Zoo

Thursday was the first day of Fall break so the kids and I decided a trip to the Zoo was in order.  They all made sure to bring their hard earned money to spend on all the crap that they always want at the Zoo.  Our new money-earning system thing is really working!  I really like it and it's been really fun for the kids to have their own money.  Charity told me the other day, "Mom, it's really fun to have our own money and buy our own stuff, it feels so cool to buy things for yourself."  That is what I wanted.  So far so good.  Our little trip to the Zoo consisted of a lot of looking for gift shops and concession stands.  And let's not forget the Merry-Go-Round.  I'm pretty sure they weren't there to see the animals this time.  Which is totally fine with me.  We have been quite a bit this year.  I have to say I had a lot of fun watching them figure out what to buy, sharing their things with each other, and their overall generosity that I had not been able to witness before.  First off, they all wanted to go on the Carousel.  They all got in line and purchased their very own tickets for themselves.  I realized I needed to buy some for Noah and Luke to be fair, but Bradley was on it!  He wanted to buy Luke's.  He was really proud of himself, and was a total stud offering the ticket to Luke and escorting him to the line for the carousel.  I didn't even have to ask him, it was totally his idea.  They all had a blast on the Merry-Go-Round, Noah even went by himself because at the last minute I decided to let Erika ride.  Noah seemed fine which was very unusual.  I wish I'd been able to get a picture, but it's not really an option when I'm by myself.  Then we headed over to the Cotton Candy stand.  Charity and Brad both bought some and shared WAY more than they ever would have had I bought it for them.  I was thoroughly impressed.  Brad even shared with his baby sister.  I loved it.  She loved it too :)  We saw a few animals here and there, but mostly browsed the gift shops until I made the kids stop after finding out that they only had a few dollars left each.  Not enough to buy anything.  They were bummed, but we went to the Playground and everyone had fun there.  It was pretty hot day for October!  I can't believe this weather we've been having!  I had a really hard time keeping track of all my kids at the playground.  Note to self: don't go to the Zoo on the first day of Fall Break.  Duh.  It was packed!  But it was a good time.  We ended on kind of a crappy note, Brad had reached his breaking point and kinda flipped out, so I had to practically drag everyone out of the place, not my favorite, but overall I think we had a pretty good time.  Still freaks me out to take SIX kids to the Zoo by myself.  I wonder if I'll ever feel like it's a good idea :)