After the older kids went to school, the younger two and I went and delivered some Valentines to some friends. Andrew and Mady wanted to do Valentines like their brothers, so we filled out some and gave them to friends. Then we went and met Paul for lunch. Andrew had filled out some of the valentines for people that work with him, so we had to hand deliver them. Andrew chose a hamburger joint for lunch....one of those that you sit in your car to eat. We had a wagon in the back for our later plans. He sat in the wagon and ate his lunch (yep, he is goofy).
Andrew decided that he wanted to just sign the From: section of the rest of the cards and hand them out where ever we go that day. Our plans were to go to the zoo after lunch for a while. We knew we didn't have time to stay long (Caleb gets home at 2:30), but I was planning on getting our annual pass, so we planned on going back again this week.
We got to the zoo and as I stood at the entrance filling out our information for the annual pass, Andrew stood next to me armed with an envelope of valentines. He chased to give them to the people coming in, and he gave one to the lady at the ticket window. They went on and on about how sweet he was to give a stranger a valentine card. We did have one older lady who kept trying to give it back. She didn't understand what he was trying to do, and he was very insistent that she take it. She finally said "But Mady won't have a card" (the Hello Kitty valentines had Mads name on them, Toy Story had AJ's name). I explained that he had planned the day before to take all of his valentines and hand them out to everyone he came across. You could see the sternness in her face melt and she came around the counter to give him a hug and thank him.
The first half of the short visit consisted of Andrew literally chasing people down to give them cards. He was not so much interested in the animals as he was giving away his cards. When he would give them to little kids (Mads age and younger) he wanted to give them kisses. He snuck one in before I could stop him (actually I HAD stopped him, but he got away and kissed the baby anyway). After apologizing for him entering the babies personal space, we moved on. Needless to say, he was a hit at the zoo yesterday!
Mady LOVED the zoo. This was the first time she has been and really understood what she was looking at. We ended up not taking the wagon in because we were going to be there such a short amount of time. They did great without it! Mady was so excited about the animals that she would hold my hand until she saw a new animal, take off to see it and then come back and grab my hand when it was time to walk again. There was no complaining, just lots of squealing and laughing.
She especially liked the "Big Ducks" (aka the emu's). Paul and I figure it was because they remind her of Big Bird. But, she saw them, didn't even care about the zebras that were with them, and started laughing, saying "big duck" and quacking over and over. She also kept saying the big tiger was a "Beaux Beaux" (which means dog) and would not go near him. He was lying down most of the time. When he lifted his head (even though he was looking away), Mady's mouth dropped and she started slowly taking steps backwards.
She also liked the elephants. They were standing just on the other side of the big ditch that seperates them from the fence we were behind. She did not want to go near the fence, but was very excited to watch from further back. One of the elephants kept talking and swinging his trunk and she thought that was pretty funny!
We are going back today. Our weather is so awesome right now (70s and sunny) that we want to be outside. After seeing how excited they were, and the fact that Mads slept until after 7 this morning (and she was woken up then), I think it is a good thing to do (and it is free now). Our zoo actually lets you bring in food and drinks, so we are going to take a picnic lunch with us. Andrew and Mady are both excited about going back.
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