It Was a Good Day For the Zoo

 So, to prepare for NaBloWriMo, I went through my posts from last year, refreshing my memory and hoping for new ideas. One that caught my attention was about losing the last nine pounds of baby weight before the baby turned one. I had a new, realistic exercise program that was going to work this time. Really. For sure.

  It lasted about three weeks. I now weigh four pounds more than I did at the time of that post.

  Oh well.

 My plan this year is not to worry about losing weight, but instead try for at least 15 minutes a day of some kind of physical activity. And to keep myself honest, I'll check in here with what that activity was the previous day. For example, yesterday I walked around the zoo for 2 1/2 hours.

 Speaking of the zoo - it's awesome. We didn't get there much this year - I forgot to buy a membership at the early bird price, and I just couldn't bring myself to pay full price when I know I could have gotten it cheaper. It's the couponers curse: it's physically painful to pay full price for something. Turned out to be a good financial decision though. It was so insanely hot here from March through August, we hardly would have used the membership anyway.

 Anyway, the kindergartner had the day off school and the weather was pleasant, so I took him and the almost-two-year old to the zoo. As an experiment, I decided to go without the stroller. She doesn't like to be confined, and the idea was to get her tired enough to nap well, so she needed to be able to run around. Since she's an insanely brave explorer (and a fast runner) who refuses to hold my hand, we used the teddy backpack with the leash.

 Before I had her, I thought those child leashes were terrible, treating toddlers like dogs. Then karma reared its head and I had a child who isn't afraid of anything - strangers, animals, cars, open spaces - and who is too independent to be carried or hold my hand. The leash gives her the illusion of independence and me enough control to keep her from getting lost in the crowd. (It was a lifesaver on our airplane trip this summer - imagine trying to keep track of her without it at O'Hare!)

 The experiment was a success - both kids did great walking together, playing nicely, even eating lunch at a table without trying to make a break for it in two different directions. Oh, she did break down at the end of the day, collapsing bonelessly to the ground and rolling around screaming when I refused to let her jump in the sea lion pool, but that's on me. I knew I was pushing pretty far into nap time at that point. And I learned my lesson, having to carry all 30+ pounds of her uphill to the front gates and across the parking lot to the car.

 Anyway, here's some zoo pictures. There aren't many since it's really hard to take a picture with a constantly moving toddler pulling on your wrist.

The boy with gorilla statues

 Meditating gorilla

A gorilla about to scare the crap out of those kids in the window when he slams into it, beats his chest and roars. Wish I'd been shooting video instead of taking stills.

 P.S.: If you're not from the Omaha area, but happen to be here for any reason, try to make time for the zoo. Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo & Aquarium stacks up to any zoo in the country, even San Diego. (I've been to the San Diego Zoo - it's fantastic, but the only thing they have that we don't is pandas. Which, admittedly, are incredibly cute, but expensive as heck to get and care for.)