Friday
Jun032005
Zoo Days
Friday, June 3, 2005 at 10:17PM
So many things to see and do at the zoo, we decided to go back earlier today, with Zach's friend, who is staying overnight. CAMP MOMMY adult-to-child ratio: 1 to 4, which is my max. Fortunately, with 10-year-old boys, it actually makes it a bit easier with a friend.
Haleigh went to work with Daddy for a couple of hours this morning, and then they met us at the zoo for lunch at the Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Stand. We sat outside and watched the train go by (the kids put pennies on the tracks, and it actually squished them--for free!). This is all very small-scale, remember, so no danger of being dragged under on the tracks by a freight train or anything. In fact, we were kind of nervous that the four pennies on the train track might cause a derailment, but no worries--
Daddy bought lunch (hot dogs & french fries for 2 adults & 4 kids w/member discount for $30), so we didn't completely blow the weekly $100 budget (saved again!). He enjoyed lunch with us and then went back to the office, leaving us at the zoo.
Zoo Atlanta, on Friday, is definitely more crowded than late Thursday afternoon, with tourists, Zoo Camp, and Friday field trips--lots of buses and school vans in the parking lot and troops of children wearing matching shirts all around the zoo. Still, no big crushing crowds or long lines to wait for anything. Well, except for at the hot dog stand--that took a LONG time, and some people got worked up about it, but we just hung out. Go with the flow.
I bought the 4 "Unlimited Ride Passes," ($20) to ride the few Attractions as many times as they wanted--the train around the zoo, the carousel, and the new rock climb, which was a HUGE hit. We definitely got our money's worth on the passes, since all of the kids--even the big boys--rode everything several times, and had a great time.
We brought along our little $18 pair of walk-about radios and let the boys go off and explore on their own, while Haleigh, Tiger, and I stayed together. Zoo Atlanta is an enclosed, safe environment, in not a huge area, with a lot of people all over. I was comfortable with the boys going off on their own, with the radio, and it worked out very well. Fortunately, they are old enough, and good kids, that they follow the rules and know how to behave. Still, I felt compelled to remind them of the rules and expectations, and told them if I got a call on the radio that they were in the zoo office for any kind of trouble...I'd take them both straight to jail, or put kid-leashes on them like the toddlers. They were great, and checked in quite frequently. It all worked out to be another really great CAMP MOMMY afternoon.
With Tiger and Haleigh, I barely got past the rock climb. I sat on a bench and watched and took pictures and talked to the other Moms--I even got a little bit of work done, reading, and taking down some notes. Tiger, who is almost 5, spent about 2 straight hours climbing the rock wall, at least a dozen times up and down. By the end, he was zooming up to the very top and hitting the timer button within a couple of minutes. The wall is about 25 - 30 feet up, and they are safely harnessed and anchored, so that when they let go, they ride the rope safely to the ground. We never even made it to the kid's playground area. We did manage to get him off the wall long enough for a train ride, a short walk about, and a trip through the petting zoo, but he got the money's worth on the rock wall until 4:30pm when they closed it down and kicked him out. Good thing, or we would have never seen anything else! We walked the last hour, and watched the otters playing, the monkeys chasing each other, the gorillas hanging out, and we hung out in the Living Tree House (another half-hour of very nice on-the-bench/work time for Mommy).
We met up with the boys at the front gate and ambled out with the zoo workers at quitting time, and it was another near-perfect day. A very successful close to the first two weeks of CAMP MOMMY!
Day #10 Total = $30 for Attraction Passes & Concessions
We actually went over our $100 Weekly Budget by $5 this week, but we had an extra kid at the zoo. We'll take it out next week. We were close!
Haleigh went to work with Daddy for a couple of hours this morning, and then they met us at the zoo for lunch at the Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Stand. We sat outside and watched the train go by (the kids put pennies on the tracks, and it actually squished them--for free!). This is all very small-scale, remember, so no danger of being dragged under on the tracks by a freight train or anything. In fact, we were kind of nervous that the four pennies on the train track might cause a derailment, but no worries--
Daddy bought lunch (hot dogs & french fries for 2 adults & 4 kids w/member discount for $30), so we didn't completely blow the weekly $100 budget (saved again!). He enjoyed lunch with us and then went back to the office, leaving us at the zoo.
Zoo Atlanta, on Friday, is definitely more crowded than late Thursday afternoon, with tourists, Zoo Camp, and Friday field trips--lots of buses and school vans in the parking lot and troops of children wearing matching shirts all around the zoo. Still, no big crushing crowds or long lines to wait for anything. Well, except for at the hot dog stand--that took a LONG time, and some people got worked up about it, but we just hung out. Go with the flow.
I bought the 4 "Unlimited Ride Passes," ($20) to ride the few Attractions as many times as they wanted--the train around the zoo, the carousel, and the new rock climb, which was a HUGE hit. We definitely got our money's worth on the passes, since all of the kids--even the big boys--rode everything several times, and had a great time.
We brought along our little $18 pair of walk-about radios and let the boys go off and explore on their own, while Haleigh, Tiger, and I stayed together. Zoo Atlanta is an enclosed, safe environment, in not a huge area, with a lot of people all over. I was comfortable with the boys going off on their own, with the radio, and it worked out very well. Fortunately, they are old enough, and good kids, that they follow the rules and know how to behave. Still, I felt compelled to remind them of the rules and expectations, and told them if I got a call on the radio that they were in the zoo office for any kind of trouble...I'd take them both straight to jail, or put kid-leashes on them like the toddlers. They were great, and checked in quite frequently. It all worked out to be another really great CAMP MOMMY afternoon.
With Tiger and Haleigh, I barely got past the rock climb. I sat on a bench and watched and took pictures and talked to the other Moms--I even got a little bit of work done, reading, and taking down some notes. Tiger, who is almost 5, spent about 2 straight hours climbing the rock wall, at least a dozen times up and down. By the end, he was zooming up to the very top and hitting the timer button within a couple of minutes. The wall is about 25 - 30 feet up, and they are safely harnessed and anchored, so that when they let go, they ride the rope safely to the ground. We never even made it to the kid's playground area. We did manage to get him off the wall long enough for a train ride, a short walk about, and a trip through the petting zoo, but he got the money's worth on the rock wall until 4:30pm when they closed it down and kicked him out. Good thing, or we would have never seen anything else! We walked the last hour, and watched the otters playing, the monkeys chasing each other, the gorillas hanging out, and we hung out in the Living Tree House (another half-hour of very nice on-the-bench/work time for Mommy).
We met up with the boys at the front gate and ambled out with the zoo workers at quitting time, and it was another near-perfect day. A very successful close to the first two weeks of CAMP MOMMY!
Day #10 Total = $30 for Attraction Passes & Concessions
We actually went over our $100 Weekly Budget by $5 this week, but we had an extra kid at the zoo. We'll take it out next week. We were close!
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