Leaving one zoo to visit another

Today did not start out to be a very good day. Ella woke up at 5:30 AM, and was not going back to sleep. Despite going to bed past 10 o’clock, Max joined Ella in my bed at around 6:15 AM. All my attempts at trying to get them back to a slumber were futile.

A little while later Cameron joined them down at the breakfast table. It was 7:30 AM. I had 2 hours before I had to leave to meet my friend at the zoo with her two little ones. I had plenty of time…so I thought.

At about 8 AM, after throwing her banana all over the floor, I realized that Ella was tired. She went right to sleep on the floor of my bedroom, as I took a shower. By the time I was all ready and even accidentally took a little 15 minute nap myself, it was 9:10. I had 20 minutes to get Ella up and dressed, the bags packed, lunches made, coffee brewed, shoes found, boys pottied, and everyone in the car. At about 9:30 I called my friend to tell her that we were going to be late, and to expect me around 10:30.

I managed to get Ella all together with little struggle. But getting the boys into the car was a different story. First they fought over the bathroom. We have FIVE bathrooms in our house, why they must fight over who uses the one off the kitchen is ridiculous. But Cameron won, and he proceeded to sit on the toilet for OVER 20 minutes. I knew we were going to be even later than I had anticipated.

While Max was waiting for Cameron, he found a box to play in. He kept screaming for help! I told him to get out of the box and get his shoes on. He told me that he wanted me to close the box…over and over again. I proceeded to ignore him as I continued to yell to Cameron that if he hadn’t pooped after 20 minutes, then he obviously didn’t have to go. To which he yelled to me, “Why are you yelling at me? It’s not my fault my poop isn’t coming out!”

Tired of being ignored, Max got quiet, then I heard a loud huff, and he yelled to me quite determined, “You close this box or I not gonna come to the zoo!” Startled at his demand and his tone, I responded with, “Excuse me?” And without even a blink, he stared into my eyes unwavering and repeated with even more force, “You..close..this..box..or..I..not..gonna..come..to..the..zoo!” At that point, if I had had a roll of packaging tape, I would have sealed that box tight and shipped him off to one of his grandmas. But I didn’t have one, so instead I picked him up, placed him in his carseat, and tried to block out his wailing for the next 20 minutes on the way to the zoo.

We didn’t arrive until 11:00..an hour late. Thank goodness for cellphones.

The zoo trip went relatively smoothly considering I had all 3 kids with me and half of Minnesota decided to come out on this sunny 60 degree day to see the farm babies. (I lost Max a couple times, but that might have been somewhat intentional. ) We all had long naps when we arrived home…and then the dinner/nighttime time disaster started. But it’s too late to write about all that, and if I’m going to successfully get through another morning with my sanity still somewhat in tact while my husband is out of town, I’m going to need all the rest I can get.

(pictures taken by my very patient friend Andrea)