Zoo

Yesterday we took the kids to the Niabi zoo in the Quad Cities. Gerhardt had wanted to take Anneliese as a Daddy-Daughter Day but I wanted to go too. The plan was to leave our house by 8:00 am and get to the zoo when it opened at 9:30. The weather forecast called for mild temperatures in the morning and rain starting around noon. The rain forecast was moved back to 3:00 pm later. It is not a big zoo so I thought we could see it all in the morning and then hopefully Anne would nap on the way home. So much for planning. Kiefer didn't quite agree with the plan. Of course we weren't quite ready at 8:00 but could have left at 8:15 but Kiefer wanted to eat so I fed him and then after getting him in the carseat he puked enough to have to completely change his clothes. We left at 9 am.

The trip to my parents was horrible with Anne screaming, "I'm stuck!" the whole way. Gerhardt thought we should try playing a video on our portable DVD player for this trip. We brought along the Incredibles and the Letter Factory. 2 videos should have been enough. It wasn't that long of a trip. First of all there was construction. Then I am not sure what happened. I remember Gerhardt turning off on highway 67 like the google directions told us to and then I fell asleep. I woke up from time to time but really wasn't paying much attention. I remember going through Oneida and thinking "This isn't on the google map" I didn't say anything and dismissed it as the town was too small. Later we were in Galva and again I was thinking the same thing. Gerhardt said, "Are we on the right road? I don't think we are on 67." He was right. We were on 34 East. I have no idea how that happened. We may have gotten mixed up when we stopped on a side road to feed a hungry Kiefer. The trip that should have taken an hour and a half took more than 3 hours. We got near the zoo at 12:15 and decided to stop for lunch. We got to the zoo at 1:00. Shortly after entering the zoo, Kiefer wanted to eat again. I found a bench in a gazebo and fed him there. Gerhardt and Anneliese went off to see the animals. When we stopped for lunch I had put a disposable diaper on Kiefer. I hate disposables and never use them but I still had a few the hospital gave me and thought this would be a good time to use them. As I sat in the gazebo feeding Kiefer, I heard loud explosive pooping noises, then I felt wet. The diaper did not hold it in. Not only were Kiefer's clothes soaked but mine as well. There was even poop on the bench and on my shoe. I was not thrilled. I used cloth diapers the rest of the day. After getting that all cleaned up and him fed Gerhardt and Anne came back. They had already seen most of the zoo but Anne wanted to show Mommy things. Luckily I did pack extra clothes for Kiefer and myself since he is the puke master. I went to the bathroom and changed. Then I told Gerhardt he probably should have brought Anne by himself. The day got better. There were sprinkles from time to time but it never rained and we had a lot of fun the rest of the day. Anneliese loved all the animals and especially loved feeding the fish and ducks in the Koi pond. She wanted to go on the Carousel so we bought her a ticket and I was going to go with her. She couldn't decide which animal to ride so I decided for her. We walked around the merry go round twice trying to decide. When I put her on the horse she started crying and wanted down. She said she needed to "Sit with Daddy". There was a bench for handicapped people so I sat on that and held her there. So much for rollercoasters. She is scared of the Merry-Go-Round. We rode in the bench for the 1 minute ride that cost $2. Oh well. She had a blast the rest of the day. The weather was perfect eventhough it sprinkled a little. We left the zoo at 4:30 after feeding Kiefer again. We stopped for supper on the way and to feed Kiefer again. We got home at 8:00. Gerhardt and I were very sick of hearing the Incredibles and especially the Letter Factory. We need to get more DVDS for the next trip. The DVD was a great idea there was no whining unless the movie stopped. She did take a half hour nap.

I asked Anneliese what her favorite animal was when we got home. She said it was a brown and pink Elephant. We didn't even see an elephant. They were inside when we went by their pen. Then I decided to be more specific and ask what animal she liked the best that we saw today. She said she liked the monkey. We saw several monkeys. Gerhardt said she got most excited about the Bear and Zebra. It was a fun day for all and I was glad a went along in the end.