madelyn birthday trip - toledo zoo

we wanted to do something 'special' for madelyn's birthday but a party wasn't in the cards.  i mean three parties in one week?!  even i am not that crazy!  so we planned a trip to a 'new' zoo - in toledo.  it was just under three hours to get there.  we left after breakfast and the kids thought that the ride was so long that the suprise must be that we were going to florida.  boy, are they going to be surprised later when we actually do drive to florida!

i had heard great things about the toledo zoo and it looked pretty impressive online too.  unfortunately, it was a hot one.  the hottest day of the year so far.  even though we were all sweating (madelyn was driven to tired, hot tears at one point) we still had a pretty great visit.  madelyn wants to go back when it gets cooler again.

a keyboard that plays only bird calls.  all of the bird names are written above each key.  pretty sure grandma and big pop would have been fans.

if you have been reading this blog long, you know that madelyn loves to pose with a sculpture.  we used to see them all the time when we lived in wisconsin but i guess they aren't as popular here.

there was a wallaby walk through exhibit.  the wallabies would hop right across the trail.  we saw one really scare a girl as it hopped passed her - she never saw or heard it coming.  the kids didn't seem all that into it so i didn't take a lot of pictures but then madelyn said it was one of her favorite parts.  there was a cute little baby one too.  

we stopped for birthday lunch pretty soon after arriving.  there was a nice pavilion with fans so the heat wasn't too bad while we ate.  we had pb&j, plums, cucumbers and our special birthday treat - birthday cake oreos!  we sang happy birthday to madelyn before we ate them.  she thought that they were pretty great (they were better than i was expecting) and even thanked me for such a great lunch.  (notice that we were able to use your plates on her birthday, nana.)

i was trying to take a picture of the white mask of sunscreen daddy put on poor manning, but he wouldn't let me.

and then we were off again.  next stop was the seals.  the kids all enjoyed the large viewing windows and i enjoyed the break from the sun.

mason loved that there were lots of stairs/seats for him to jump off of over and over.

one of the main attractions at this zoo are twin polar bear cubs.  they did not disappoint!  besides being super cute, they were very active.

while everyone else was watching the polar bears, i let manning out of the stroller for a bit to move around since this was a carpeted location.  poor kid did not really enjoy the long car ride and then moving to the stroller.  he really liked it when there were a few viewing windows for the seals at his height.

i had brought the double stroller thinking that the big boys could take a break if the lack of sleep and walking got to them (remember we were coming off of vbs week and they were up until 10:30pm last night and then we woke them up at 7am today).  but the drawback was that manning didn't really have much of a view.  so it came as no surprise that he was really, really excited about the train ride.  i was really excited that an employee offered to take a family picture for me - now if only maddux had smiled.

pointing out the animals

the kids love these game carts at zoos.  and madelyn was just happy to get to tell someone that it was her birthday.

i had seen on their website that they feed the hippos at 1:30 on saturdays so i thought that might be fun to see since all of the kids like hippos.  basically it was a lot of hot sweaty people jammed together in a room with no air movement trying to see what was happening.  when the actual feeding happened it was kind of neat.  they counted down and threw a whole watermelon into the water.  the hippos moved pretty quickly to the watermelon and tried to catch it as it floated a bobbed - it only took two tries.

madelyn watching the hippos move to where they were being fed (at least i think they were being fed, it swam over and opened its mouth)

matt said that he doesn't care if he ever sees anything get fed again.  he did have it pretty bad with the two big (sweaty and crying) boys taking turns sitting on his shoulders.  at least i had a paper plate to fan myself with as i was melting.

mason with his favorite - the rhinos.  this one had horn that curved forward instead of back.

they had the long structure with animal 'masks' for kids' photo opportunities.  of course the kids had to each have a picture with practically every one while the sun beat down on me in a surprisingly intense way at this particular location.  there were a lot more than what is shown here - maybe 10 total.

this one is for the grandparents who are all fans of giraffes.

i think we left just before three.  manning was very ready for a nap and all of us were looking forward to getting out of the sun.  i think we managed to see everything too.  the layout of the zoo was even trying for matt - and he never gets lost!  i think they could use a few more sign.  it was also hard because they have a large construction project going on and we kept hitting dead ends that shouldn't be there.  

i think most of the kids slept on the ride back home.  we did stop once for a roadside bathroom break - that was a little stressful to say the least.  and then we made another stop so that matt could rehydrate.  i mean seriously, we lost a lot of fluids!  the kids all shared a chocolate smoothie from starbucks and thought that it was quite delicious.

madelyn wanted homemade veggie burgers and corn on the cob for her birthday dinner but there just wasn't going to be enough time.  she was fine with going to a restaurant instead.  we decided to pick up from a 'healthy cuisine' restaurant near home that matt and madelyn had not been to before.  madelyn asked for spinach pizza.  seriously.  that is what she wanted for her birthday.  we just love her.

and now for presents!  madelyn was looking forward to this most of all.  she just wanted to make sure that we would be home early enough that she could open presents before going to bed (she was pretty tired and asking if it was almost bed time during our drive home). and just like manning, even without a party, she was not hurting for gifts!

rainboots from papa and nana

she loved the lalaloopsie doll matt picked out for her last night while we were at vbs (we had realized the day before that since we had decided against our original idea for her, we had never picked up gifts for her!  oops!)  he picked it because it had a paint brush and that was the first thing madelyn noticed.  he knows his little girl.

manning was just so excited to be free at last that he kept standing up!  seriously, he must have stood himself up like 20 times.  and i don't know if he was just slap happy from being tired or so tickled with the fact that he can stand by himself, but he was just cracking up!  it was hard to get any video but here is a short one.

madelyn's newest favorite color is black (crazy because she has always said that she likes every color except black) and she wanted a black and grey ice cream cake for her birthday with lalaloopsies on top.  i was going to try and make it myself but matt helped me off the crazy train and bought an ice cream cake last night too.  i just added the decorations.  madelyn wasn't satisfied and asked to add the crown decorations from last years' birthday.

this is just priceless...

don't worry, we relit the candle and let her have a turn too.  the whole day madelyn had been telling the boys that she got to make the rules and go first since it was her birthday.  mason had had enough and at one point reminded her that she would have to do what he said on his birthday.  that stopped her right in her tracks.  she had not even considered being on the other side of this power play.  i loved it.

madelyn said that this was "the best birthday ever" and you can't get much higher praise.  we love you so much, madelyn.  you are such a creative and kind (well with the exception of your brothers) little girl.  happy six years!  love.