Playing Hooky...

Well, sort of.

I decided to keep Sassy and Tink home from Mom's Day Out yesterday.

Wednesdays are the days that Sassy does not have preschool, but both girls attend MDO to give me a) the chance to get some work in or b) the chance to have some ME time. Usually very glorious, on both accounts. However, I feel as though lately, it's been one thing after another after another, and I feel like my quality time with the girls has been lacking. Which is why, when given the opportunity to meet up at the zoo with my sweet friend and her SIL from out-of-town, there was nothing to do besides jump at it!

I felt a little guilty calling them in. How silly is that? The rule states you have until 7 pm of the evening prior to MDO to call and cancel their spot, so as to not be responsible for payment. I've done this plenty of times if the girls are sick or we are out of town. But for this, I felt a little naughty. I just called and stated they would not be in attendance. No excuses. No fibbing. Just stating the facts.

Anyway, the weather was beyond gorgeous, and it was SO nice to spend some time outside. We decided to meet up at the zoo, and the girls and I had a wonderful time checking out the koi fish and playing around while we waited for our friends.



The girls were honestly just delighted to be outside in the lovely weather. Oh, and super excited to see their buddies!



We started of the in the children's zoo area. Sassy enjoyed watching the large koi fish swim under the bridge:



The kids had more fun seeking out the tubs of dirt and who know what else, taking advantage of their on-foot freedom, and playing in the water fountain than checking out any of the animals. Go figure.



We found a neat peacock hanging out in the bushes...



And then, we were off to see the penguins! Tink and Little Miss H were thrilled when one penguin started pecking at some food on the ledge of the area of window they were crouching ion front of. Tink thought he was trying to give her kisses!



Next, we hit the reptile house. Tink was pretty terrified of the giant tortoises, which are admittedly very intimidating in their very open arena, but she loved seeing the "snake" (alligator's tail)...



After the reptiles, the girls were insisting starvation, so we decided to hit the giraffes prior to leaving the zoo for lunch. I was very much reminded why annual zoo passes are such a great idea with little ones, especially when you (seemingly) walk at a pace of 10 steps/hour. Ah, it's all about the experience, right?



We chilled with the giraffes for a bit...



As we were heading out, the girls decided they had just enough energy left to see the chimps, so we did. We tried our best to get a picture of all five girls in front of the stone chimp.



It was nothing short of a comedy of errors.



Still, we took it for what is was worth- five little sweet peas having a blast!



After the zoo, we traveled west for a lovely lunch at Panera, spent swapping kiddie food and chatting about the latest happenings in our lives. Divine!

Then, it was home for long naps and some more work for Mama.

Mark this as one of 5,472 reasons I.cannot.WAIT for summer. I miss these kind of days!