“TGIF!”

Nicholas shouted as he alit from the car on Friday at the zoo.  He had the day off from Montessori, as parent/teacher conferences were held Thursday and Friday.  If you are wondering, his was Thursday, and we believe it went well.

I had to conference in Peter as he forgot to block off the afternoon and had work to do!  The nerve!  I was a bit nervous at first (never know when that whole "cheesus" business might pop up again), but I think it went pretty well.  My two favorite statements from his teacher (who rules in LG's opinion) were:

1.  "He's like a sponge!"  I wanted to die laughing, but assumed that would be rude.  It's similar to one of my favorite quotes from the movie Parenthood.  I do think it's accurate, but aren't they all sponges at that age?

2.  "He actually seems to seek me out for conversation."  Yeah, we've noticed this, too.  Not only does he seek out his elders for more, uh, advanced conversation, but he remembers every word we say.  Let's just say we better darn well be able to remember what we said to him.  A double-edged sword, I tell ya.

Since we actually had nothing happening on Friday and he accompanied me to a meeting on Thursday (and was so patient for over an hour while we, well, met), I figured a treat was in order.  What better way to spend a free afternoon than at the zoo?

Well, there isn't one.   The zoo in Washington, DC, is a mere 30 minutes away and a gorgeous drive on a cool fall day.  Another attractive point?  It's in "the city!"  The city  (or Washington, DC!) is very, very big right now.  He just loves going to "the island" as he calls it and any excuse to go there is a good one. We had no trouble finding parking and immediately headed in to see the animals.

We saw cheetahs, zebras, birds of every feather, monkeys, apes, gorillas, invertebricks (invertebrates), snakes ("like the snake that ate the deer"…a very big story in our house right now), turtles, and more.  He hadn't been to the zoo in over a year, but clearly remembered our trip last summer and which friends we visited it with.  Since it was not prime tourist season, he had plenty of space to run…and this, made him tired.  So tired, in fact, that twice he said, "We can go home now.  I'm tired and need to take a nap."  

Okay, twist my arm!  Of course, five minutes later he would have another burst of energy, followed by a "I'm tired!  Can we just hang out for a few minutes?"  We did hang out and it was quite fun. We even played a game of Zoo-per Bingo and circled (or triangled) all of the animals we found.  (You have no idea how proud I was of myself for actually preparing and printing out the sheet of paper, which I promptly lost when we left the zoo.)

We had a lovely, lovely day despite my poor planning that required us to eat at the zoo.  I brought snacks, but hadn't really thought out lunch and was a bit disappointed in the fare.  Little Guy loved it though and thought it most exciting that sit outside on the park benches and eat our lunches.  He opened his hamburger, took one bite and said, "This is DELICIOUS!"  

I can't really say the same for my lunch, but the look of glee on his face was pretty infectious.  It may not have been the best lunch, but it was still a very good day.  So good, in fact, that we are going out to have another field trip this coming Friday.  We will go out to lunch  (see, I can be taught!) with Pete (it's a holiday)  after school and then head to the Museum of Natural History.  Good times, I tell ya, good times.