A Few Zoo Pictures...

I kind of had a mommy fail in that I hardly took any pictures at the zoo. But Eli & Emmy were all over the place and pretty much all of my focus went into making sure one of them didn't accidently wander into a pond or go off with another family, or get attacked by the peacocks they let wander around the place (Why do they do that? Have I mentioned I'm ridiculously afraid of peacocks and their feathers for no reason). Poor Emmy would wander off to look at something, then look up expecting to see me, and look a little bewildered when it was a stranger.

One of the most interesting thing about my kids is they're not afraid of the dark at all. This fascinates me because when I was little I was terrified of the dark and I guess I just sort of expected it to be similar, but they're totally unfazed. Eli often shuts Emerson in the closet and she just plays casually, occasionally knocking on the door. Same with Eli. Often when I'm getting ready for the day they'll shut themselves in our master closest and hang out. It's really bizarre.

One exhibit at the zoo was for the Aye Aye... I still don't even really know what they were a lemur of some sort I think. They are nocturnal animals so the zoo has created a super dark room for the Aye Ayes you can go in and 'see' these creatures in all their nocturnal glory. The only problem with this is it's so dark you can't see anything. We were ushered into this room with 15 other people and they shut the door. Then they casually said, "okay walk forward, use the wall on the right to guide yourself." Well the wall on my right ended up being some guy that I grabbed, so that was awkward and I was holding Emerson in my arms, trying not to fall

Emeson however just wanted down. I was totally out of sorts, unable to see, running into people, and she was completely comfortable read to explore (and then I was terrified and had thoughts of losing her in the aye aye exhibit or someone taking her from me, it was so dark). We did get to see the shadows of the Aye Aye's but you literally couldn't actually see what they were. Then Emerson kept grabbing people around us and whispering "dada? dada?" One guy whispered back, "I'm not your daddy."

It was so weird. After we left the exhibit we looked at a picture so we could figure out what we were suppose to be viewing. Not the best idea I've ever seen, but Eli & Emmy seemed totally fine with the darkness as though nothing was amiss.

I also have been to so many zoos that I no longer take pictures of the animals. That's horrible right? I just don't know what I would do with a million more pictures of monkey's. This is so unlike me usually I really love pictures.

Eli & Emmy loved the statues of animals more than the actual animals. 

They're climbing on an elephant here. 

At one point Emmy just sat down. i guess she was tired or something. 

She also has a recent fascination with leaves. When we walk she stops every couple of seconds to pick up a leaf. 

They also really loved this fountain. Eli kept trying to climb up, and throwing money inside was super fun too. 

Climbing on the hippo

Looking at something...

Hugging another statute. 

A family picture at the zoo.

It was cold in San Francisco. I warned Marcus of this before we left (and he didn't really believe me) and so one the way there we had to stop and buy Eli & Emmy sweatshirts and pants because they own neither of those things. Mayberry is hot all the time.

They both feel asleep right after we left the zoo. 

Of course it took us so long to find our way out of San Francisco that they had already woken up by the time we figured out how to get out. 

A side note: Our GPS system sucks. She (we call her Ms. Ellie) has GPS dementia or something. She's always steering us down the wrong path and we just follow. Once I accidently told the GPS to avoid highways so we were driving our way across Oregon and she told us to take a left turn down a dirt trail. I had a feeling that was probably incorrect but we did it anyways. Lesson learned always check the settings of the GPS and bring maps. Ms. Ellie had no idea how to get us out of San Francisco. We did get a lovely little tour of the entire city though, before Marcus took matters into his own hands. Then Ms. Ellie flipped out, "recalculating, recalculating etc etc"  

Sometimes technology is not our friend. Of course Marcus is convinced that they answer to all of our problems is an iphone... I sort of agree with him. Maybe one day when we're rich until then I think we need to buy a map.