What a Zoo!

Here's some math for you... 3 friends from high school + 4 kids = A Zoo!  Literally.

We made our annual trek to the Oakland Zoo on New Year's Eve with my high school friends Irene and Heather and our kiddos.  Heather and I started this tradition about three years ago, and Irene joined us last year.

Here the boys enjoy looking at bugs...
L-R: Nikos, Kingston, Drew

My not-so good attempt to catch a picture of all four of them at the alligator exhibit.
L-R: Nikos (age 5) Kingston (age 2 1/2), Olive (age 3 1/2) , Drew

Thankfully no kids were lost or fell into the exhibits this year.  (Last year Drew ran ahead and got lost at the playground scaring everyone half to death).

Drew and Nikos climbing on the frogs posing for the camera

We made our rounds and managed to stay at the zoo for about three hours before they all started whining almost on command.  So we made our escape, and tried to capture one final photo of everyone.

Clearly cooperation for photos is not their strong suit....

We're mean moms because we they were "starving to death",  "wanted to ride rides"... pick your complaint.
L-R: Drew, Olive, Nikos, Kingston

Niko cracked me up, he said he refused to look at the cameras because he thought the pouting would get him on the rides. It didn't work for him any better than it did for Drew.

Annual Zoo Trip

This appears to be a new tradition, for my high school friends to gather at the Oakland Zoo the Friday before New Years - along with their kids.  We started this last year (here's the evidence), this year Heather, Irene and I brought all the kids together (4 kids total).  Thankfully the rain held off.

L-R: Drew, Nikos (4 1/2), Olive (2 1/2)

L-R: Olive, Nikos, Drew

L-R: Nikos, Drew, Olive

Despite the lack of pictures, Irene did have her nearly 2 year old son there as well.  I apparently never snapped any pictures and at dinner later that night, Heather confessed she didn't either.  Some friends we are! Ha!

Only mishap of the day was when Drew and Niko ran off together near the children's play area, and Nikos stopped, but Drew apparently kept going.  He and all the kids in the play area were wearing brown jackets so it was tough to find him.  He turned up with one of the park rangers while I was off looking for him - MIA maybe 2-3 minutes. 

I think he learned his lesson about why I tell him to stay where I can see him! 

Zoo-rific Idea

Since I'm traveling this week for work I wanted to hang out with the guys as much as possible this past weekend - Dave on the other hand was hungover and missed some of the fun.

So on Sunday the weather improved enough to head over to the zoo. It was a Mama and Drew kind of day.




We started off at the zoo restaurant to eat an overpriced lunch. Can you tell from that photo Drew branched out again in the food department? That is ketchup he decided to dip his fries into.



Drew making a "tortiset" face. (That's how he says tortoise).









We spent about an hour running around to see the animals (and by running I mean Rocky training running). Afterwards we had to ride the train and the cars.















I'm not sure why the California Poppies were a happy spring sign for me the other day...





That would be a wallaby hanging out by the train tracks.









- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Chicks Dig Us

On New Year's Eve, Drew and I got together with my high school friend Heather and her 3 year old son Nikos at the Oakland Zoo (you can read about Heather here - she's also a blogger).  Sadly this was the first play date we've had with the kids - her daughter stayed home to nap.

The boys seemed to hit it off right away.  So we hit up a few animals and then let the kids burn off some energy around the play areas... (yes so Heather and I could talk and catch up).

Here the boys are doing their impersonations of snakes.

It's impossible to get two 3-year olds to look at the camera at the same time.  Nickos was pretty excited about his palm leaf...

After the zoo we hit up a few rides. 

And then the two studs finished the day by cruising for chicks.

It must have been AHS class of '94 day at the zoo.  We were joined by a few former classmates there as well!  One intentionally and the other we ran into by coincidence.  Or maybe we all had the same idea.  Find something to do on New Year's Eve to wear your children out!

Boo at the Zoo

Saturday was awfully busy, but we braved the weather and headed over to the Oakland Boo at the Zoo.  And got Drew all dressed up and ready to join the festivities.

Once we finally got to the zoo, he wasn't to thrilled to walk around rather he wanted to sit in the stroller or be carried.  Finally after being there for a while he started to warm up.

Of course what's a trip to the zoo without hitting the rides.  For dressing up Drew got one free ride.  And while we tried to wait in the ridiculously long line for the train - we decided to ditch that and hit a few more fun things.

After the rides, we decided to say hello (and goodbye) to the Oakland Firefighters.  

And of course a good Superman will hold the Firetruck back to prevent it from any evil harm.

Zoo Train

We had a zoo train this past weekend, when we invited Drew's former day care provider Ms. Stephanie and her family to the Sacramento Zoo with us.  We had free tickets (well I paid an insanely discounted price anyway) from a school auction from another friend.

With the summer running away from us, and the fact that we had a free weekend - something we don't have many of through the fall - we figured we better hop to it.  It was a great time and all the boys were well behaved - keep in mind Mason is 4, Troy is 3 and Drew is nearly 3.  So they're like brothers - more than just friends.  Sometimes things can get hairy. 

Here are some of the pictures....

Drew on the left, Troy on Right... in front of the ostriches.

Butterfly Troy

The Hornbill eating Lunch - yest that's a mouse in his mouth.

Daddy & Drew

Front to back: Troy, Drew & Mason.

Top photo Drew... Mason in the bottom photo looking scared in the web.

After the zoo, we headed over to Scandia (an arcade, miniature golf, etc) for more free fun.  This is how Drew spent the 20 or 30 minute drive...

Holding onto his "spinner" no less!  I love free (or nearly free) fun!

Free Zoo Trips!

Well we did it - we became members at the Oakland Zoo!  Technically we joined a few weeks ago, but only received our zoo passes last week.  So on Sunday we took advantage of the amazing weather and made the trip to the zoo for some free entertainment!  I'm sure we'll be making many more trips this summer!

Drew loved seeing the giraffes... well frankly he loved seeing all of the animals!  But the giraffes were one of the first he stopped to see.

And what kid doesn't like a tunnel with dirt?  Here he's checking out the meerkats through the window while throwing dirt into his hair.  He stopped everywhere he saw dirt to not only throw it, but throw it directly into his hair.  Funny thing is Dave was telling me he did the same thing as a kid... only to feel the dirt/sand as you tried to get it out of your hair. Um, no wonder my kid has some weird habits, it's hereditary!  Great!

Of course we had to force him to pose in front of the sign as we were making our way toward the front to get the lunch we packed.

After lunch we hit the rides and managed to make only the train ride before Drew hit his limit.

Of course we had to do a family pose - notice Drew's Cheese face.

It was absolutely gorgeous!  The first shot shows the view of Oakland and hte Bay in the distance.  The second shot from the train you can see the San Francisco skyline through the fog.

Drew absolutely crashed on the car ride home!  All those hills through the zoo, the fresh air and a filling lunch did him in!  Thank you zoo!! We'll definitely be back.