I think a trip to the zoo appeals to me so much around Mother’s Day because this time of year the weather is generally wonderful for an all-day zoo outing (not too cold and not too hot yet) and the zoo is a place that makes our entire family happy. We’re an animal-loving crew and had a great time returning to the North Carolina Zoo on Saturday!
(Overalls: Anthropologie — they’re finally back in stock!! / Shoes: Madewell / Bodysuit: Amazon / Sunglasses: Quay)
The North Carolina Zoo is about an hour and 40 minutes away but the drive is an easy one. Our boys were all up by 6:30 a.m. on Saturday (whyyy?) and we made the most of everyone’s early wake-up times and arrived at the zoo right when it opened at 9 a.m.
By square footage the North Carolina Zoo is the largest zoo in the United States and Ryan’s watch told us we walked more than 5 miles during our zoo adventure! We brought our double stroller for Rhett and Ryder but all of the boys seemed to thrive out of the stroller and loved running down the paths to check out the various animals.
A big highlight for Chase this year was the Kaleidoscope Butterfly Garden, a new habitat featuring native and exotic species of butterflies. There were so many butterflies flying around us and they were just gorgeous! You are not allowed to touch or catch the butterflies but we were told that if they land on you it’s okay so Chase walked through the entire exhibit like this:
Confession: Ryan tickled the back of his neck with a leaf and told him a butterfly landed on his neck at one point just to throw him a bone because he was so committed. Chase’s love for butterflies is on another level so this exhibit was incredible for him!
A moment that caught us a little off guard with our usually fearless middle child was the carousel. Ryder picked Saturday to randomly be freaked out by a merry-go-round (ya know, 2 weeks after he happily road one at Dan Nicholas Park) but all was right in his world again when he spotted the bench and asked to ride on it with me.
Can you tell he was psyched NOT to be on an animal!?
Rhett and Chase, on the other hand, were all about it!
As for everyone’s favorite animals, the desert habitat stole the show for the big kids because Chase and Ryder are all-in on desert reptiles at the moment (gila monsters, monitors, desert tortoises, blue-tongued skinks, etc.).
Rhett’s favorite thing at the zoo was the water fountain proving that driving more than 90 minutes to the zoo for a 1.5 year old is very much worth it. Haha!
Before we left, Chase was excited to finally put a gift card he received to the zoo gift shop for his birthday to good use and selected a baby alligator stuffed animal to bring home. Oh! And he lost his seventh tooth while eating his peanut butter and jelly sandwich at the zoo. It was a big day for our big kid!
Ryan and I were honestly a little shocked by how long we lasted at the zoo without a major meltdown (though of course there absolutely were mini meltdowns) and we didn’t arrive home until the late afternoon.
We wrapped up our Saturday by watching the Kentucky Derby as a family before heading to bed nice and early.
Sunday
Sunday was Mother’s Day and began with sweet homemade gifts from the boys! After such a full Saturday I wasn’t in the mood to do anything too big on Sunday so we kept things simple with a quick trip to Discovery Place followed by a stop at Cold-Blooded & Bizarre, a local reptile store that sells and rescues reptiles.
The men we spoke with at the shop were so knowledgeable and kindly answered a million questions from our family about what kind of lizard might be the best fit for our family one day. (Bearded dragons, leopard geckos and ackie monitors were their top recommendations.)
By the time we made it home, Rhett and Ryder were very ready for naps. Rhett’s refusal to nap in the car or a stroller meant he actually skipped his nap completely yesterday so he was more than ready for a great nap on Sunday. He slept for a solid three hours!
While Rhett and Ryder slept, Ryan and Chase read a chapter book together while I worked on content for an upcoming Instagram collaboration.
Once everyone was awake, we opted to spend the rest of our day close to home and knocked out some chores, got into our pajamas early, texted my mom pics of a rash on Ryder’s leg to confirm it’s likely poison ivy (benefits of having a nurse in the family — and yes it is) and then managed to eventually get everyone into bed.
As for the week ahead, it should be a good one filled with all of the usual weekday commitments along with some end-of-the-year fun for the boys, too. I hope to see ya back here again soon!
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So glad you had a fun mom’s day weekend! Your boys are precious. We have a blue-tongued Australian skink at work (Biology dept. at a state college) and he is so sweet and funny! He loves to eat mealworms and fruit and sometimes hard-boiled eggs. (And a random follow-up to my comment re the Tarte lip gloss: once I started treating it like it was a “treatment” instead of a gloss, it worked way better for me. Less is more!)
Aw love that!!! Skinks are so cool! And glad the lip gloss is working a little better for you now!
At the new house, you need to plant some milkweed so that monarchs will eat it, make their cocoon near it and then you can see it turn into the butterfly. It is really pretty amazing and the plant is so easy to grow!
That’s on our landscaping plan for sure!!! Chase cannot wait!
I know you meant poison ivy but at first my heart skipped a beat when I just saw the word poison!!
That photo of your three boys at the zoo is SO cute!
My Mother’s Day second half was nice but the first half was a bit crazy. My youngest son had some maaaajor stomach issues starting at 5:40 am and lasting hours. I had to do a whole lot of laundry. He is fine now thankfully but it was most definitely not what I had in mind for the holiday!!
Omgggg yes poison Ivy!!! I’m so sorry I updated the blog post from my phone this morning and somehow missed a word!
How do you keep your kids entertained in the car for that long?