lions and tigers and bears....oh my!

We took our little beasts on a trip to the National Zoo over the weekend. Something I couldn't fathom trying until the weather started to cool off here. There is no way I could have pulled this adventure off without Tim. Just driving through DC to get there was enough to get my fingernails digging into my knees, and my heart racing.

The girls were filled with wonder and excitement. After spending two weeks psyching them up for it by telling them about what they would see, I would have been surprised if they weren't bursting with enthusiasm about seeing "elephants and giraffes" (the latter, having been removed from the zoo, caused quite a bit of disappointment).

 

Those wild kids of mine did an admirable job on a much longer stay at the zoo than I expected us to have. I was pretty proud of them by the time we finally made it back to the car. Of course, Violet did make me carry her practically through the whole trip. And the times we actually got her to ride in the zoo supplied double stroller thingy, she had two crashing falls out of the thing, being driven over once by the stroller. 

 

"onward!"

 

The lions were pretty amazing. One of them got hungry for lunch when we were observing, and it roared very loudly several times before sitting down in front of a door to wait for food. Its roar resonated in a really rich way that's hard to describe. Like it took almost no effort to produce a sound that was both very loud, yet not piercing. Loud and soft.

 

this tortoise was seriously about as big as Violet.

I wonder how old it is. 

 

How we all felt on the way home. 

Tim and I earned our afternoon beer that day. We went last Friday, and it's taken me all this time just to get my photos uploaded, edited, and into the blog. I think I'm running behind on everything right now!