Z is for Zoo {Years Ago}

As we end another round of Blogging through the Alphabet, it's only natural for me to write a zoo post. I almost did a think-back-Thursday collage of various zoos that we've seen around the country. Addison reminded me of at least one crazy trip to the zoo while we living in Washington D.C. that I could share instead of just posting pictures.


For our first trip to the National Zoo, I was once again reminded about how much I love my husband's obsession with travel guides. He had learned a fabulous trick about riding the Metro to the zoo. If you stay on the Metro station one stop past the zoo, then you will be walking downhill to the zoo entrance. When we finished seeing all the animals, we then walked downhill a few more blocks to get back on the Metro. No trudging uphill for these smart tourists!

I suspect the kids are chasing pigeons in the only picture I have of them from this day.

The crazy trip Addison remembered was when we went to the zoo with some friends when Lauren was about three months old. If I remember correctly, they had highly coveted tickets to see the new baby panda and invited us to join them.

We had some reason that we had to be at the Navy hospital in Bethesda that day. (My best guess is that Addison needed an allergy shot.) I knew that it would be tough to fight traffic around the beltway to the hospital and then get home before we needed to leave for the zoo with our friends. I don't have any photographic proof, but I'm pretty sure I tossed some lunches in an overstuffed diaper bag, left our car in the hospital parking garage, put Lauren in her sling carrier, and headed from the hospital to the zoo on the Metro.

I promise that I did bring Lauren with us; I just didn't take a selfie that included her riding along in the sling.

It's funny to ask my kids what they remember about our various outings. Addison clearly remembers this second trip to the zoo because "that's the one where we went with the Smiths and Ryan had seaweed in his lunch."

Exactly.

I know that we took other trips to the National Zoo, but these two stick out among the rest. Besides, it seems like we take more animal pictures than people pictures when we go to the zoo. Years later I find myself wishing I had more good pictures of the kids when they were itty-bitty.

For the past twenty-six weeks I've enjoyed sharing a "years ago" story (or stories) corresponding to each letter of the alphabet for the Blogging through the Alphabet challenge hosted by Marcy at Ben and Me.

I often tell my children stories of things that have happened in our past, and now I've taken the time to write down those treasured stories. Now all I need to do is print them all in a book so that they aren't forever lost on the internet.

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