Straight up, I was so tired this morning. Rowan has been sleeping in the last little while, but this morning he started to lull around 5:45. While we certainly didn’t get him right away as he dosed in and out, no one slept deep afterwards. We had plans for the zoo, but we were tired.
Bradys parents left after breakfast, and Dekker was in an awful mood. We waited an hour. It did not improve. We had plans to go to the zoo, but we were grouchy.
We decided not to go to the zoo after all. We were all tired and grumpy and the weather was super unpredictable. And then Dekker grew up.
You’re tired of my attitude, mommy?
Yes, I am. I wish you would stop complaining and be happy.
Ok, mommy. I’m happy now! See me change my attitude?!
And no word of a lie, he did. My son was back to his happy, peppy self. That alone was eye opening. It really is our choice to choose to be happy. Go Dekker!! So we got everyone dressed and ready to go, packed snacks and not even close to enough weather appropriate clothing, and got out the door before noon. Tried to take a family picture first. It was pretty hilarious. I love this picture <3
We picked up some lunch on the way to the zoo and everyone was happy. When we got to the zoo, they got sad. Dekker wanted to sit in the stroller, and of course, there is no room for him in it. So he had to walk. Utter. Devastation. But he remembered that we upgraded his Happy Meal to include a smoothie this time, so he recovered quickly. Laela was pretty tired so she was easy, but floppy and a bit argumentative. “Are we going to have so much fun, Laela?” “Noooo.” Perfect. Rowan was chill, but with the RAIN that started as soon as we arrived, he kept getting dripped on, and it seemed to distract from his sleep. So we weren’t doing the absolute best we could have done, but we were making it.
We dropped off our Food Bank donations in leu of the usual admission fee, and headed in. At our first exhibit, we ran into a friend from Bible school, which was a treat. I’m not sure the last time I saw her, and now she has three kids! We had just a short visit before we kept moving and they headed home. We hit up the deer next. Dekker was completely mesmerized by the kids getting feed out of the vending machine and feeding the deer, and I was very surprised when he asked if he could try. I’ve known this is an option at the zoo, but my cautious little boy had NEVER expressed interest in actually feeding the deer before. I was so unprepared 🙁 Only one quarter to my name (or in the diaper bag, I guess). But I grabbed it and got a handful of feed, and we waited our turn. I gave Dekker some of it and lifted him up the fence so he could put his hand through. He immediately got nervous and started saying “No sanks! No sanks!” and dumped his handful. I kept him up with me, but I fed the deer what I had left. He really liked that. He still had some stuck to his sticky little hand, so I brought it through the fence, gently shushing his consistent “No sanks”. The deer came and nibbled the feed, and was off to the next kid.
And Dekker was THRILLED! He talked about it for the rest of the day!
“That reindeer came and munched on my hands, and my fingers a little bit. Its ok, he was really soft.”
The next big event was the ducks. Again, there was a vending machine offering feed, but we had used our quarter! Thankfully, a woman had just given a small handful of feed to her daughter, and offered Dekker the rest! He was too shy, but I took it and we went to the pond to try to entice the ducks over to us. We had a good classic kid moment when Dekker asked really loudly if the ducks were naked. How do you even answer that? The other family laughed, though, so I didn’t feel quite as awkward. Anyway, the ducks wouldn’t come, but the geese started moving in. Dekker muttered quietly “Those big ducks are comin’…” so we moved away and watched them eat the feed we had left on a big flat rock. That counted, I think.
We made our way through the zoo and saw lots of the animals, but it was really, really muggy out, and everyone was fading. So we left after probably just over an hour.
I stopped by Michaels on the way home and fed my addiction…
And then we drove home. The kids slept. It was so nice and quiet.
The van nap wasn’t quite enough to last the kids through the evening, and everyone was pretty on edge. So we got the kids in comfy clothes and watched Disney’s Robin Hood together. Supper was chicken strips, salad, and watermelon, which is the perfect meal for us when everyone is exhausted. We’re snackers over here, and that meal just felt better.
Now, everyone is tucked away, and I’m 21 videos behind in my YouTube feed!!!!! Priorities, guys. But I’m going to go catch up on that a bit before settling in 🙂 I hope you guys had just as good of a day as we did.
It was definitely the best day for Dekker to change his attitude!