All Kinds of Mothers
5/10/2010 12:11:00 AM Edit This 4 Comments »Here in the Pacific Northwest we woke up to a Mother's Day surprise - sunshine!! It was an unbelievably beautiful day at 67 degrees with bright beautiful sunshine, clear air and amazingly lush landscapes. I think God was wishing all the mothers around here a Happy Mother's Day. Here's what my little ray of sunshine woke me up to...
It seems the Quast girls have decided on a new Mother's Day tradition - chocolate cake for breakfast!! Yesterday when we were at the store she told me we NEEDED a cake for my birthday. I reminded her that it was Mother's Day not a birthday but she said we still needed a cake. And you can't have a cake without a candle and a song. And once she had my present waiting for me at the table, there just didn't seem to be any reason to wait until tonight for the cake. So there you have it - Happy Mother's Day to Me!
Life is good!!
Life is good!!
We had to start at the Kids Zone which is just a great set up and it seems they are improving it all the time. Here is my little spider. Then she was eaten by a hippo...
but I rescued her and she escaped down the otter slide.
Then she was a monkey on these incredible climbing structure.
She would have gladly stayed in the Kid Zone all day if I hadn't reminded her about the camels. We rode one during Zoo Lights at Christmas but that was at night and she insisted that an almost 4 year old needs to ride one by herself. It seems Mojave was waiting for her. She could hardly wait to jump right on.
Look how proud she was of herself!!
And boy was she throwing her little body all over the place.
She is one fearless little girl.
Next we were off to see the elephants, the tigers, monkeys followed by the birds. One exhibit allowed you to buy a little stick with a small amount of bird seed on it then try to find a bird hungry enough to come perch on your stick. Lexie was determined to find one so of course she did. She told me her name is Sarah. Okay then.
Lexie was so cute. She talked to her the whole time. "Now Sarah, this is really good for you." "Sarah where is your Mommy. You should not walk away from your Mommy." (Do you think maybe I said that one too many times today?) "Okay sweetie bird do you want some more?" Man do I love this girl!
After Sarah flew off to her Mommy (or more accurately to someone else's stick) we went to visit the fish tanks which are always a big hit. But our favorite animals of the day were the giant walruses. They were amazing and way beyond huge!!
This beauty was clearly the king of the pack or is it herd or family? Anyway, he was the head honcho no matter what you called the group. He seemed to have something in his flipper because he keep coming to the side and putting it in his mouth. It was fascinating to watch.
And look at those red beady eyes. This bull weighed in at over a ton! And man where they all frisky today. YOU HAVE TO WATCH THES NEXT 2 VIDEO!! (it's not of Lexie I promise!)
They seemed to loved swimming right up to the glass and at the last second turn over to rub up against the glass. Watch this one...
We were just mesmerized by them and could hardly drag ourselves away. Finally the promise of ice cream seemed to do the trick.
Once she was filled up and cleaned up we were off for our final stop of the day....the carousel. But we seemed to have picked up a friend along the way.
At first Lexie didn't even notice him. But when she turned around...
He certainly noticed her. Look at how he bent his neck at such a weird angle.
I think he really must have liked Lexie because he then showed off for her. His back was to her at this point but it was amazing to see his plumage from behind.
He followed us up the stairs.
Unbelievably beautiful and certainly confident in himself too I might add.
I have to say he had something to be proud of. He just keep on following Lexie until we stopped at observation area where Lexie was joined by 2 other little boys. I guess the peacock (Lexie keep calling him a peahawk) was jealous because he let out this horrendously loud squawk which none of the kids appreciated.
We finally lost the bird and made it over to the carousel which is Lexie's favorite part of the zoo...or so it was for the moment.
Naturally she picked the mermaid sea horse....her name is Aerial by the way.
This girl knows how to have a good time. And you'll never believe who was waiting for us when the ride was over....
Seriously, it was a little freaky that he found us there and this time he was going to make sure Lexie saw him strut his stuff full frontal! I knew it was time to go home when we were being stalked by a bird!!
Happy Mother's Day to all the old mothers, new mothers and especially the mothers-to-be. Three years ago I was so disappointed that all the delays had caused me to miss being in Kaz for Mother's Day by just a couple of weeks. Now I'm so very blessed since that was my last Mother's Day without my Lexie. Hang in there Moms-to-be (especially you Lisa.) Your turn will come!
