I meant to do a post on the zoo trip I took with just Bastien a while back. I have to admit I didn't get all excited about the zoo until my twenties when I went with Jason and my mother-in-law in San Antonio. Their zoo is amazing and I just couldn't believe all the animals you could see in the middle of Texas. I guess I was just old enough to "really appreciate it". I did a trip with Isabella the Friday before this one, just a mother-daughter thing, but I think she was just too young. We spent more time at their little playground than checking out animals. Fun, but not the "zoo" experience I was looking for. Then, I took Bastien a week later for mother-son day, and that was more like it.I signed us up for a class in the morning at the LA Zoo. The theme was "Flamingos". That's all they had at the time, so what are you gonna do?
It's a fun little program called Critters N Kids. You start in the classroom where the teacher tells you all about the topic (in our case, yes, flamingos). There's a circle time, story, and some hands on interactive learning stations. We played with flamingo eggs and I don't remember what else. (Maybe that's why you should blog while it's fresh in your mind, as opposed to months later). The one super plus is that they offer the class the hour before the zoo opens. This allows you to then wander around in the zoo before everybody else gets there. It's nice and cool, and they are bringing out all the animals and feeding them so you get a chance to see them all. Check out the good animal sightings...
Bastien's favorites were the lion and tiger...
Hey, they really do like bananas...
Is this guy coughing? Or singing "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot"?
And, as you can see, I splurged on the expensive tiger lunch box. Well, it was his favorite animal...
Then we got some poses...
After lunch, we saw this guy and I was reminded so much of my childhood. The Kookaburra song just doesn't come up again after say, ten years old. I was happy to see the right lyrics, just to check. 
The really fun thing was how into maps Bastien was. Everytime we saw one, he would say "Now, where are we?" and have fun dictating where we needed to go next. Maybe he won't be functionally illiterate despite his mother.
Then, we had this surprise. A koala named "Baz".
Uh oh, we landed near an ice cream vending machine. Look how happy he is...
And how pissed he is when I say "no more ice cream".
After lunch, we saw this guy and I was reminded so much of my childhood. The Kookaburra song just doesn't come up again after say, ten years old. I was happy to see the right lyrics, just to check. 
The really fun thing was how into maps Bastien was. Everytime we saw one, he would say "Now, where are we?" and have fun dictating where we needed to go next. Maybe he won't be functionally illiterate despite his mother.
Then, we had this surprise. A koala named "Baz".
And how pissed he is when I say "no more ice cream".
I hate to end on a sour note, when the day was so great. But these are the truths of child-rearing. An ice cream vending machine + no nap + lots of exciting activity= Operation Meltdown. To be honest, sometimes you feel like, "why do I even bother?" But then, my dad gave me some great advice (amidst some bad advice I won't go into) about doing things for your kids. He asked me if I do these things for me or the kids? Hard to answer. Then, he warned me, "Don't set your kids up for all these sacrifices they need to repay. If it's fun for you, great, but if not, don't torture yourself on their behalf and get mad when they don't appreciate it." Well, that's not exactly what he said, but that's what I got out of it.
Good to remember.
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