members night at the zoo

normally we don't go to post-dinner-time activities. mostly because we are just too tired to wrangle the troops at the end of the day. the zoo was putting on an after-hours members night between the kids' birthdays so we thought that it would be nice to take them.  it was a mostly sunny evening with scattered showers in the area, but it didn't damper our night.  in fact, we had a wonderful time!

as with every trip to the zoo, the kids had to have their picture taken in the penguins.  what i didn't take a picture of was daddy trying to fit his head in one.  (are you getting tired of these penguin pictures, yet?)












there was a good turn out but it wasn't all that crowded feeling.  it was so nice to be outside on such a nice evening.  the kids were just happy to have daddy with them at the zoo.  madelyn had fun showing him all the things that were 'new' since his last trip with us.

as part of 'members night' all of the members got a zoo bag. madelyn was really happy to carry it for us.

one of the truly new things at the zoo is a train ride.  the kids have been wanting to give it a try, but i have told them that we have to wait for daddy to ride it.  thankfully, the line was short and they finally got to have their ride.  it is just a little train that goes around a little track two or three times.  it doesn't actually ride 'around' the zoo or anything.  i was laughing because two other kids squished into the coal car with them.  the coal car turned out to be an unfortunate choice because about half-way through their last lap it started pouring!  they were in the only car without a roof and the 'conductor' apologized because the train couldn't go any faster.  maddux and i tried to hide from the rain by standing really close to a concession stand and i used an umbrella to try and cover him in the stroller.  thankfully, the rain was short lived, but we were all pretty wet for the rest of our visit.

the evening light was almost magical in maddux' eyes.  this picture is moments before it started pouring.

the kids had fun doing a 'find the animal' mural.  mason was really cute trying to find all the animals that he could reach to point out.

towards the end of our visit we came across a face painting station and madelyn can't pass up an opportunity to get something on her face.  mason picked the most complicated option and did a great job holding still for the girl doing the painting (who obviously knew what she was doing because she was fast).

after our fun night, i wish that our zoo was open past five more than once a year. and it was a great way to kick off our birthday celebration weekend!  love.