Magic Single Parenthood

Is it ironic to be a single parent because of Magic, the gathering?

Keith has been playing Magic most Friday nights since we started living in Melbourne.  Yesterday there was a big Magic tournament and he wanted to play so I had the kids for the day.  There were 200 people registered so he was pretty pumped.

The kids and I baked banana muffins in the morning and Emily had gotten up early so she went down for an early nap.  I had mentioned the possibility of going to the zoo that day and Cian was very excited about the idea of getting to go see the platypus again but he couldn't rememember the name "platypus" so he just said "the one that swims" and then mimed how a platypus swims which is infinitely better and more hilarious than him remember the name.  Now he won't stop talking about the platypus but, to his credit, it is a fun word to say.

Anyway, the kids wanted to go to the zoo and the last time we had gone Keith had gotten a membership but I had not.  Their big zoo membership package came in the mail this week with their cards and badges and info and I was feeling very left out that they would get to go on all these adventures and I would have to pay full price until I realized there was nothing stopping me from getting a membership too. In fact, they honoured my admission fee so it was only $50 for a year of zoo fun for me to come along too - totally worth it!  Emily woke up from her nap and I was trying to put Em's hair up cause it was hot outside and she kept shaking her head and then she looked me square in the face as I was trying to put her hair in pigtails and said "Mommy no pretty!"  I have to say I respected her a lot for that and loved it so much I just slapped a hat on her head and we were off.

I couldn't navigate all the hills with the kids in the stroller by myself so we needed to take 2 trains each way but the kids were amazing little train-riders.  The train comes out right at the entrance to the zoo so it was really perfect since after Emily's nap and getting ready we really only had an hour and a half til closing time (yay membership!).

We saw the frogs that the kids had been looking at in pictures at home (Cian showed the people behind us where they were because they were hiding).  I also did one of my most selfless acts as a mother.  We went into the reptile house and in a whirlwind trip (due to my increasing levels of anxiety) saw all the lizards, crocodiles and snakes.  Cian was very excited at seeing the snakes. I was not that happy about the idea of him being that close to the snake cages and kept envisioning that scene from Harry Potter where he speaks Parseltongue and the snake comes of the cage.  Bleh - we got out of there as quickly as I could pull Cian away.  They will have to explore it in detail with their dad.

We saw our very favourite animal - the Platypus.  She (we found out she was a she this time) is extremely adorable scrounging around for food.  It's pretty amazing to see one live.  Also in the information video outside the platypusary they said she is one of the most expensive animals to keep in a zoo cause she eats $13,000 worth of food a year.  Basically she's a diva.  Keep up the good work diva platypus - we love you.

Later Cian ran into the butterfly house despite me telling him not to and I had to chase him with Emily in the cart.  He does not seem to be phased by the lost incident but I definitely am.  I made him sit in the cart as we exited the butterfly house and then when we went over to where they feed the elephants they had closed the windows and I pulled a mama move.  I told him that the zoo had closed the elephants because he didn't listen to me and went into the butterfly house.  He was very unhappy about this and remained in the stroller ... until we turned the corner and he saw the elephants outside.  But it did make somewhat of an impact because he was very well-behaved after that.

They were starting to close things up at that point and Cian wanted to see the seal before we go so we swung over that way and found the seals hopping out of their big pool.  They were jumping in and out of the water having a great time and it was super fun to watch.  A perfect end to the blitz trip to the zoo.

We came home and had supper and bathtime and then read "Wombat went a-walking" and off to bed they went. A great day filled with animals both real and literary.