I don’t actually hate the zoo. I love the zoo, but my last two trips have been disasters. See Four Mistakes in Twenty-Four Hours for the last trip. This time Rose’s class was taking a field trip, so even though it wasn’t her usual school day and we had relatives visiting, there was no way we weren’t going.

If you recall, last time the problems were poor food supplies and fighting over the stroller seats. This time John helped pack the food bag and Rose got to discuss exactly what she wanted for lunch, so that was fine. But I only had one stroller for David, the backpack, and Rose. Yes, Rose is almost four. Yes, most of the other kids were walking. Yes, you’d think peer pressure would work. No.

So, Rose in the stroller, whining; David in the frontback, sleeping, the hat not covering the sensitive skin on his neck; and the diapers, clothes, food, water bottle, sunscreen, and kitchen sink weighing down my back.

So, what animals did we see? First stop, the penguins. Did you know penguins take the summer off? They were sleeping somewhere cool. Then we went to the creepy-crawly-hang-upside-down-in-the-dark-house. I stayed outside with David. I think Rose saw a bat. The jaguar was back by the waterfall and Rose didn’t want to get out of the stroller. Same problem with the lemurs. At the gorillas, she didn’t want to bother because there were just too many kids in the way. I hate going to zoos when the school groups are there. Now I was the school group. By the time we got to the rock where the lion was not sitting, Rose had had enough. Have you been counting? One bat.

I have absolutely no sense of direction and I can’t read a map. The good news is I didn’t get lost and find myself in the Australian outback when I needed to be at the African village. The bad news is I probably walked an extra half mile to get to our car. Did I mention I have a very bad back? The whole walk I was trying to decide which vertebrae were being crushed.

Life got much better once we were home. We sat on the front porch and had a delightful picnic with my sister, nieces, and my cousin and partner who were visiting from Philadelphia.