Part 2 of Morning Adventures with Alexis

(Read past post to understand what I’m talking about)

OK, so we see tons of people standing in line and it totally feels like the day after Thanksgiving. Most are women with children in strollers, slings or backpacks. Most are members and are waiting for the free things the Zoo is ‘promoting’. So we split up while she goes to ask questions- she’s a good communicator…a.and I’m good at saving spots. lol. OK, so we stand in one of the three lines and shuffle our way through the entrance. But oh no, people are still racing and shoving their way to the Africa area with the new lions and cheetahs. We hurried there too to wait in yet another line (and get free bags and paper fliers*sigh) and finally enter the exhibit. (it wasn’t that bad, and I saw only one mom bite another to get ahead of her) (;) )

The lions were surprised to see people ( they have been getting used to their new home in peace) so they were really curious about the weird creatures that keep taking pictures of them and the little kids who looked like lunch.  My favorite were the cheetahs. They were so beautiful and sleek. I hope they have a lot of room to race around in. Well, that’s it! Enjoy the pictures and I’ll see you on Monday. (we’re in Seattle cause Trav’s high school youth group has a reunion)

I would name her 'Countess'

Mrs. Lion-Simba's mom?

Mr/Mrs Cheetah

One of my favorite animals of all time

Emma and the Cheetah

Morning Adventures with Alexis

What you are about to read is the actual turn of events as they happened:

Waking up at 6:30am is brutal. I know I can’t complain, but jeesh! I have a lot of respect for Trav and everyone else who wakes up before 7:30am. Unfortunately we woke up at 6:30am and rushed to get dressed, eat breakfast (most important meal of the day people!) and leave the house by 7am. Oh, did I mention it was ALL 3 of us? Yeah, we rock. Anyways, we drove downtown, dropped Trav off at work and I ventured onward to the zoo with visions of Cheetahs in my mind. We arrived at 7:55am and it didn’t open till 8am, so perfect timing!….but wait a minute…no body’s here…hmmm. My friend and I were the ONLY people there. That’s strange. At that moment we looked up at the reader and saw in bright red letters, “OPEN 9-6pm”  Oh holy crap. Good thing we hurried to get here on time or woke up at the butt crack of dawn. Of course we have our daughters all strapped in their strollers and both of us look at each other and busted up laughing. What else could you do right?!

So we decided to go on a little morning adventure. We took the MAX (light rail for the Portland metro) into downtown Portland. It was SO beautiful! The sun was shining, the girls were content with being strapped into their strollers and we had no idea where we were going. It was GREAT fun for me! We didn’t EXACTLY buy tickets but looked like mindless mommies and anyways, if the transit police stopped us we would just sound apologetic and ask for forgiveness. 🙂 Horrible I know. Anyhoo, we stopped at a random stop and strolled until we found a random, and quite fancy, donut shop. All I have to say is, ‘Yum, yum, yum!’ Emma, of course wanted nothing to do with my delish raspberry filled donut and wanted to just walk around. It was so relaxing and cool. Of course I took pictures!  Food is a favorite of mine to photograph. When we were finished we jumped on the train (took a new one on the way back and boy are they nice!), talked about scary spider stories and arrived at the zoo to find about 200 mommies and their whinny toddlers waiting to enter the zoo! Yeah. Crap. Did we get in? You’ll just have to wait and see. 🙂 I’ll post part 2 tomorrow. Enjoy the pictures!

Hmmm, suspisious...

Everyone needs someone to snuggle up to and drink milk with

New hours as of Labor Day

Subways give horrible light

So pretty- and only $.90

Beautiful huh

We are such posers, hehe

Millions of mommies and babies

Nothing special

Tomorrow we are going to the zoo. But it ‘s not just any zoo trip- it’s the grand opening of the African predators! I’m excited to see the cheetahs, but not as much as the lions. Sounds kinda snobby, but I prefer the cheetahs. It’s just a me thing. The fun part is that we and another mom with her little princess will be there at 8am when the doors open! Apparently they are expecting tons of people so we’re going to be one of the first to be there. I mean, people will get out of the way for cute little girly girls and crazy moms pushing strollers- right?  That means leaving our house around 7am, which means waking up and eating breakfast at like…too early. But I can be sure Emma will take her nap at least. 🙂

Secondly, and least importantly, I have become addicted to this lotion from Bath and Body Works. My mom gave me a set for my birthday and I use tons everyday. (yes, I know you’re reading this mom, and I give you full credit) I’ll be sure to ask for some more for Christmas. You should try it if you like cherries. It smells amazing. Promise.

Cherry Vanilla Lotion

Portland Zoo

I love going to the zoo. Everything about it. Packing a picnic for lunch, looking at exotic animals and being mainly out of our house. But there is one thing I don’t like- all the crazy people (mainly unsupervised children) snuffling their noses against the glass to see a glimpse of a lion. Well today we beat the system and got smarter- we went way early! Like around 9:30 am. We met a friend who has a years membership and got us in free and we strolled our strollers around the empty paths and did whatever we wanted. It was really relaxing actually! (Let’s not get into me getting lost taking many wrong turns/exits on the way there) No it was a great time and even though I did talk yesterday about getting ‘unconventional pictures’  I wasn’t feeling super creative. I was more focused on keeping Emma entertained so she wouldn’t freak out wanting to walk around and snuggle with a lion or leopard. (yes mom, Emma is wearing the jean jumper you got her and it looks freeking adorable on her 🙂 )

I did, obviously, take some photos to post.  ~Amy, thanks for inviting us today, we had a great time. I absolutely LOVE the cheesy smile Rylee gave me. I’ll have to e-mail it to you. Emma slept the entire way home and is now talking in her crib. Crap. Well, lets hope her second nap will be a long one.

Zebra

UP!

Cheesy Smile Rylee

Hungry hungry hippo