What to do with two kids and a mother-in-law on a beautiful spring day? Head to the local county zoo, of course! Wednesday my MIL was up from her summer residence down the shore, so she asked if it would be okay for her to come spend some time with the kids. I was already planning on taking the kids to the zoo and figured an extra hand would be great, so I invited her along.

Our county zoo is small, but has some nice variety and is really just about the right size for my little ones. Plus, there's a little train that runs around it and across the street there's a big outdoor carousel and playground, so there's plenty to do. Usually. Apparently, this year Wednesday is Maintenance Day, which meant no train and no carousel, and also the big playground was being rebuilt so just the small one was open, and because it's pretty early in the season, a lot of the animal exhibits were closed. So, everything that was open was super crowded. Not ideal, but Becky was really wonderful (Zack was happy just to stuff snacks into his face as we pushed the cart around). No big meltdowns, even when we told her that the train -- her favorite -- was being fixed and she wouldn't get to ride it. I was very, very proud of her. And hey, look, pictures! Including one of what was probably the highlight of the day, baby geese. They're so fluffy!











And that last one is special for our San Clemente friends: look, we've got your goat!

Next time, we're going to the zoo on a Monday so we can ride the train and the carousel, too!

posted by Laura Y. @ 12:49 PM