my FAVORITE activity...ummmm, sure.

last week was an off week for me...

after grand-ly declaring my new found "homemaker" status...

it all seemed to go downhill...

i wasn't feeling well...

which meant the house didn't get cleaned...

which meant Lin had a tougher week...

which meant that i didn't take the kids out...

which, in turn, created all this pent up energy...

that drove me more crazy....

and made me feel worse...

SO....

by Friday, I had had enough...

so i told Ayden that we were going to run some errands..

secretly packed sunscreen (and the 50 other things you need for a successful trip to the zoo)...

and we went off driving...

Ayden mentioned on the drive that we were going to the FARTHEST post office ever and that there surely could be one closer to our house...

then we arrived...

and immediately she spotted the camels...

and she said....

"mom, there are camels at this post office!"

:)

thus our journey began...

now the Reston Zoo is not like your typical big city zoo...

they pride themselves on their many "hands on" experiences...

i obviously missed this when researching the zoo...

because as everyone that knows me knows... 

i take extensive measures to stay as "hands off" of anything that isn't human as possible...

bugs, spiders, butterflies.. pretty much any animal is on my "do not touch" list...

so we got the "feed" that they said is essential to the "experience"...

and we started with the baby lambs...

they drank the bottles of milk and it was actually not so bad...

i.e. there was no actual physical contact between the animal and my hand...

& Ayden LOVED this part...

the sheep and goats in this place were just crazy...

they were so used to the people with the buckets of feed that they fought and "bleated" like crazy to get at you...

Ayden was content feeding them right out of the cup...

again, avoiding that very important no hand contact rule...

Bean, however, was NOT SO SURE about them...

next we ventured out to see some of the nice animals we could not touch...

like the turtles...

and the monkeys....

this dude was just hangin out...

so was this one...

and then there were the fake animals that were much more my speed...

but seriously, even Ayden knows that bugs, bad smells and giant geese does not a good zoo make...

here's her reaction to the many bugs...

and last but not least was the "exotic" tractor/hay ride that featured antelope, deer, camels, zebras, buffalo, & bulls ...

the "appeal" of this ride was that the BIGGER animals came up and ate out of your hand...

oh goody!...

and boy were they big.. 

i couldn't even get this guys whole head in the shot...

(notice Ayden broke the no skin contact rule)

here's a look at the whole crew that came out looking for food....

ok, honestly, the day was far from all bad...

the cool thing is that it was so small that the girls just got to kind of explore on their own..

and believe it or not, i do think it's important to expose them to animals...

and it's only because neither of them read this blog that i can tell you my true feelings on animals...

for them, i put up a brave front and even encourage their interaction.. :)

and at the end of the day..

i mostly hope...

that trips like these sink into their subconscious...

so that they have happy memories of childhood...

of me and Lin...

and of each other...

and that makes even the ZOO all worth it... :)