Vienna Zoo

Since it is Spring Break and many normal people go on vacation during this time, my preschool was down to 3 kids. So I decided to cancel preschool this week and take some friends up on the offer to visit the Vienna Zoo 2 1/2 hours away together. Are we glad we did? Absolutely! There were 7 moms and 16 kids. It pays to go to Playgroup and be spontaneous.

Does this remind anyone of a DC Cherry Blossom trip we took?

Anyway, we had a great time. Though I think if the men were there, they would have thought differently. Not that they are wussy, just a little less used to big groups of kids without much of an agenda. We were at the Zoo for 4 hours and in the car for 7. Vienna is still my favorite city to visit... so far.

The story:

I woke up at 7:45am yesterday. Pushed snooze a few times and finally got up at 8. I got ready and then proceeded to drag my kids out of bed. This was the first day that we all woke up before 9 am due to our jet lag and refusal to adjust to the new time. I prepared most things the night before so I was just running around trying to get the last minute things prepared: sandwiches, drinks, stuff in car, feed kids, clothe kids. (Remember I have 3 kids under 5 with a baby. This makes getting ready oh so fun.) The two families coming with me in my car arrived right on time at 9 and I was almost ready. We left at 9:15 and passed up getting our stickers and gas for the car to get to Budors and meet the families at Monica's on time. We made it, convinced another family to come despite their lack of sleep the night before, and left at 10:30 am for Vienna, Austria.

A movie and a show later, we arrive in Vienna and trek to the Zoo. Two kids totally biff it on the gravel and we needed some band-aid time. Maleia and Haley each fell once during the whole trip. That's pretty good in my book. It could have been worse. Poor Katie biffed it three times. I think the average was 1.8 falls each kid.

We saw all the animals. There's always something special seeing these exotic animals up close and personal. It's pretty awesome. There's not much to say about that. I think the highlight was the seeing the seals jump and play and burp over and over again. What is it about bodily functions that gets kids in a total laughing frenzy? My girls both said that this was their favorite part. That and the sleeping Koalas. And the Koalas just sat there. who knew? Dylan was especially excited to see any animals. He even loved seeing the pigeons pecking at the crumbs on the ground.

We went into the jaguar house where there were three jaguars strutting around and while there was actually a quiet moment (with 16 kids, this was quite rare) Dylan piped up and yelled, "meow meow!" And amongst laughter, one little boy said, "awww. Mom, can you lift me up? I can't see the baby one."

I do have to mention our lunch experience. Too bad I don't speak German or this could have been a little more spicy. We are standing in line for food for about 10 minutes and then when we finally get to the front, they said that we needed to switch lines because this line was closed. What? Who does that? So we merge with the line next to us with all the people "happy" to let us. Then a lady walks up the the "closed" window and a guy takes her order. What the? So we quickly moved back and make him take our orders too. Silly Austrians.

Really the whole Zoo experience was fun and the kids loved it. Then we get in our cars at about 4:45 and realize we are going to hit rush hour. Opa! (Hungarian for oops.) We sit in traffic for an hour and finally get out of the city. Then, right before the border of Austria and Hungary, both lanes come to a standstill and we sit there for about 20 minutes. We still have no idea why. Our Prime Minister just resigned, so voting was yesterday which means a lot of protesting at the same time. Who knows if this was the cause?

Thank goodness for McDonald's. We are in the drive through with 3 cars back to back with kids/parents going in and out for the bathroom. Two of us change our babies on the grass median just outside McDonald's. Silly Americans. The thing is, if I were in the States this would be one of the last places I would go, but we don't have many options here. Again, thank goodness for McDonald's.

2 movies and a show later, we are home. At last we make it back around 9pm, but again, I was with some great friends who make traveling fun, so why complain? Extra time with fun people. Darn.

Let's start with one of my favorite shots of Dylan longing to be on that train.
I used Photoshop a TON today. I'm not very good, but it was fun.

Vienna castle.
And this was only their summer home.

The gardens.

An eatery.

THE KIDS. A whole whopping 16 of them.

The moms. :) Notice: still smiling at the end of the day.
Monica, Laura, Me, Mary, Holly, and Heather

The walk to the Zoo. Can't beat it.

MY KIDS

Fierce Jaguar

Crocodile Dundee.

Ellie Samara

Wow. I captured all three facing forward at the same time. They were always on the hunt for animals.

Sweet Maleia telling me that she wants to go and play with the cheetahs. Have fun.

My pink flamingos with the real ones.

The Friends

What more can you ask for than good friends.

Our little monkeys.

Our train full of girls. Oldest to youngest. Isn't just like girls to organize the train?

The family at the "polar bears' playground" as Maleia put it.

I got a lot of pictures of the kids' bums.

I scream, you scream, we all scream/nag/whine (for about an hour) for ice cream.

I just couldn't get over how cute Andrew looked eating his ice cream, finally, all by himself.

The refugees.
This was taken two seconds after Katie fell her 3rd and final time. Maleia and Haley tripped over each other, and Andrew told us he was the most tired ever! The kids were spent after all the fun times.
Maleia asked to go to bed and Haley practically fell asleep brushing her teeth.

It was a bright, sunny day in Vienna.
We missed B since he was at work, but we will definitely make it back with him soon.

I saved the best for last.
This is my favorite picture of the three looking at a penguin.