Our Trip to the "Jungle"

My blog has been seriously neglected lately. It's not that I don't have any new blogging material; it's the exact oopposite, actually. I've got a waiting list of blog entries to post that I just haven't had the time to work on because we are so busy making new memories that will also eventually have to be added to this "virtual scrapbook" of mine, which then adds to my ever-growing list of blogs to be written/posted! It's an endless cycle. Here's a perfect example of my extra emphasis on "eventually" - Here is a blog post that has been awaiting it's debut since back in July!

It's our trip to the El Paso Zoo! It was so much fun, although you can't tell by looking at Elijah's face in the first picture. That is what we experienced from the second I put him in his carseat until the second I got him out! In our efforts to save gas and only take one car, the poor guy was surrounded by carseats and a row of people in front of him. Needless to say, he wasn't too thrilled about the seating arrangements. But the only way to get three carseats into one vehicle was to take Sam's truck, and it we were cozy! Fortunately for Elijah, there was plenty of excitement and animals awaiting his arrival on the other end of the torturous ride to get there. It didn't take long to cheer him right up!

The El Paso Zoo has grown and changed so much in recent years, and as close as it is, we don't get out there nearly enough. We were excited to see their new Africa exhibit, which is where we spent most of our time. Plus we caught a sea lion show, which the kiddos loved!! And a trip to the gift shop ended with a large stuffed giraffe for Elijah to ride home with, made for a much more peaceful (and crowded) drive!

A few weeks after our trip to the zoo, Jaden asked me if we could go to the jungle again. At first I had no clue what he was talking about, but I didn't want to make him feel bad by seeming so clueless, so I played along with what I thought was an imaginary trip to the jungle. I imagined we were in full safari gear, binoculars in hand, checking out all of the jungle animals. Then I realized we were living two separate jungle experiences when I asked him, "How will we get to the jungle?" He gave me the "You've GOT to be kidding me" look and said, "Mooooomm..." (you know, the long drawn out "mom," which I'm sure in a few years will be accompanied by a rolling of the eyes), "...the same way as when we went with Nana, Aunt Angie, and Aubrey!" That's when it hit me - what I thought was an average everyday trip to the zoo, Jaden thought was his first official trip to the jungle.

Here are some pictures of our jungle adventure!