Now you see it!

Now you don't!

The zoo trip was so much fun on Wednesday! It's always a blast to see how kids respond to animals they so rarely see. "Ooh look at the baby monkey!" "Hey! That's an Okapi! I did a report on those!" "Can we ride the train? please"
I think between the 4 cameras that came along on the trip, we took probably close to 1000 pictures. We rented a wagon from the zoo people and hauled around our cooler full of pops, waters and frozen sandwiches for a picnic. Sometimes if someone got tired of walking, they got to sit on top of the cooler as we went along.

Meri and I went into their new Butterfly exhibit where you walk around a room full of butterflies as they flutter about. It was pretty cool! I could see Maddy and Robb sitting waiting for us on a bench with the wagon from where we were in the building, so I texted Maddy, "I can see you..." Apparently the caller id gave me away and she wasn't freaked out one little bit.

When we left there, we walked a few blocks down a hill and someone noticed that I had a tagalong on me. YES! A butterfly had tried to stowaway on the underside of my purse! It just hung there. whistle whistle whistle as if no one would notice it. It must not understand English, because between the cameras and the "Hey Mom! STOP!" it didn't flinch. Meri and I booked it back up the hill *cautiously* to return the butterfly back to it's jail. Meri told the guide the whole story and how we didn't know it was on us and he very calmly, grasped it by it's closed wings and took it away. Apparently it happens all the time! For all I know, I just gave them one that normally lives outside...
Meri & I caught up with the other two who were feeding a rabid squirrel parts of our lunch. I mean, how rabid does a squirrel have to be to come right up to their table and beg for food?
We met up again with Tiffany and Ryan shortly after that. This zoo now has a sky glider that will take you from one side of the zoo to the other! Of course you don't get to see the animals up close though if you only go one way, so 3 of the kids took it round trip and we waited and waited and waited by the Rhinos who were sitting in a mud bath. But we got misted so it felt good.

ANYWHO! The reason for the title... Do you see the photo below? What do you see? I'll give you three guesses.

nope nope and yep.

Meri's camera is sitting next to the cow. That is the proof we needed to tell us the exact moment, where and when she lost her camera! Shortly after she unsuccessfully tried to milk this metallic cow, we found that we would have to wait 45 minutes to take a train ride around the zoo and back up to the main entrance where everyone else were waiting for us. Well forget that! So after a few tears of frustration, we headed up the big hill. And it's big.

Did I mention it's a BIG hill?

At the top, we went to a lame Imax film on tornadoes. I thought it would be therapy for me because you KNOW my tornado dreams always crop up around this time of year. Well, it didn't. And I would have napped there but knew my kids would just poke me in the side if I started snoring.

I hate being poked.So after the 30 minute movie, we headed to the last thing we wanted to see. The aquarium. Henry Doorly zoo has the most awesome aquarium we've seen. Penquins, jelly fish and a walkway that takes you through the center of a huge aquarium with sharks and all sorts of fish swimming all around you. Right before we went in, Meri starting digging through her backpack. She couldn't find her camera.

You know that sinking feeling that you've lost something that means a great deal? Yep - I was feeling sick, but knew it wasn't the end of the world. It was, apparently, to her. We decided to go through the aquarium and then I'd go to the lost and found or check back with the Imax people and see if it was on the floor next to her chair.

What normally takes me 20 minutes, at least, to go through, took me all of 4 minutes. I was anxious about that camera. I don't know why. I guess because this was already a replacement camera to one that got broken a few months before. And there are precious photos on it from this trip. Granted... it wasn't the only camera on the trip, but STILL!

So as soon as I got through the aquarium I headed up to the Imax alone. The next movie had started and I couldn't get in. So I went to the main gate and found the lost and found desk. I explained that my daughter had lost her camera. They asked for a description and I told them purple. That's all I could remember. The guy reached over like he was headed for some forms and I thought, oh great, I've got to fill out a form! But he reached past it and pulled out a purple camera! WOOHOO!

I called the gang (Thank goodness for cell phones!) and let them know and told them to get up here so we could leave. 30 minutes later after all the kids had picked out souvenirs at the gift shop, we were on our way home totally exhausted. Good thing Robb can't sleep in cars! He drove.
Like I said, there were a few meltdowns. One of them was mine. But for the most part, we had a great time! I love seeing my animals in their natural habitats!