A grand day out

On Monday we made plans to meet some friends at the zoo on Friday.

On Tuesday Chris reminded me that he'd be taking the car to work on Friday, leaving me wheel-less all day.

Leaving me in sort of a quandary. Should I cancel our plans and risk the wrath of three little girls who had their hearts set on a zoo trip? Or should I figure out how to still make it happen?

Of course I did what any self-respecting Portlander would do: made a fun adventure of the whole day and used public transportation to get us there.

Here's my munchkins, waiting at the bus stop. Lexi's slightly blurry, but I promise she was completely there. (Ellie's almost 4 and doesn't really need the stroller, but I needed somewhere to stash our lunches and water bottles.)

And waiting at the MAX stop. The number of times I had to say, "Please don't stand on that"...
I'm sure we're not the only people who take this picture every time we go to the zoo.
Here's the girls and our friend Violet sitting in the eagle's nest.

Petting the goats was a highlight of the trip (never mind the giraffes and penguins...noooo, let's pet the goats!) Check out the look on Ellie's face as she notices what the goat is starting to do to Vicki.

Apparently his name is Amos and he does this to everyone. Vicki thought it was hysterical. Ellie was hysterical.

The polar bears weren't out, but we had fun pretending to be them anyway.

And of course no visit to the zoo is complete without a sighting of Baby Sam, who turns one on Sunday. Look how cute he is.

And Ellie can't go home without seeing Gloria the hippo. I don't know what the hippo's real name is, but to Ellie she (assuming it's a she) will always be Gloria, thanks to Madagascar. She doesn't call them "hippobapotamuses" anymore, so I'm hanging on to whatever cuteness I can still get out of it.

The sea lions are always fun to watch. I love how pictures turn out in that exhibit.

Lunch was eaten somewhere in there, and other animals were visited. Awkward things were explained (my story to my friend of the time Chris and I witnessed the bats taking part in some...exciting...activities necessitated a later conversation with Vicki about the meaning of the word "mating". Sigh...) and elephant ears were consumed.

Then it was time to head on home. Here we are waiting for MAX to arrive.

And at the bus stop. The girls were a little worn out at this point.

But the fun wasn't over yet! We had to stop by the garden to water. Luckily the bus runs right past it.

We also enjoyed some of the fruits of our labors (that's a really funky shaped tomato. It looks like it cross bred with a pepper, but it tastes fabulous)

Then we walked 10 blocks, stopping to chat with Miss B., who subs at the girls' school and has a gorgeous house and yard which I have coveted since we moved here, and to pick up some flowers from the (dumpster diving) Flower Lady's yard.

And finally, home!