Over the Hedge (Rockin’ the Suburbs)

We had a slow start to the day — I spent the morning working and the girls did a little bit of homeschooling (once they woke up).

Then we headed out to the “suburbs” to go to the National Zoo. Note that this is tongue-in-cheek, even more ridiculous than someone in midtown Atlanta saying that going to Grant Park to go to the zoo is “heading to the suburbs”. But, we walked four real city, high-rise, business-suited blocks to the metro and got off in a tree-lined street of apartments and stroller-wielding moms. So we felt that the zoo was not in the city … but, of course, it is.

panda – 15 sep 2008

As we walked down Connecticut (Note: You should get off the Red Line at Cleveland Park and NOT the zoo stop. They are equidistant from the entrance, but Cleveland is UPHILL from the zoo, while Woodley Park/Zoo is DOWNHILL from the zoo.), I got a call from my semi-manager. As I have never spoken to her before, I took the call and convinced her that even though we were walking down the street to the zoo, I was happy to chat. I think the call went well, but I do miss my ex-expert manager. The girls played in the misting faucets as I talked. Today was 10 degrees cooler than yesterday, which was wonderful.

The zoo, being part of the Smithsonian, is free. The map, however, costs $2. We didn’t really need it, but I felt quite guilty about the freeness of it all, so I forked over the money. And Camille could add geography/map reading to something she did today (cough cough).

zoo – 15 sep 2008

The girls both, but especially Chloe, really got into the zoo. Chloe would not skip a single window in the small mammal and in the reptile house. She ran from one to the next, exclaiming about each. As I’ve noted before, she’s got some “naturalist” tendencies in her, especially when it comes to animals …

We got down to the bottom of the zoo (it is a mile downhill to the end), and the kids found the kids’ farm. They got to the pizza and stopped. And played. And surfed the mushrooms. Chloe came up with the crazy idea of riding the sliced mushrooms down the wedge of cheese; Camille executed it, helping Chloe and all the other kids balance and execute the feat. Camille was so good at keeping order and helping that the other parents came over and thanked her for her patience and help.

pizza – 15 sep 2008

As it was getting late, and I knew we had the huge hill (Google satellite could not convince me that the River Road exit of the zoo would easily get us to the Connecticut Road/Woodley Park Metro stop) to climb to get to the main entrance. I bribed my kids. And it worked. I’m not thrilled with the bribe, but the consequences were worth it. I let them split a diet coke with me, and we got there with no complaints. Yes, I gave my kids nutrasweet and caffeine. But we are all happier for it.

We walked DOWNHILL to Woodley Park, rode some major escalators (in crocs, no less), and jumped on the metro. The girls are now pros at feeding their passes to the turnstiles. We then walked the six DOWNTOWN blocks full of suits and lacking kids, to the Trader Joes, where we did not find the tempura we had planned on buying. Bummer. We got some other veggies and spring rolls and milk and juice and then walked the three blocks home. Rob came home a little later, and he and Chloe walked over to Borders to use her birthday gift card…

Life in the city rocks….but home, gosh, we miss our Pine Lake home. No playground to go to to see our friends at here….

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