The Oregon Zoo

Yesterday I had the urge to get out of the house, to do something outside our ordinary weekend routine-which frankly does not include much FUN!  I did some speed cleaning in the morning then surprised Paulo with my idea, the zoo.  We have a great zoo in Portland.  I haven't been in years.  He goes a couple times a year with his Grandma, but had not been this summer-despite his begging.  I packed up our lunches, two reasons really, one I didn't want to spend money on zoo food and two I didn't think we'd be able to get what he needed for his diet, and off we went. 

Apparently a lot of other people had the same idea, the parking lot was full, so we had to use the off site parking and the shuttle bus system.  They use big yellow school buses to take people back and forth.  I'm not a fan.  It took a long time.  Probably four bus loads before we got on and took the less than 5 minute ride to the zoo.  Paulo was a peach though, told me it was ok, he would wait and be patient because that's just part of life....yes, my 6 year old was lecturing me about patience. 

We finally got there and went in, at this point, we have less than 3 hours before we need to be leaving, we had dinner plans with friends.  So I asked him which animals does he really, really want to see?  Basically everything he named resided in the African area of the zoo so we went there.  It was an overcast morning, I was actually really cold, Paulo was oblivious to the lack of sun. 

We had a great time.  We spent a lot of time in the monkey area, then of course we had to pretend we were monkeys.  We saw elephants, then he was the baby elephant, giraffes and the big cats.  He even got to see a screech owl up close-no touching though!  And he got to pet baby goats.  He spent a lot of time in with the baby goats.  I took tons of pictures. 

 I think Paulo would have been perfectly happy to stay in the play areas all day.  He loved climbing on the stone animals. 

I was amazed at how he would wait patiently, there was always a crowd of children, but he would remember to wait. To not cut in line in his excitement, to take turns and be kind. He was also pretty good about other, smaller, children forgetting those simple rules.

It's moments like that when you realize, your baby is growing up. 

He's maturing before your very eyes.  It's an amazing job we have.  There's nothing else like it on Earth.  It has really long hours and we might feel like we're understaffed and under appreciated, but it's the very best job ever. 

I'm glad we decided to break out of our usual routine.  I'm also glad the sun finally came out and warmed me up! 

The day also reminded me that I need to find more fun in my weekends!  There are enough hours in the day.  Sometimes I get stuck thinking the opposite, that there isn't time for fun.  There is, I need to make sure we use it!  Spontaneous trips to the zoo are a good thing.  I need more spontaneity in my life!   My original idea for yesterday was a trip downtown to the Salmon Street Springs so he could play in the fountain but it was COLD when we woke up.  I think Summer might be passing us by already.  I hope not because I'd really love to take him down to play in the fountain.  Maybe next Saturday....

I was amazed at how he would wait patiently, there was always a crowd of children, but he would remember to wait. To not cut in line in his excitment, to take turns and be kind. He was also pretty good about other, smaller, children forgetting those simple rules.