Friday, July 8, 2011

Passing on Traditions

There are two very distinct things that I remember about my dad when I was a little girl. One is he LOVES Disneyland. The other, is that he loves the zoo.

Since my sister, Annie, is in town for the week, we, my sisters and I, (how's that for a million commas?)decided to go to zoo with our kids and our dad.












Yes, my other children were with me, but were too involved in playing to be convinced to stay still enough for a picture.

The crowd level was just about perfect, the weather in the first half was better than can even be hoped for in July, and the kids loved showing Grandpa Guy all the things at the zoo....as if he was new to such a magical place as --the zoo.

Of course, the dinosaurs are still there. Our little group was really split on this. There were some kids that LOVED this and begged to run and find the next one on the list or where unimpressed by the size of the robots because in their mind they were going to be bigger. The others? Well, sadly they have a high chance of waking up sometime tonight pleading with their parents to save them from the all too realistic reptiles. There was at least one in every family that was not a fan. Mine was Sanders.

Oh, he liked most of them...from a distance. Until we got to the huge tyrannosaurs. Then he promptly turned his body around in his stroller and hid his face until we had passed.

I did lose Sanders for about 10 mins at the playground. Long enough to alert security. It was terrifying. Thankfully, he was just in the snake tube slide taking his own sweet time coming down and I had missed seeing him when I checked that area. Whew!

My dad adores souvenirs. Most of the time growing up the only time I would go to the zoo would be on a Daddy Daughter date ending with a trip to the souvenir shop. Today my dad passed on that tradition to the next generation. My kids could not believe it! They always as me if they can get something and I usually say no. They. were. in. heaven.

Thanks, Papa, for passing one of my favorite memories!!!!

1 comment:

Chrissy said...

Such a fun day! I am sorry that you had a scare with a lost child though, that is always horrifying. What a neat tradition to pass on to your kids though.