Zoo Day

Max has been begging me all school year to come on a field trip with his class. They have had probably 5 or 6.  I've wanted to badly, but #1 the adoption sucked every ounce of mental energy I had right out of me and #2 it's sooo hard asking people to babysit a toddler all day, plus figure out a place for Bennett.  So now we have Anya home and life is totally stress free (ha ha) I finally decided this was it! The year has almost ended and...who doesn't love going to the zoo?  It worked out great because my friend, Melissa watched Eli and Bennett in the morning, then Jeremy took them both to G&G Fillmore's house in Logan while he had a golf weekend with his friends. (Thanks SOO much, Grandma Fillmore! That was an amazing little break.)

I brought Anya along, which made it anything but relaxing. But I'm so glad we went! Anya got to experience real live animals for her first time ever, and Max was happy as can be to have mom along...finally! 

I was in charge of these three adorable boys. Max, Luke and Carter. My boy, Max is the one with the hood on in all the pictures. He likes his hood. :)

We all wandered around the zoo together, with Anya in a stroller. We met up with the class for lunch and the bird show, but other than that, it was just the 5 of us!

Anya did NOT like being stuck in the stroller all that time. She wanted out!
Too bad...she won't stick with me when she walks. The stroller is the only option.

We all loved the bird show the best! The most exciting part was when this huge owl flew about an inch over Max's head. Anya was glued the whole time and clapped whenever the birds did tricks. She loves things like this. We have learned that she has an impressive attention span!



Oooo, Ma! Look at that!



Anya's favorite animals were the monkeys. We spent a good half-hour in the monkey building because she didn't want to leave. She laughed at everything they did.

(No, these aren't monkeys in the picture. I'm not even sure what they are!) At any rate, she definitely prefers the little animals over the big ones.



A few minutes of freedom during lunch. Yes!







WHY did you have to put me back in this thing?  Mom, you're so mean!

The whole crew, including both of the third grade classes at our kids' school.  It started raining hard when we took this picture, so it was fast!

I loved spending this day with Max. I hope he always wants his mom to hang out with him at school. It may not be so cool in a few years. That makes me sad. :( I also hope I get to volunteer more this next year. Bennett and Anya will both be in school for half a day, so I'll only have to get a babysitter for Eli. I miss it!

Speaking of Max...I was just called to be his Primary (children's Sunday school) teacher at church.

I also get to have the girls his age come over for activities at our house twice a month. (Kind of like girl scouts.) Yea, I'm so excited!

I've never been a primary teacher before. I've served as the chorister, the pianist, an Activity Day Leader and the President, but never a teacher. This is going to be fun!