went into the petting zoo. Forget it. Goats everywhere. Thankfully Lucy gingerly touched a couple baby goats but that was all and then we had a "magic soap" purell party. And then there is the public bathroom element of having a two year old potty trained. There is a whole lot of mommy saying, "don't touch anything....I mean anything Lucy."

Other than the bees and the scary signs the zoo was great. Lucy had fun, ate ice cream and made friends with the animals. Josh had fun because Lucy wasn't poking him in the face and licking his head. Michael and I had fun because our kids were having fun and all-in-all family fun day rocked!