We love the zoo!

All the kids - 11 total- Nice bum shot of my Maxwell!

I know it seems like we go to the zoo all the time - ok, so maybe we do!  I love zoos - what is not to love - free air, lots of families, and funny animals.  This week we made our annual journey to the Cleveland Zoo.  Two of my friends, Lindsey & Jackie joined me - it was super fun!  This are a few of my favorite pictures of the day - I hardly took any - we were very busy just keeping track of everyone.  You would have been so amazed how great these kids were - so we had 11 walkers and 2 babies in carriers.  The oldest were 8.5 years old (Manhattan, Lauren, and Braeden) then we had Kade, Joshua, Nathan, Jackson, Marin, Summer, Felicity, Maxwell, Mason, and Chloe.  It was quite fun and I was really surprised that it was not that bad. 

We did lose Maxwell at one point which was quite scary - he wandered away and was visiting with another little girl watching the camels.  He is so sure of himself and he does not seem to worry about being separated from us.  You'll notice that my kids had matching shirts - I was actually wearing one too!  I decided that it would be easiest for me to keep track of them if they all had red on - I was also hoping that if we were separated it would be obvious who goes with who.  At the very end of the day Marin & Lauren went one direction and we went the other in the dark rainforest area - I have to admit that was also scary.  They normally stay pretty close but they did not hear me say let's go and when they looked up we were gone.  I think being outside at the zoo was no big deal but inside the rainforest building stressed me out!

 Some of the best moments was feeding the birds and the camel rides.  We bought the sweet nectar to feed the birds but the birds were just not hungry.  Lindsey said that Maxwell was so intent on wanting to feed the birds she lifted him up to feed one (mind you she had Mason strapped to her when she did this - she is amazing!).  I was herding all the kids out when I look back and see Lindsey holding Maxwell way high and he is about 5 inches from this bird.  I wish I had got better pictures - it was so adorable.  Lindsey saves me often with little Maxwell  - he loves her too!  This adorable moment ended soon enough when Lindsey shifted Maxwell (he is heavy) a smidge and startled the bird who then bit Maxwell's finger.  It was so funny - he was fine and Lindsey felt bad but his face was so cute!  He was so shocked and could not wait to tell the big kids about how his finger had been bit.  I loved it!

Camel rides - every time we go to the Cleveland Zoo we have to ride the camels.  I get sucked into it every time.  $4.00 a child is not so bad but the looks on their faces are so great!  Camels are so tall and they are so bumpy.  It is a minute ride but the kids loved it!  This time Marin, Manhattan, and Lauren got to ride - next summer Maxwell will be old enough to have a turn.  I am looking forward to that picture of all three of them together!

We had a great day - 13 kids, 3 moms, many sack lunches, and a whole lot of walking.  It was so worth the four hours of driving - some of it with screaming children to enjoy three hours of the zoo!  I will do it again and I can't wait!