Our Trip to the Zoo

Where?
This past weekend we took a trip to the Memphis Zoo. This was our first family "mini" vacation with just Mommy, Daddy, Jake & Will. We had a blast! It was an awesome day weather wise and there was NOONE at the zoo. We were able to stay in front of the exhibits for as long as we want and check out the animals.

Setbacks
Of course, in true Spence style, it didn't go off without a hitch! Oh no there were a couple of things that could have rained on our parade. But we didn't let it happen! First of all the afternoon we were going to leave---Mommy had everything packed and we were waiting on Daddy to get home. Jake was taking a nap and when he woke up he had a 101 fever. Oh yeah of course, a fever. Anything else nope just this crazy fever. BUT with a little help from our friend Motrin he was back up and playing again so we decided to make the "time warp" trek to Memphis. It could have been disastrous you understand had we said "sorry boys we can't go Jake has a fever" Ummm we probably wouldn't have lived. Jake HAD to go see the gorillas!!! (wait for that story later) Once we made it to our hotel room late that night Jake's fever had climbed to 103--you saw it--isn't that great--but this time his 103 fever wasn't keeping him from chasing brother around this cool new hotel room we were staying in. Oh no you wouldn't have been able to tell if you didn't feel his forehead. So our friend Motrin again helped us out. The day of the zoo he still had a slight fever and it was gone the next day. Who knows??? It didn't keep Jake down!

Back to the late night in the hotel room. This is when Will decided that it was SO cool he couldn't sleep. Just laid there rolling all over the bed until 1AM!!! (at least--who knows really because I finally fell asleep) You'll note in the pictures later that the late night did him in the next day.

On to the Zoo
SO OFF to the Zoo we go!!! We get there and the first exhibit are the awesome Lions--I mean they are right there. That is what is cool about the Memphis Zoo--they still have the exhibits where you can see the animals without binoculars!! BUT was Jake impressed oh no! "I want to see the gorillas!" We tried to explain we would make our way there but he was going to have none of it! So we decided to head straight for the gorillas so we could actually enjoy the rest of the zoo and he could too! This gorilla story started last summer when we went to the Nashville Zoo with the Wheelers and Jake just had to see the orangutans--did they have any?? NO--so over a year it has now evolved into having to see Gorillas and finding a zoo that had them--which we now had. SO we get to the gorilla exhibit and oh look--yay--NO GORILLAS!!!!! Yeah that's right we drove how many miles and talked it up for how many days (weeks) that there were gorillas and the darn gorilla is visiting another zoo for awhile. James and I looked at each other and neither wanted to tell Jake--we were in shock and honestly scared that our zoo trip had just ended before it had begun. We explained it to him and to our definite surprise he took it quite well. It helped that the Pandas were very close by and we were headed straight there. So moral of that story is--ya better do your homework if you promise something for a year and finally make your way to go do it that it is gonna be there when you get there! =)

We did make it after that tragedy and Jake and Will both enjoyed the rest of the trip. After the pandas, Jake tells us we have to go see the "hetoroceros"............ the what?! He said "now we have to go see the hetoroceros". Hee hee---after we got done laughing our heads off. We tried to explain he had 2 different animals there. When we said do you mean hippopotamus or rhinoceros? He said YES. hee hee hee So we went to go see both.

A million animals, birds, reptiles and fish later---we had DONE the Memphis Zoo! We let the boys play on the playground at the end to run off some of the pent up energy from being SO good ALL day! Then Jake had to have a present!??? He decided he needed something to take home from the zoo. So off we went to the gift shop to find the perfect something for each one of them to take home. Jake decided on the white tiger, which was one of our favorites and Will decided on the panda, another favorite!

Ready to leave
Everybody's set--we're ready to go home! Wait!! Jake sees a wishing fountain and wants to throw in a coin. Daddy gave him one---yeah just Jake--and he threw it in. In the meantime, Will decided he wasn't going to be left out and wanted to do what brother was doing so he chucked the first thing he could get his hands on into the fountain! His Panda! Now that's a real wish I tell ya and he thought it was cool that his new panda was now floating in the fountain with all the pennies!! Jake was distraught but never fear Mommy got it out and Mr Panda dried out in front of the heater all the way home and was good as new. Daddy, next time please don't forget Will even though he was sitting in his stroller 5 feet away from the fountain (the panda still made it into the water)--he needs to make a wish too!! =)

This truly couldn't have turned out to be a better day--small crowd, great weather, very cool animals and an amazing family to share it with! For our very first Spence Family "mini" Vacation, I'd say it was a hit all the way around!!

I put together a slideshow since we had so many pictures--here are a few to enjoy. Just double click the play button below: