Noodles & Milk

Today is not even over yet and it has been one for the record books. Thursday is the one day of the week that we have open. Nothing is scheduled and we use it for playdates, errands or fun outings. Ocassionally it is used to stay home. Today we planned a trip to the zoo with all my daughters closest friends and their mommies (who also happen to be some of my closest friends). 9 children and 4 adults. I was scared before I even got there.

Emerson woke up in a good mood this morning around 7:20 and by 9:00 things were bad. Really really bad. I don't even remember what started it but "it" turned into the tantrum of the century. Thank God we were at home. Everytime it got close to passing something else would happen. It lasted for over an hour. I do not lie.

We end up getting to the zoo an hour late. This resulted in us having to park super far away in "overflow" parking. Awesome. Have I told ya'll how easily I break a sweat? Seriously, I know I am from Texas but I am so warm natured. It was 75 degrees when we got to the zoo and by the time we got to the front gates I was sweating. A lot. Being hot and sweaty does not make me happy.

Anyways, we went through the gorilla/chimp/monkeys-of-all-kinds exhibit and then decided to break for lunch before we got much farther. Lunch went off without much drama. Except the minor detail of Emerson pulling the double stroller over onto its back. While the baby was sitting inside. Thank God (again!) that he was strapped in and didn't even flinch. Phew. That could have been really bad.

After lunch we load up our huge group and begin to stroll through the rest of the zoo. That is when I see them.  Life-sized, super scary realistic, "talking" (I guess roaring is more appropriate) dinosaurs. Right. I remember getting the special flyer in the mail about the dino exhibit at the zoo. Oops, must have forgot.

Let me take a moment to describe to you just how real these things are. Scary real. Cool real. Like disney-land mechanical stuff real. Having to keep reminding yourself that THEY ARE EXTINCT real. The eyes move, the skin is soft and moves, the sounds are crazy realistic, they are life sized. The motions are fluid and realistic. It is truly amazing what technology can do. I could go on but you get the point.

Back to the story, the kids in our group run to see them. Emerson freezes. She is screaming and crying and saying "I don't want to" "I don't like them" "Take me away". Oh man. So, I turn the stroller around and tell her to cover her eyes. We wait while the others watch. I watch because they are cool. By the way, this all goes down at a small exhibit of two "small" ones. As in, not much bigger than me.

You can only imagine how she reacted to the life sized T-rex. Oh my word. Was she being kidnapped? Oh, that's right, I was standing right next to her.

The way the exhibit was done, the different species of dinosaurs were spread throughout the zoo. Cool for them. Not for Emerson. We had to pass one to get from one animal to the next. Needless to say, we left early. Basically, all we saw was the monkeys and the flamingos. And had lunch. Awesome. I left the zoo grumbling all the way back to my overflow parking space. Dripping in sweat.

We get home. Everyone is hot and tired. I put her down for a nap. I go into the kitchen to make the baby's bottle and head back to his room to feed him and put him down. I pass Emy's door and see her light on. I open her door and she instantly freezes and hands me a quarter. She doesn't have money or a piggy bank. I ask her where she got it and she tells me that she took it from mommy and daddy's room. Stealing. Awesome.

That is where we are for today. I wander what post-naptime has to offer.

(Just because I need a reminder of how wonderful she can be)

PS- If you are in DFW and want to see the dino exhibit, I highly recommend it. Amazing. It is here until July 10th. Just make sure your kid actually likes dinosaurs.

PPS- Free registration for the Opposites photo class ends this Sunday, 4/17. You can register here.

PPSS- Please buy the rest of my destash. What if I gave you all a coupon code for $1 off each destash listing? Use "BuyMe" as a code in the comments section and I will refund $1 per destash listing you purchase. Pretty please. http://www.noodlesandmilk.etsy.com/