Riverbanks Zoo Highlight Reel

Yesterday morning the kids and I packed up and met my parents for a day trip to the Riverbanks Zoo in Columbia, SC. I suggested we meet at Starbucks... shocker... then head south. The kids really enjoyed going to the zoo with nana and poppi who had never been there before. My dad's favorite part of the zoo was the bird exhibit with nectar. I always really enjoy this part too.

My mom and dad

Parker FINALLY liked the birds after our 5th visit here!

Note the 2 birds on my mom's shoulders. One is biting her ear and the other is biting Avery's bow off her head.

Parker really enjoyed the carousel... both kids rode elephants. This was a huge deal because usually Parker wants to ride it but right as it starts, freaks out and we end up in the "sleigh" that doesn't move... total waste of $2! This time, he rode it and liked it! 

Another "big to me" breakthrough he had today was using the air dryer in the bathroom! Parker has always hated those and yells "What's that sound!?!" but today he did it by himself and it gave me a glimpse of light in this slightly neurotic tunnel I'm in with Mr. Parkerman. More to come on that in another post...

What's a zoo without a cow? Who would have thought this would be one of the highlights of our trip? Parker keeps looking at these pictures saying "I was makin' the cow pee pee!"

A bit too excited to milk a cow!

She's a pro.... I feel for you, poor fake cow!

Sissy's favorite part of the zoo was definitely feeding giraffes! You can pay for lettuce or you can be cheap like us and grab pieces that were dropped on the ground. Avery saw other people doing it and had no fear to try it herself.

Check out the giraffe's tongue!

She fed the giraffes at least 6 or 7 times and giggled every time it would lick her hand. Watching her do this was probably my favorite part of the trip too! Parker enjoyed watching them up close but didn't want to feed them. Maybe next time!

There is also an aquarium, albeit not very large one. It's a little misleading because it says "aquarium" on the building but you pass through about 60 snake habitats first. My mom HATES snakes so I made a point to take pictures with my phone of all the creepiest ones with their tongues out or heads poking up. I think I'll text them to her randomly to be evil.

After seeing all of the animals, we took the tram up the hill to the Botanical Garden. I LOVE the gardens and wish the kids would have been in picture taking moods! By this time both kids were tired but the gardens are too beautiful to miss!

Parker LOVED the tram especially since he's majorly back into Thomas the Train mode!

Avie and I thought it was pretty fun too!

There is the most precious cottage in the garden for kids to play in. I think we need one in our backyard but I'm pretty sure no amount of convincing is going to make Daniel agree! The kids got the biggest kick out of putting their heads out of the window.

Parker was pretty much done after we forced him to leave "Parker's pink house" but sis still had a little life in her to swing.

I really recommend Riverbanks if you're looking for a day trip. It's easy to get to, clean, mostly shaded, affordable and beautiful. The food is priced less than you would think for a place like this ($6.75 + .99 for 3 chix tenders, fries and a soda) and where else can you eat nachos while watching orangutans swing? Feeding the giraffes is a MUST as is the bird encounter. Absolutely worth $2 to feed but beware... they are birds and they do nibble (it doesn't hurt) and poop... just ask my dad. Most of the animals are really easy to see which is great for kids but probably not so much for the animals. But I'm paying to see animals.... not enclosures. Taking the tram to the Botanical Gardens is worth the trip but I'm not sure walking it would be unless you REALLY wanted a great hiney work out. I've done it before and once you get to the top you're no longer in picture taking shape!

 Bottom line... my kids loved it and we'll be back before it gets too cold!

Both kids slept the entire way home and Parker was still asleep for a few hours after we transferred him into the recliner. This is the international mom sign of a successful day!

Parker is 3!

Parker Wise, you are 3 years old! On your actual birthday, Wednesday, we let you play hooky from school and we all went to the zoo. It was a beautiful day and as usual, the meerkats were your favorite. It was bright out and you accidentally broke your sunglasses so you took Avery's and refused to take them off. Thus, the pink giraffe sunglasses ;)

On Friday, your dad and I took you to your 3 year check up. You're in the 60th% for weight and 50% for height. Other than not being potty trained yet and your excema, you're 100% wonderful! Potty training starts Wednesday afternoon... get excited! (PRAY FOR ME! US!)

Saturday was the BIG day! Your Splash Planet birthday party! We had chicken tenders, fruit, pretzels, goldfish, fish sandwiches and turtle and fish cupcakes. Despite saying I'd never do it again after last year, I DID applique and monogram towels for all of the kiddos. After all is said and done, they looked great and were a big hit!

Your friends: Zury, Logan, Lily, Jayden, Jett, Ana, Max, Charley, Jakob and all their younger siblings joined us to celebrate your birthday. You got lots of great presents that you really enjoyed opening. Mimi and Poppop, grandma, nana, poppi and aunt Kelly also celebrated with us. 

You sang happy birthday to yourself which was precious and really enjoyed riding the lazy river. Overall, it was a fun birthday party that most everyone enjoyed. Avery may have actually had more fun than you did!

I can't believe you're 3! Well.... maybe I can.... you're experiencing the terrible 2 1/2 - TBD (SOON TO BE ENDED I HOPE!) phase. You were pretty good up until 2 1/2 and the closer you got to 3, the more we've realized that the 3's may be MORE challenging. You're becoming more strong willed, opinionated and can communicate more. You speak in pretty good sentences now and with sweet sentences have also come some defiant ones! 90% of the time you are PRECIOUS and the other 10%, I want to pretend like I'm your nanny. We call you "passionate" and just know you're going to do big things with that strong will of yours!

We love you more than you could ever imagine and are SO blessed to be your parents. Happy 3rd Birthday, sweet boy!

Zoozy Zoo

For those of you whose children are/were Barney enthusiast I bet you're now singing the "What did we see at the zoo? What did we see at the zoozy zoo" song. No? You weren't? Parker has seen the "Let's go to the Zoo" episode a gazillion times and could watch it a billion more. He LOVES "aminals!" His preschool has been learning about zoo animals this month so I figured it was a perfect time to go. I told him yesterday before bed that we MAY go to the zoo and when he woke up the first thing I heard over the monitor was "MOMMY, it's a zoo day! I see elephants and lions roar!" It was 68 and sunny so it was a great day to go even though the rest of SC apparently thought so as well and it was PACKED!

Parker was most excited to see the lions, tiger, elephants, giraffes and zebras but left the zoo talking about the cow and meerkats. haha. Parker was really good for the most part and walked with me the whole time. Avery slept the whole way there and back. While we were there, she was just along for the ride in the stroller. It was almost as if she knew this day was for brother and she was just content to ride around and site see. Minus two brief meltdowns and my inability to fit the stroller into any of the bathrooms so I "held it" ALL DAY LONG, we had a wonderful Parker, Avie and Mommy day at the zoo!

Here are some pictures of our day!

Classic Parker face! He was afraid of the birds flying overhead.

...Avery on the other hand tried to pet the bird multiple times and enjoyed her up close encounter. EXCUSE my puffy, non-eyelined eyes. Clearly the "sleep training Avery sleep deprivation" has caught up to me!

Checkin' out some "aminals"

"Mommy, MEERKATS!"

This was the grumpiest, fattest meerkat! All of the other meerkats were running around and making the crowd laugh. Clearly this guy needed some happy pills and Jenny Craig.

Standing like a Flamingo

Hmm.... I love that sweet face!

Precious Avery feeding herself. Like I said, she was just along for the ride today and SO easy going!

LOVE THIS FACE! Parker has mastered the art of eye rolling. The elephant was pooping and this was his reaction.

Love her.

Another of my sweetest girl!

Fun day at the zoo! :)

Tigers go pee pee... in case you didn't know.

Parker's very favorite Barney episode is "Let's go to the Zoo." Lately he's become quite good at his animal sounds so we figured it was time to make a trip to the zoo before Avery comes and it gets hot! We risked the chance of rain and even drove through rain to get there but we had perfectly overcast skies without a drop of rain!  It was ideal weather for a Saturday because the chance of rain kept the crowds away! 

Daniel and my favorite part was the bird feeding. $2 VERY well spent! Parker's favorite part?.... oh goodness.... I can't tell you how many times Parker has told me today "ROAR go pee pee!" So I'm assuming his favorite part was watching the tiger (ROAR) go pee pee! Such a boy! We stopped at Hobby Lobby on the way home and Parker informed 2 ladies in the bathroom that "roar go pee pee." Precious boy!

Here are some pictures from our trip to the Riverbank's Zoo in random order since blogger uploads whichever it feels like it first:

Loving/slightly freaked out by the birds flying at my face

Parker was literally dry heaving by the flamingos. He LOVED them last year and this year he yelled "EWW" and started gagging. It got so bad I held him over the fence twice thinking he was going to puke!

His spirits rose when we saw the lions!

"Hey Parker, what does a monkey say?" PS- These monkeys were SOOO loud! It was kinda awesome, actually.

Me and my buddy!

I couldn't decide which was cuter so you get the viewing pleasure of both :)

Taylor "Don't get Parker too close to the bird. It may bite" Daniel waiving his finger in front of the bird's beak "Look, it doesn't bite!" This was true with fingers; however, they apparently love $6 Target sunglasses.

Parker was a bit apprehensive of the bird but so was I for a while! I'm just glad he didn't try to chase the bird or hit it!

This giraffe was pregnant and the ONLY one of the giraffes still eating at this point in the day. I feel ya, girl!

How cute is that face!? Parker's... not mine... I'm clearly in my own world.

Taylor, the bird whisperer. Don't judge the hair! I HAD to walk in sprinkles to get my SBUX... but it was worth it even if my hair paid the price.

Look, Avery... you were there too. I love how many people now comment like "Wow.. soon you'll have two!" like I'm not aware OR my favorite comment of the day from someone I saw at the zoo that I know but I haven't seen in years "Well look at you, you're just popping kids out, aren't you?!" Bahaha.... men.. they make it sound so simple! I'm kinda loving the belly this pregnancy and I'm totally cool with 99% of comments but some make me really laugh!

I wish I knew what was going on in his head. Preciousness probably.

Parker was totally captivated by the Tiger... who literally stood up, peed on a rock and laid back down.

"ROAR go pee pee!!!!!!!!!!"

Overall, a very successful trip to the zoo! I love doing these family outings! Today, I couldn't help but notice how many moms had babies in Baby Bjorns or strolling in their infant car seats. That will be us in just 2 months! I'm getting super excited and feeling more prepared in recent days for that to be our "new normal." 

Parker managed to stay awake the entire car ride home but crashed in my arms on the couch within 10 minutes of walking in the door. 3 hours later, Daniel woke me up and asked me what was for dinner.... to which I replied "Whatever you cook, dear." 1/2 an hour later, I was woken up with a plate of Totino's party pizza slices. Great way to wake up, if I do say so myself! Another successful Saturday in the Wise household!