All Done

One of Sarah's current words/phrases is "all done." She also says Momma, Dadda, Pa-Pa (Pickle), puppy, cack (duck), caw-caw (car) and she makes a variety of animal sounds (moo, baa, neigh, quack and bark are the most common!).  Unfortunately, our summer is one of her words - "all done."  Sarah went back to daycare and I went back to work on Wednesday.  Luckily, we had an awesome Saturday at the end of those three long days for both of us!  Where did we go on a gorgeous, 85 degree day?  To the zoo, of course!  But first, we stopped at John's Space Age Donuts in downtown Overland Park.

For those of you not lucky enough to live within driving distance of John's, please come stay with us one weekend so we can take you there.  Seriously.  It's that good.  And it's been that good forever.  My dad used to take me there to get donuts (although it was years before I realized that "sprinkled" wasn't their best donut!), and I was super excited to take Sarah for her first taste of John's Space Age Donuts!  I got the quintessential chocolate twist, Tom got an apple fritter and a Bavarian cream, and Sarah got a couple of glazed donut holes.  Did I mention that she got to sit at the counter to eat them?!

After stuffing our faces, we headed back to the zoo - this time for a Friends of the Zoo morning exclusive.  We got in early and were able to see the polar bear and enjoy a ride on the carousel before it got totally crazy.  Then we walked through Asia and on to Australia - I just love those kangaroos!

By 10:30, the zoo was getting pretty crazy (apparently everyone realized that it was the first cool day in about 3 months!), so we checked out a few more animals and called it a day!

Fortunately, some of the animals we passed on our way out were the sheep at the "farm" in the Australia section of the zoo.  She got brave enough to touch them...sort of...

Once we had had enough of the sheep, we left the zoo and headed to Brookside to check out their farmer's market.  The market is VERY small, and by the time we got there was also mostly sold out.  Luckily, the playground at Border Star Elementary was open, and Sarah was able to run around for a bit before we headed home for lunch and a nap... 

Not a bad way to spend the first weekend of the school year! 

Zoo Part Two

Today we went back to the zoo.  That's right - Sarah and I went to the zoo two days in a row.  When the girl gets up at 6:15 and is standing at the door wearing shoes and handing you the diaper bag by 7:30, you have to do SOMETHING.  So I put her in the car and we did the part of the zoo we had skipped yesterday!  She also rode on the carousel again.  Three times, to be exact.  And it would have been more if I hadn't gotten dizzy from all those circles!  Luckily, we had another great day at the zoo with few guests and lots of close encounters with the animals.  Not a bad way to spend my last free day with my daughter before school starts again!

Who needs a stroller?!

Sarah also discovered that there were monkeys on the trashcans.  I think she touched all of the trashcans we passed.  Eww.

At least she got to see live animals on our trip!

Well, not all of them were live.  But she still had fun!

The crocodile had a bowling pin and a purple Jack-o-lantern, but Sarah had all the goldfish...

The highlight of the day (at least for me!) was the close encounter we had with the giraffes!  They usually hang out on the far side of their pen, but today they were right up next to the walkway.  There's also a small cafe there, so Sarah got to climb on tables AND see giraffes - what a day!

(And no, I didn't take her on the Sky Safari featured in this picture. Anything made from a refurbished ski lift that crosses over wild animals is off limits for me!)

Sarah also got up close and personal with the lions.  I think the trick is to get to the zoo early when the animals have all eaten their breakfasts and are napping!

We headed home after one last ride on the carousel so Sarah could have a nap of her own.  I'm so lucky that I get to spend my summers with my daughter!

A Back to School Tradition

Today's not my last day of summer vacation, but tomorrow sure is!  Sarah and I took advantage of the cool morning and went to the zoo on a weekday one last time before school starts again - just like last year!  The zoo has been opening early because of the heat, so we got there before the crowds. We were one of 3 families at the polar bear exhibit, so she got some quality time with Nikita.  She giggled each time he pushed off from the glass in front of her!

From there, we visited the sea lions and the tropics building.  The white faced capuchins in the tropics building always seem a little aggressive to me (but it kind of makes watching them a lot more interesting than some of the other animals).  Here, Sarah and the female have a stare down during snack time!

We also discovered that one of Sarah's favorite toys is also one of the toys the monkeys play with!  (Here's a hint, monkey.  The pink one is the hardest to open - you have to turn it!!!)

After that, we walked up to the lorikeets for feeding time.  There are no pictures of this because one hand was holding Sarah and the other was holding the juice for the birds to eat!  Again, we had it almost to ourselves - there was only one other family in there with us.  This meant that we got lots of refills in our tiny juice cup and had the attention of lots of birds.  At one point, there were three birds on me!  We kept feeding the birds until Sarah got really upset that she couldn't touch them...and then I distracted her with a carousel ride.

 This is where the Gold Level membership pays off - unlimited carousel rides!!  Sarah pointed to the elephant when I asked her which one she wanted to ride, and I went with it.

Surprisingly, she was okay with riding just once. We walked to the Discovery Barn and I let her run loose!  She loved squawking back at the parrots (really, it was just yelling) and climbing on the frog slide. 

The lemurs were all lined up along the windowsill, which she didn't care about but I thought was pretty funny!

We said our grudging good-byes to the parrots and then walked past the new tiger exhibit (it was really cool, but it will be cooler when the tigers are in it!) to Australia.  This is one of my favorite parts of the zoo.  The kangaroos just kind of hang out, and people walk around them as best they can.  A couple of larger kangaroos were even laying on their backs in the grass with their feet straight up in the air!

We completed the "old zoo" circuit and called it quits.  It was lunchtime, and Sarah was getting cranky about it!  Since we skipped Africa altogether, I let her ride the carousel two more times before we left.  The first time around, she rode the KSU wildcat.  The second time, she rode the MU tiger...

And just for some perspective, here's a comparison of last year's trip and this one! (I love that it's the same monkey in the picture, too!)