When was the last time that you were so excited that you felt giddy?
For me, it was last night… err, this morning at about 1:00 am. I love that feeling!!
Even as a little kid sharing a room with my sister, I can remember “nights before” (before birthdays or vacations or other events) where I would lie awake thinking about how excited I was for what was coming next. I did this on the night before I got married. I did this on the night before she got married! I am trying to convince myself that she joined in on my “too excited to sleep” chatter… however, it’s more likely that I was just keeping her awake when she would just rather sleep and get on with it.
In any case, I was over the moon because Ellie and I had a special day planned for today… our first outing to the zoo! Every year, we sign up for a zoo membership and we have really enjoyed taking Ellie on excursions to visit the animals. This was my first time taking her on my own. The membership that we sign up for comes with some tickets to do things like take a trolley ride and see the Dolphin Show – things that John and I have never actually done with her. So this time, I made a promise to myself (and her!) that we would really live it up on this trip. And so I present pictures from Mommy and Ellie’s Day of Fun, the Zoo Edition:
First, we had breakfast at our favorite place. I wish I had taken a picture of the awesomeness that was my cornflake-crusted french toast with vanilla creme and strawberries. Instead, here is Ellie with her remnants:
When we got to the zoo (after taking the grand tour of the Western Chicago suburbs and hitting every. single. red. light.), we had to go on the trolley first thing. That Daniel Tiger and his trolley talk had really gotten this kiddo excited…
For some reason, Ellie was obsessed with this snake on the ceiling. She insisted on a picture and talked about “our baby snake” for about an hour.
After the trolley, we got into the first Dolphin Show of the day. I remember the Dolphin Show being a spectacular showcase of amazing jumps and tricks where everyone in the front got splashed and soaked and had a rip-roaring time. And, from a three-year-old’s perspective, it was all of those things. As an adult…. not so much.
We actually bought over-priced zoo food for lunch and had a picnic on the concrete because there were no tables in the shade within eyesight (balancing a tray full of food precariously on the handles of my stroller was not the brightest idea I ever had). Then we visited almost every animal and went to the souvenir shop (something I have never done in my entire life) to buy gifts for Tessa (a plastic bumble bee) and Daddy (paper made out of 100% elephant poop. No joke. Ellie picks out the best gifts!).
Here is Ellie as an otter, which is super cute:
After visiting some more animals again (Ellie insisted on another trip to the zebra because the first time, it was peeing and that was hilarious), we got Dippin’ Dots. I’m not sure she really enjoyed them so much… I think she was a little unsure how to handle the little pellets that kept falling into her lap… but I still think they are one of my favorite foods.
And here’s my obligatory “my kid is exhausted after a long day of (fill in the blank)” picture. Notice the zebra stuffed animal that she chose for herself. Thanks to the peeing that we witnessed, she can’t get enough zebra.
We had the most lovely day! If you have little kids, I hope you’ll take them, one at a time, to the zoo. At the very least, for the poo poo paper. $14.95 for elephant feces. Worth. every. penny.
Yo soy La Lay 
I totally agree about the dolphin show. Not so cool as an adult.
I LOVE experiencing the zoo with my kiddos. It’s so fun to see what they are going to think is the BEST thing during the visit. One time it was the length of the giraffes tongue when it was eating, lol.
[…] were three distinct differences between the zoo trip that Ellie and I took last year and ours […]