A Day at the Zoo (and other priceless adventures)

What started out as a good idea yesterday, turned into a BAD idea then a good idea then a bad idea then a good idea over and over again TODAY.

So let us begin. Yesterday I got the bright idea of going to the National Zoo in DC. I looked it up online and to my wonderful surprise…I found out it was FREE! I love free things. It’s considered part of the Smithsonian so they don’t charge you a single dime to get in (I found out later how they make up for all that freeness). I sent out a big email to all the Delta Company wives telling them that I was attempting to venture to the zoo with my grubs and anyone brave enough to be seen with us could meet us there. SO yea…no one replied. WAIT…one person did, Bonnie. Let me tell you about her…

So my Austin told me a few weeks back (before I moved here) that I would probably like this Bonnie character because not only is she a member, she’s really normal and she's probably the ONLY other wife with kids old enough to walk. I asked him to elaborate on what normal meant. I don’t consider myself normal so to me normal doesn’t sound so great. These were his words, “She’s a cross between you and Jessica (Kempton).” I was like…what the? How does that work? I told Kempton about this immediately and we were both interested to see what a “cross between us” would look and act like. Here’s a picture of Kempton if you forgot.

(conveniently next to a picture of me on the left!)

When Bonnie called me to say she’d like to go, I was ecstatic! Yay!! A friend! And even better a Jessica/Jessica friend. On the phone she was totally cool, really down to earth, not too normal, not too weird. She DID remind me of me a little.

Today, I checked my email only to find out she had changed her mind about going because of some other plans (less important I’m sure). I was bummed, but we were still up for the trip so I started getting ready. Then the phone rings. It’s Bonnie. Now she’s back on. Okay. Still…we were going regardless of friends so that was just a plus. She planned on calling my cell phone once she got there so we could find each other since we've never met.

Amazingly, we were able to get out of the door at the time I planned with lunchables and baby gear all packed. The ride sucked. The traffic here is horrid and we kept hitting clumps of it every 10 minutes. DC is about an hour away so that was absolutely no fun. To make the ride more enjoyable I was on the phone with Kempton. I told her all about the meeting of the Jessica/Jessica. We were both excited. I talked her head off only to realize that my phone was dying. It didn’t hit me until about 40 minutes into the conversation that I NEEDED my phone because Bonnie was gonna call me when she got there to meet up. I got off the phone with Kempton and about 2 minutes later…it died. UGHHH, now what?!!? I dug around in the console for that $30 charger I bought with my phone…NOTHING. Dangit. I started thinking. I wasn’t familiar with where we were, but I took a chance and exited just HOPING to get lucky and find an AT&T store nearby. Almost…I found a Verizon who gave me quick directions to a nearby AT&T. I found the store after about 20 minutes of driving back and forth and around and then back and forth again. Ran in to get the charger only to see a line of about 5 people waiting and two people already talking to the ONLY two employees about major heated issues. I grabbed the charger and paced hoping they would notice my urgency and see that I didn’t need consulting…just a quick charger. NOPE. I had $40 cash in my bag and the charger was $30. After 8 minutes of waiting and still no progress, I raised the charger in the air and said, “I’m buying this $30 charger!” I put my cash on the counter and said, “Here’s $40, keep the change, I got kids…I gotta go!!!” The man looked at me and just nodded surprisingly. I was urked inside about spending that kind of money on a stinkin charger that I already had AND I could buy on ebay for probably $10 but I needed the phone to get the call from the Jessica/Jessica so it was done.

As soon as I got in the car I charged up the phone only to see a voicemail. Hmm…it was from Bonnie. “My husband called…blah blah blah….he needs lunch…blah blah…I can’t go…” AHHHHHH!!! I was totally bummed. Jake asked if I was mad about wasting $40 on that charger and I said, “No, because I still needed it to get her msg.”

So meeting the Jessica/Jessica wasn’t going to happen today but that was okay. We were still gonna go to the zoo and have fun. After all this drama the kids were starving so they ended up eating their lunchables in the car.

The next drama came from driving through DC. Okay, the people here are FREAKIN CRAZY!!! We passed about 500 runners and double that amount of tourists, the capitol, the pentagon, the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument, an old man who decided to walk in front of my car as I’m driving about 50mph and had to slam on my brakes sending Isaak’s brains into my lap, and even a group of protesters seen here. I like the giant blow up rat…brings back memories. Jake said someone should make a movie about our adventures, and I agreed.

The best part was when an idiot man going the opposite direction as us decided that his lane was going too slow so he needed to get in MY lane going the wrong way. I’m a honker, I’ve always been a honker so what did I do? I freakin HONKED. We were nose to nose in our cars and he’s lookin at me like ‘I’ need to move…uhmm NO. So he jerks his car BACK into HIS correct lane and rolls down his window and screams….”F*%$ YOU!!!!!” Wait a minute. What just happened? The kids were stunned. Jake said, “Uhmm we shouldn’t put that in our movie.” Weird…

Anyway…we finally got to the zoo and it was great. It’s so nice not to be in weather hot enough to melt the makeup off your face and onto your shirt. The breeze was fabulous and the animals were sooo nice!! I’ve never been to a zoo where the animals are actually pretty close and fun to watch.

Just because I left Frederickburg didn’t mean I left the freaks and weirdos there. Can you tell me why a probably 3-4yr old is riding in this baby car seat? Please tell me she doesn’t ride in that in the car. Do these idiots know you can REMOVE that baby carrier and have an actual SEAT in the stroller? Guess not.

Here’s the porcupine…especially for YOU DENA! *wink*

The Panda is like their MAIN attraction. Everything is Panda at this zoo. He was quite precious rubbin his bum on the rock. His eyes were so cute and puffy he almost looked fake. I wanted to grab him and put him in a half nelson just for fun he was so snuggly lookin.

BUT THE BEST PART OF ALL…was the HIPPO!!!! Oh my gosh, I have NEVER in my life seen such a FUN and animated Hippo. They are usually either not on display, or floating in the water with only the top section of their back showing. This guy was awesome! I could have stood and watched him the entire day and so could the kids. They didn’t wanna leave him.

We didn’t stay long because I ended up spending a crap load of mula on food and Isaak wanted to be held the last half (why did I forget my wrap?!?!?!). So that’s where they get you on the freeness. Of course the kids had to eat since they already finished their lunchables and I hadn’t had a single thing all day so I was about to faint and leave four heathens by themselves in a freaky city. The crappy hot dog and cheeseburger “value” meals were each $10. Not so much a great “value”. Also, the map of the zoo was $2 itself which I’ll be saving for future trips.

So the free day ended up being about…

$40 – charger
$2 – map of the zoo
$25 – food
$15 – parking

BUT…the memories?! Ahhh…priceless.

Here’s to meeting the Jessica/Jessica another day!!