The Moores Six: Visitors and the zoo

Grandpa Ron, Grandma Lorrie and Aunt Krissy were up the weekend before last for a visit. We, and by we I mean Aunt Krissy, decided it would be fun to visit the zoo... on a Saturday... when it is ultra crowded... on a thousand degree day... with 1 million % humidity... We joked with her, but it was fun. Hot, very hot, very crowded, but fun.

The first thing we did was visit our Polar Bear exhibit. They were just hanging out eating ice... did I mention it was a thousand degrees when we were there? After watching them for a while and learning some interesting Polar Bear facts, we went below to the under water observation area. As it turns out, one of the Polar Bears was using the glass as a seat (oh yes Grandpa Ron, I'm going to go there...), so Grandpa Ron thought it would be funny to say to the boys "can you say Polar Bear butt?" Yes, I know. Note: I was not allowed to say butt in any context until I was grown and out of the house. Can you guess what the boys started repeating? And I am sure there were other children around doing the same thing, as I told Grandpa Ron that night, there were probably ticked off parents going home and discussing "that man who told our kids to say 'Polar Bear butt' and laughing all day." Mind you, such things are hilarious to little kids... Ethan repeated it laughing over and over... into the night. As a matter of fact, Monday night (over a week later), as we were eating dinner, out of the blue, Oliver said, "Can you say polar bear butt? Can you say polar bear butt? Can you say polar bear butt? hah, ha!" And there it started... all over again... all three boys... laughing and repeating it.

The now famed "polar bear butt."

After this we went to an indoor exhibit which the kids loved as it was more or less a nature themed play place... that was AIR CONDITIONED. We let them play a while.

Bottlenecks in the log...

Laying on the fake bed, having fun.

After petting some goats and wandering around a little more, we headed to lunch (okay it wasn't really leisurely like that, the boys were READY for lunch). This is where Grandpa Ron did it again. I caved and got the boys a hot dog to share (this after eating pizza, which Oliver wouldn't eat for some reason, thus my caving) and knew that Ethan would insist on ketchup so I got a little cup of that. Ethan tried to slurp the ketchup out of the cup, before even putting it on his piece of hot dog... not something I really wanted him doing. After I told him not to do that and then attended to another child (we had two tables), I turned to see him hunched over kind of facing the window doing something. Oh, I see... he has his tongue in the cup. Oh yes, Grandpa had given him the pointer to use his tongue instead... So he was hunched down hiding, like a junkie, while trying to lick the red treat out of the small cup. Can you say "bad influence?" (and kid's delight).

See the glassy eyes and distant stare...

We also fed the Lorikeets which Ethan and Oliver loved but Collin refused to do.

Actually, Collin was just done with the crowds and the heat at this point so he kept us moving... toward the exit. On the way out, Oliver insisted on walking (no stroller). He decided to hold Grandpa Ron's hand, it was pretty cute.