Birthday adventures

Yesterday was Ellie's birthday. Since I babysit on Mondays, and the babysittee happens to be Ellie's best friend, I thought it would be great to do something fun with the two of them. Our library has a pass to the Children's Museum that you can place a hold on, and I'd been on the list for about six months, so I was really excited when my number came up last week. What a perfect birthday treat! So the little girls and I headed across town yesterday morning, excited about a fun day.

Hooray! It's the Children's Museum!

We got up to the entrance only to discover that the doors were locked. A glance at the hours confirmed my fears: they're closed Mondays. That possibility never crossed my mind, but I suppose Sunday (the day I would have assumed they'd be closed if I had really thought about it at all) must be a pretty busy day for them.

So what to do? There I was with two three-year-olds, who wanted to know why we weren't going inside, and it was Ellie's birthday. Big fat bummer.

Fortunately the Children's Museum shares a parking lot with the Zoo, and we happen to be Zoo members (thank you a million times Christa and Brian!) The girls were (of course) fine with the change in plans, and after a minor glitch at the entrance gate - I had just thrown my wallet in my backpack, and my membership card was at home in my purse - we were on our way to animal adventures!

Ellie thinks she has to do this every time she comes to the zoo. It does make for a cute photo op.

It was a typical Oregon day in October, meaning cloudy, damp, and cool, so there was hardly anyone there. We saw all the animals, except the polar bears, who the girls decided must be sleeping in their room. Ellie insisted on seeing the "hippobapotamuses". I'm not sure if they're her favorite because of how much fun it is to say "hippobapotomus" or if there's some other reason, but they're always the first animal she asks for when we go to the zoo.

We also saw monkeys, penguins, sea lions, frogs, a giraffe, a couple of zebras, a "huge giant snake!", birds in a building that was declared stinky by the discerning noses of three-year-olds, and naked mole rats, the sight of which made both girls scream, "Ew, gross!" and run away.

But the best part was seeing Samudra, or Sam, the new baby elephant. He's about 2 months old and is by far the cutest animal I have seen at a zoo in a long time. His little trunk was all floppy, and when he tried to run it was in a goofy feet-too-big way.

The girls had a great time, and I don't think they regret not being able to go to the Children's Museum. I'll just put myself back on hold for the pass and we'll try again in six months or so!

Best friends!