Zoofari

I took the day off from work on Friday so that the boys and I could have a special day together and attend a Zoofari class at the zoo.  The class that day was all about mammals.  We spent about an hour walking around the zoo, learning about different mammals, then we went to the classroom for a snack, story time and a craft.  The boys enjoyed the class and were very well behaved...except for the 10 minutes that we spent at the entrance to the zoo waiting for the rest of the class to arrive.  They don't wait patiently.

The river otter was very curious.  The zoo opened for the season the day before we were there.  Most of the animals were very interested in us because they hadn't been around crowds for a few months.  We've been to the zoo many times and this is the most active the river otter has been.  The boys loved it...we had to drag them away from the exhibit.

Noah and the grizzly bear were checking each other out.

The boys decided that the bear feet were HUGE and their hands were little.

Into the classroom for a snack of animal crackers (of course!), movie about monkeys and story time.

The boys had the opportunity to get up close and personal with some mammals.  Noah was a little more enthusiastic about touching the animals.

Noah and a hedgehog

Seth spent his time hiding behind me and playing with my hair.

Noah was excited to pet an opossum (I couldn't get a picture of the opossum)...

...and a chinchilla. 

Craft time!

Seth and his finished masterpiece.  It's a bunny rabbit peaking from behind grass made from outlines of their hands.  Both of the pieces of bunny art are now hanging in Daddy's office at work.

After the zoo, we went to McDonald's (or as they call it 'Old McDonald's) for a special lunch of nuggets.

They were excited because I let them have chocolate milk.

We decided to finish the day with a fun meal at a Japanese steakhouse.  Bad, bad idea.  When the boys were about 18 months old, we went to a Japanese steakhouse and traumatized them.  They hated it, they cried, they crawled onto our laps and wouldn't calm down.   It's been 2 1/2 years, so we thought we were safe to take them again.  Two and a half years was not long enough to wait.  Seth was most bothered by it.

Seth

Noah actually looks pretty happy in this picture, especially since he photo-bombed it.

Noah tried to eat calamari with his chopsticks.  He wasn't successful.

The boys actually spent most of their time away from our table/grill with their ears covered.  They couldn't be anywhere near our table while the food was cooking or they'd melt down.  I think it was an elaborate ploy to get to hang out with cute girls and score candy.  The waitresses thought they were cute, so they brought them suckers, crayons, paper to color on and chatted with them.

Overall, it was terrible.  Neither one of them ate anything and they made quite the spectacle of themselves.  Maybe we'll wait another 2 1/2 years to try a Japanese steakhouse...or longer.

One last funny...
We need to post some more Seth & Noahisms, but right now I have just one that I can recall immediately...probably because Noah said it about an hour ago.  Earlier, Seth was trying to climb on Brody.  I told him to stop trying to ride Brody.  Noah came to Seth's defense and said "But Brody's like a horse!".  He isn't wrong about that.

-Shelby