We took the girls to the zoo on Monday, but instead of one of the small local ones we went to a larger one that is an hour and a half drive away.

Kate really seemed to enjoy herself, pointing out the animals (horray, she noticed there are animals!). She also seemed to enjoy climbing large decorative rocks about as much as looking at the animals. There were rides, of which Kate could only go on two plus the bounce house, but that was enough for her anyways. This time we bought her an unlimited ride wristband so she could go on as many times as she wanted to avoid the meltdown at the end of the ride and while it wasn’t a bad idea she didn’t seem to really need it this time, she was happy to go off in search of the next best thing.

There was a dog show that I wanted to see and walking up to the stage area Kate started shouting, “a-coo! A-coo!” I had no idea what she was talking about until she ran over to a sign and pointed, “A CWOO!” she said insistently and tapped a big paw print. Ah-ha! A clue! She’s been watching Blues Clues lately. She was so excited to find a clue, I think it made her day, ha! Of course the dog show itself held her attention for less than 5 minutes, but whatever.

We rode on a “train” in the woods and got to see a bunch of elk up close and personal. Kate didn’t want to sit still so she alternated between sitting on the seat and sitting on daddy’s lap, which was fine. Ember had fallen asleep in my [borrowed] Beco carrier before the train ride so I left her in it, expecting her to wake up halfway through and be thoroughly ticked off. Nope! The kid slept through the entire thing, and continued sleeping after we got off!

We timed the drive so that Ember was ready for her first nap for the drive there, which worked out perfectly. Kate was awake the whole time and I had food and my phone ready as distractions if she started getting cranky, but she was great! Then on the ride home it was a bit trickier because Ember had taken such a long nap in the Beco. Kate was way past her nap time and needed to sleep but we waited for a while until Ember started showing signs of being mellow again, then we packed up and left. Kate fell asleep almost as soon as I put her in the car seat… handed her a paci and she just slumped and there was not a twitch or peep from her until we got home. Ember was awake for a good while and then she too fell asleep for a while, then woke up and hung out for a bit. She only started grumping about 2 minutes from our house. What successful timing!! I’m encouraged that we can do longer day trips now if we want to!