Never Ever Again

The plan was to go to the Houston Zoo this afternoon a little after 2:00.  No rush, just sometime after lunch.  We left the house around 2:20 and headed that way.  We exited and the normal Zoo parking lot was roped off; this was at 2:45.  No problem, I'll just find a parking garage and we'll be on our way.  The garage that I have parked at before had a sign on it saying No Zoo Parking.  We were on Cambridge and sitting still.  The police were controlling traffic and we just sat and sat.  I turned onto Fannin, trying to follow the signs for "Zoo Parking", but I thought "am I really going to park this far away from the zoo?"  I mean I was all about getting out and getting some exercise, but to walk over a mile with two kids and then walk around at the Zoo and still have to walk back to the car . . . I was not feeling it!!  I pulled into a parking garage by Memorial Hermann Hospital and I asked if I could park there if I was going to the Zoo and he said no, that I needed to find parking garage 2, 7 or 10.  Kidding, right?  I didn't have a map of the parking garages handy!! UGH!!

I got back on Fannin and started driving.  The kids were so pumped for the Zoo, that I hated to throw in the towel on the trip.  From 3:13 to 3:25 I literally travelled feet, it was terrible.  We were just sitting!

The kids were real troopers.  I brought snacks along for the Zoo, but since we were just sitting on Fannin we went ahead and broke them out.  I even had a bag of sunflower seeds and I had a few mouths full.

Since I couldn't turn into the Zoo from the other direction either, I decided to scratch that plan for the day.  Plan B . . . Children's Museum of Houston.  Jase was pumped when I mentioned this idea.  I did not think we would EVER get there!!  3:52 we finally pulled into the parking lot.  So I travelled a total of 0.7 mile from 3:13-3:52 (39 minutes).  And that wasn't even the beginning of the traffic, that started at 2:45. 

Moral of the story: I will NEVER go to the Zoo over spring break again!

The Children's Museum closed at 6:00, so we had 2 hours to get in there and play.  The kids had a fun time.  I ended up taking the stroller in because I had a big bag (for the Zoo) and I didn't want to carry it and Ally if I had to.  I felt bad for Jase because I couldn't go up any of the stairs with the stroller.  There are elevators, just not as handy as the stairs at times.

The kids were able to play and roam around, which was great, especially after being in the car for so long.  And I have to hand it to them, they were great there.  Neither one of them ran off and when Ally wasn't in the stroller, she held my hand and Jase stayed right by me.  It actually made the trip enjoyable and I wasn't worried about them running off at any time.

The kids had a great time dancing.  These are similar machines that you find at the movie theater and you would see kids dancing for several minutes on them, sweating to death.  Well, Jase might be one of those kids!! Haha!! I think towards the end he was somewhat understanding the arrows, because they would light more often than the beginning.  Here is some video I was able to get of him!

And the best part of the day . . . Dinner with Daddy!! We met Daddy at Lupe Tortillas after we left the Children's Museum.  It was nice and relaxing and the food was super yummy too!

Not the exact plan I had in mind, but it worked out and the kids had fun, which is all that matters.

One more thing!  We were in two separate vehicles, so Jase rode home with Daddy and Ally with me.  I had to stop and get gas, so the boys went ahead and left for the house.  After getting gas I was about to get onto 59, but the traffic was stand-still on the entrance ramp.  I had had enough sitting in traffic for the day.  I called Shawn to see which way he went and he said he went the other way on 59 back to 610, then had to let me go real quick and said he'd call back.  I decided to take back roads to 288 then hit 610 to the house.  I wondered why Shawn never called me back, little toot.  We were jamming to Mickey Mouse in the car, so I didn't bother calling him.  I pulled up to the house and was surprised that I beat him home!  When he got out of the truck, he had a surprise for me . . . Old-Fashioned Diner Cake from Dessert Gallery . . . my favorito!!  It is a golden yellow cake with layers of chocolate buttercream.  It is so yummy.  That's where he was when I called him and he had to let me go real quick because people were talking in there!!  So thoughtful!  And he went in there and didn't even get anything for himself, talk about discipline!