In between bears and dinos, we sit across five bench seats in the St. Louis Zoo, watching the trains go by, eating our ice cream bars.
Somehow after an enjoyable walk through apes, a brilliant sea lion show, and a climbing adventure to mimic the life of a primate our kids' moods soured. “I’m not the one who said we should see the monkeys.” “We have bears at our zoo, so I’m not looking at these ones.” “It’s so hot. Why is it so hoooooooooot?” “When are we going home?” And their moods brought the adults’ moods down. One by one we teetered, tottered, and tumbled. Just like that, we were the family we’ve mildly poked fun of: the ones who attend somewhere, certain it will be fun, expecting it to be fun, and then are dragging pouty, crying children around, trying to convince them it’s fun. We weren’t quite to that point, but the downward spiral was real, and I was watching the impending crumbling of the afternoon as it barrelled towards us. Despite my husband’s ruffled feathers at rewarding whiny children, we invested in $20-worth of ice cream bars. Whether it was the 20 minutes off our feet, the sitting in the shade, the watching of the train come by in routine loops, the watching of other people with their own children melting down, the stop at the bathroom, or the time off from following “the plan” - the sweet treat righted the world again. Smiles returned, jokes weren’t met with scowls, and everyone was genuinely eager to tackle the last bit of the zoo. Off we went to discover the Butterfly House (which was closed for remodeling), the Andean bear (which apparently escaped twice and had to be rehomed at another zoo), the amazing hippos who “swam” past us repeatedly, the elusive cheetahs (who we finally find after a full day at the zoo), and the unexpected gift of an Asian elephant 10 feet away from us. It was an excellent end to a very good day, made possible by a blip and ice cream somewhere in between.
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AuthorHeidi. Archives
March 2022
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