23 February 2012

The Wild Thang at Costco...

Today I took the kids to the zoo.

"Good God, woman...not another f*ckin' zoo post? You've posted about the f*ckin' zoo like THREE times in the past 8 months. It. Is. Boring. ... unless you have more pictures of 5-legged or two-trunked (i.e. exposed male) elephants to share..." :)

First of all...it was a different zoo, okay? And second of all...this zoo has no elephants. Really. So, sorry...but there are none of those kinds of pictures this time.

We had a bit of trouble leaving the house early enough to make the morning carpool lane and get across the bridges on the cheap(er). There was a lot of yelling...some hunting around for unfound reciprocating zoo membership cards...an escaped toddler who ran gleefully up and down the block being chased by her siblings while mommy hunted for those *%#@ingmissing cards...a phone call and some sweet-talking to obtain an official email stating that I hold a family membership at a reciprocating institution and then the printing of that document...

We ended up leaving an hour later than I had hoped. But this is not unusual.

The drive into SF was pleasant though pricey... $10 in bridge tolls. Traffic was light; the Golden Gate Bridge looked spectacular against the bright blue sky. Parking was easy...but also pricey at $8, the admission line moved quickly, and there were no problems with my official email thing being accepted for a hefty discount...yay!

And we went in.

It was a glorious Bay Area day, and the San Francisco Zoo was not too crowded. Unfortunately, it would appear that beautiful days usually mean lazy animals. Does anyone else notice this? 

We hit the Children's Zoo section first.

Intended to be a cute photo of all 4 kids...
and I patiently waited until the hordes of others had finally moved on...
but, as luck would have it, Q accidentally shoved Miss C's head in between two of the metal goosenecks. She is crying and X is reading him the riot act.

The rarely-found-in-captivity Guinea Pig.
I was forced to take this picture and forced to promise to put it on here.
Sorry.

The Prairie Dogs were having issues.
Apparently, until April the moms are protecting their babies who are hiding out in the underground nests. The non-moms are all out in the open getting barked at by the moms.
And then there was this guy...
poor thing has some sort of skin condition...it really made me sad.

Older than me at 50 years of age, this Great Horned Owl is named King Richard. 
She had been living at the zoo for 17 years before laying an egg to let them know that the name wasn't working for her. 

Yeah...a millipede.
The guy said the feet tickle and prickle sort of like a toothbrush.
And he let us pet it...it is very hard and crunchy-feeling.

We left the excitement of the Children's Zoo to go fight the seagulls for our lunch...aggressive bastards. Throughout lunch, Q wouldn't stop playing with his loose tooth (yes, another one).

He told me he wanted me to pull it out when we got home.
It didn't make it all the way home.

Part of lunch consisted of chocolate chip cookies. Whenever we go to the San Francisco Zoo, we have to bring these because the first time Q remembers visiting this particular zoo, he had a stand-off with a peacock over his chocolate chip cookie. He has orchestrated such a stand-off every time we visit now. This visit would be no different. Except that we didn't see any roaming peacocks before he had already devoured his allotted two cookies...

Peacock:  Dude...where's the cookie?

Then there were the capybaras...world's largest rodent.

G says, "Mom...it's like a donkey crossed with a hamster."
Must say I agree...and I laughed really hard at this observation.

Then G took a picture of a pacing tiger. In case you didn't know, the San Francisco Zoo is the zoo where a visitor got killed by a tiger on Christmas in 2007. Apparently, an investigation unearthed the facts that these dickheads guys were taunting the tiger and...well...she got pissed.

This is not that tiger.
And the zoo totally upped the 'security' of all animal enclosures...
this shot was taken through super-duper thick glass.

I finally got a decent shot of all four kids...sort of looking in the same general direction at least...and one is actually smiling :)

Too bad the bear didn't get the memo...

And if you've made it this far in this yet-another-zoo post and are wondering what in the heck Costco has to do with any of this...

Yes...leopard pants. Different leopard vest. Snake shirt. 
A snow leopard/leopard throw blanket tucked under her arm.
What you can't see is that inside the awesome pink Crocs, 
...wait...
...no...
yes!
TIGER SOCKS!!!!

The wildest thing we saw all day was next to us in line at Costco. 

22 comments:

  1. That outfit...shaking my head...

    Sounds like a great day out. We haven't been to the zoo in AGES...your kids are lucky to have such a fun mama. Definitely have noticed the animals tend to be more active on chilly or even rainy days. Zoo's a lot less crowded, too.

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  2. Zoos might just be the most tiring places on earth. Why is that?

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  3. I'm headed to Costco today. I better bring my camera just in case.

    And keep the zoo posts coming. Love them!

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  4. Oh.
    My.
    Word.

    I was a little creeped out by the millipede, and wondering "where is this post going?" But then. Wham! A picture fit for a belly-laugh.
    Thank you!

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  5. Full on belly laugh with that last pic. Perfect! Definitely going to schedule a Saturday getaway with the family this spring. We're long overdue. Maybe we'll invite Kate since St. L zoo is close-ish to her too!

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  6. Wow that is some animal print right there! I usually see something or someone pretty entertaining every time I go to Costco.

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  7. The zoo looks like a lot of f*n fun! And whoa that leopard/toger outfit is so f*n horrible, and top it off with some pink f*n crocs!

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  8. When you said Costco and then said you went to the Zoo, I just assumed they were one in the same! Love the pics!

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  9. Actually laughing out loud! Love it!

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  10. Ha ha, I was trying to decide if she was wearing animal print socks too. Glad you verified. :)

    Headed to Costco in about 5 minutes... that's the closest thing we have to a zoo here, well unless you count Walmart... all kinds of crazy creatures there.

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  11. Wow, with all the money they save buying bulk at Costco, they are headed to Walmart to try to get in on the next song.

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  12. this outfit is unreal...some people really need to invest in a mirror..

    I am a fan of Zoo trips!

    in summer it is not good to go though...all the cool cats are alseep!!

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  13. I've been learning a great deal about animals through your blog now, Einstein. Very illustrative indeed! lol

    HAHAHAHAHA seriously, you got me laughing out loud with your observations notes, my dear! After posts about zoos, maybe Costco's next?

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  14. Looks like a great day at the zoo!

    Who dresses like that? I mean at least match the pants with the shirt, even I know that :-).

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  15. Costco has the most rare and wild specimens. Wow! So glad I read to the end (not that it isn't a pleasure to see your big grown-up kids -- how'd that happen!!??)

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  16. I have a few of those dangling middle tooth photos myself!

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  17. hahahaha I love the last pic of the costco crazy ;) I want to have an outfit like that....ps I LOVE your zoo posts, I miss your gadgets and I also LOVE LOVE LOVE capybaras ;D

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  18. That chick reminds me of the full bodysuit leopard thingie someone was wearing in the Boston Marathon a couple years ago. I wonder if she moved to California....

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  19. I know that Costco. I go to that Costco at least once a week. Actually, I've been to that Costco 1000 times more than I've been to the zoo.

    Okay, that's sad, right?

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