Field Trip: Kansas City Zoo

A couple of weeks ago I realized our current Kansas City Zoo membership was going to run out in two days, and the weather was going to be amazing, so I decided to head to the zoo with 5 kids.

To save some money, we pack bread, peanut butter and jelly and eat there. We also get the refillable cup for soda when it’s hot or else just bring water. Unfortunately, I forgot sunscreen that sunny day and had to shell out 3 bucks for an ounce, but it saved us some hurtin’ later, so it was worth it.

I realized I am about 15 pounds heavier than I ever have been this long after having a baby. Then I realized it was like I was carrying around an extra Baby Sam all day at the zoo. No wonder my feet hurt so much when I got home. Wah.

Sam hung out in the stroller a little bit, but when he gets tired he’s a real Boobie Baby (just like the 4 kids who came before him) and wants to nurse and crash, so I carried him in the sling quite a bit.

We had a good time, but corralling all the little ones plus the stroller and all our gear was a little stressful for me. Who cares, though, when the kids had such a great time and thanked me all day long for taking them?!

I don’t have much to say about the exhibits since we really only made it to Africa and the little offshoot from Africa where the gorilla and tiger are. It takes us forever to get around anyway, and the tram was only running every 30 minutes (weekday). Hey, I wasn’t gonna walk to Africa at a 2-year-old’s pace, friends!

By the way, the new memberships rock and we bought one: $110 gets you one year of unlimited visits to the zoo (including Boo at the Zoo in October) plus unlimited train, tram and carousel rides. I don’t know about you, but that $100 pays for itself in about 1 visit for my big family. And the unlimited carousel rides (normally $2 per person) will really help me out! Don’t forget that your membership to The Kansas City Zoo also gets you a discount at the gift shop, in case you forget your sunscreen or have to have a stuffed animal.

What do you think of your local zoo? We love St. Louis, Omaha, San Diego, Phoenix and Cheyenne Mountain Zoos.

P.S. The pix aren’t so hot because I FORMATTED MY CAMERA accidentally after I’d taken a cute pic of all 5 kids on a bench. Grrr.

Date Night: BD’s Mongolian BBQ

We only do a date night about twice a year these days. Don’t feel sorry for us, though, because before we had kids we went out to eat everywhere imaginable and had nice, long conversations. I LOVE to eat out and always have, and my favorite time dining out with Aron was during out 2-week vacation in 2000 to New Haven, Martha’s Vineyard, New York City and Maine.

Aron never gripes about us not having much alone time, so when he actually mentions a date, I plan one.

So we went on a Tuesday night to BD's Mongolian BBQ to beat crowds. We got our sweet 12-year-old (young, I know, but she’s very mature) Mother’s Helper from church for the last year to come take care of just the 4 biggest kids. I figure Eva is enough of a handful without our sitter also having to try to get Sam to take a bottle (good luck!), changing his cloth diapers and concentrating on getting him to stop crying if he gets started.

And wouldn’t you like to know what I have to pay a sitter to watch FOUR kids (in her opinion, I’m sure it can never be enough)!

Dumpster Diving

What kind of mother lets her kid climb into the recycle bin to look for entertaining things?

Well, um, me. I do.

Hey, at least he knows to only climb in when someone else is with him and only when it’s over half full so he doesn’t get stuck in there.

And he’s brought home some good stuff that the school recycles, like mini books.

And yes, I'm aware that there might be rats or hypodermic needles in the recycle bin. Maybe he'd better stay out of it.

Is this stealing or good, clean fun?

Carrying Pictures of Your Kids

Do you carry pictures around of your kids? Most people do. Everyone I encounter can whip out a photo of their family. I never used to because my kids were ALWAYS with me. A couple of years ago we had an extra picture of the kids with Santa, so I put it in my wallet, but they all look like Santa just told them they were getting jack squat for Christmas!

Just curious ...

Good Pizza in Kansas City?

Where can you get a good slice of Larry Tate pizza in Kansas City? Probably nowhere.

What is the Larry Tate, you ask? He was the boss on Bewitched, for one thing. He had white hair. So the pizza named after him (found at Two Boots Pizza at Grand Central Station in New York City) has a white sauce, cream cheese, garlic and I think maybe even feta cheese. Two Boots, when are you coming to Kansas City????

Wheat State comes close, as does Minsky’s.

What would a pizza named after you have on it? Mine would probably have baby swiss, baby spinach, baby portabellos, baby everything with tons of cheese and would be called the Dairy Queen.