Not so lazy Saturday
So I am sitting at Carl's Jr. with my four youngest kids thinking what a busier than normal day it has been. I like being busy and all, but today was a little busier than I'd hoped it'd be.
It started out easy enough with me waking up to a rather nice good morning kiss from my wife. And that is about the last thing I remember.
I had to go to the store to get stuff for breakfast. Then I had to make breakfast. And I had to clean the dishes and half the kitchen.
After that I had to clean up after breakfast and get the kids ready to take a drive. Which we did, to Best Buy so I could get an adapter for my iPhone that will let me use my Bose headphones to listen to my iPod. Then it was off to the barber for some hairs cutting before heading to CJ's for burgers and play place.
It's all good though. If I get nothing else out of this day I will always be able to say that today wasthe day that Rebekah, my 10 year old daughter, ate a Six Dollar Burger with fries and a coke faster than I ate my little league burger. I am astounded, yet horrified at the though of my future food bills.
A day at the Oakland zoo
It has been a while since we have gone, but we went to the Oakland City Zoo today. It was better than I remember, though the hills were just as steep.
First things first though. Let me tell you that family pass we got from the Lindsey Wildlife Museum a couple of weeks ago has already paid for itself. The pass pays for a year of entrance into the Museum as well as the Oakland Zoo and a host of other educational locations. And we decided that since we didn't have to pay to get in, we may as well go.
We had an enormous breakfast of daddy-made breakfast burritos before leaving, so we knew that lunch would not be a problem. Of course, traversing the hills at the zoo made breakfast wear out very fast. But not to worry. I made those burritos very big.
When we got to the zoo we decided we would take in as much as we could while we were there. And we did. We spent an goodly amount of time in the new Children's Area, an area dedicated to younger kids. We were able to see some new attractions like the alligators and crocodiles, as well as the bug exhibit. The kids were able to play for a little while in the play area and were even able to hop on two feet wide lilypads made just for skipping on.
We saw all sorts of birds, all sorts of large animals and myriad sleeping animal, like the lions and the hyenas. It was a rather warm day, so I can imagine that the animals would be taking some time to rest from the heat unlike all of the people there that were hoping against hope that the lions would come out to play. But as our docent told us, cats sleep on average 18 hours a day, so our chances of seeing one of those little critters was pretty slim.
Anyhow, we finished up our trip with some rides in the amusement park there, then took a ride on the train as a family, then had some ice creams before hitting the road to come home and eat once more, seeing as those enormous breakfast burritos had finally started to wear off.
Lindsay Wildlife Museum
So this past week my wife and I were talking and she told me that she needed me to get the kids out of the house for a bit so she take care of some things for school this year. Not wanting to disappoint, I wholeheartedly accepted my duties and prepared a day for me and the kids today.
We were supposed to start off at the Lindsay Wildlife Museum, the it was to be followed up with a trip to Pixie Playland topped of with a trip to the Hidden Lakes Park.
Well, we got to the museum, and it was great. We saw all kinds of rescued animals and cool displays. We saw a live cougar and a live bald eagle, both recuperating after health related issues. We saw all kinds of birds. We saw a rattlesnake, a gopher snake and a cool little toad. It was great. I liked it, the kids liked it, my son wasn't a loud grumpy boy. The trip to the museum was awesome. The weather... not so much.
When we left the museum, at about 2:30, it was about 100 degrees out. Well, I don't know about you much, but that is a little too hot for me to be taking my kids out in the sun to ride some rides and such. So instead of doing everything I wanted to do, I ended up taking the kids for a drive near where I work. We hit up Walnut Creek, Concord, Pleasant Hill and Pacheco. We saw a large grass fire at the Concord Airport. We had lunch. It was great.
We left Concord after eating linner (that meal between lunch and dinner) and came home. Well, not home per se, but home to the Mall. We did a little shopping, had some ice cream at Cold Stone Creamery, then headed home where I promptly relinquished myself to my need for computer time.
And wrote a little. And remembered just what a great day I had with my kids today.
