Put Me In The Zoo

Oh the zoo... we gave up our zoo passes a year ago because Madison was too young to enjoy the experience. This year we decided to renew our passes. On Valentine's Day, Ryan, Auntie Jamie, and I headed out with the kids and let me tell you - it was a literal nightmare of an experience. Again, the photos make it look like a causal day at the zoo but it was anything but that. It took us about 30-45 minutes to park and then another 30-45 minutes to wait in line for passes. Once we got in the park, I fed Adam while Jamie and Ryan took Madi to the petting zoo. Ryan hates the petting zoo because he says it's nothing but farm animals but Madi had a good time at least. Afterward, we walked by the Flamingos and the primates on our way to see the Pandas. While Ryan and Madi fought through the crowds to take a look at the animals, Jamie and I decided to go ahead and wait in line for the pandas. Problem was that we got lost for about a half hour and then Ryan and Madi also got lost in the same spot. At least we were together but it took us a while to find out way back on the path. When we finally got to the Pandas, the line was 35-40 minutes long so we decided to pass and instead took the kids to the bathroom for diaper changes. That probably took as long as it would have taken to wait in line. We were all starving at that point and went in search of food but the place we ended up at was shut down. We decided to head through the Elephant exhibit which took way longer than expected and when we finally found a place to eat, that line was another 40 minutes or so. We left the zoo after eating, and despite the fact that we'd only seen maybe 5 animals, we'd been there for 5 hours or so. At least Madi had a good time!!