The jokes on me; failed plan

It was a big day for my daughter’s class; they were visiting the Baltimore Zoo.

My daughter has talked about the trip for weeks, and as the day drew closer, so did her anticipation. The night prior to the big day, she informed me she was too excited to sleep. She talked about how she was going to spend the remaining hours before the trip. I nixed those plans, and told her she was going to bed at the regular time. She wasn’t too happy with that.

My daughter (teal jacket) strolling along with her best friend; Best friend’s mom is ahead of them.

While hanging out with the other parents that were attending, I stated that my goal was to wear out my daughter so she’d be knocked out by evening time, a few commented that they were hoping for this too.

Somewhere along the way as we trekked through the Baltimore Zoo, that plan failed, well at least for our little group, and judging by the wiped out expression on many of the adult faces as we boarded the bus that took us back to school; it failed for others too.

A friend, who’s the mom of my daughters best friend, joined my daughter, and me. We power-walked for about three hours around the Baltimore Zoo; flat surface, hills, whatever the obstacle we did them… it was a great workout but we paid for that.

I wore the wrong shoes. They were tennis shoes, but those shoes obviously weren’t made for long treks. My feet would have been happier in the hiking shoes I’d initially planned on wearing, before I opted for my tennis shoes. At least I wasn’t the only one who made that mistake. My friend faced the same aches and pains.

Isaiah 11:6

In that day the wolf and the lamb will live together; the leopard will lie down with the baby goat. The calf and the yearling will be safe with the lion, and a little child will lead them all.

In the zoo, the Baltimore zoo, the lion’s alert today…

A few seconds before I took this picture… The male lion strolled over to the lioness and started grooming her. I thought it was sweet, moments later she walked away, and posed on this rock. I took the picture.

On our way home, my daughter said…

“Mommy, I feel sad for the animals, they should be out in the wild roaming around. They don’t have a lot of space to run around at the zoo, so they can’t do all the things they’ve been designed to do.

For the most part, I agree with her, although I never shared those thoughts with her; sometimes I want her to observe and hear what she has to say, without my input. We talked about this topic for a bit, I told her some of the animals brought here are damaged, and this is a way that some of them are ‘saved’, since they wouldn’t survive in the wild.

While at the zoo, we met a gorgeous American kestrel that fit in this category. It had a damaged wing, and could no longer fly. If it were free, I told her it wouldn’t last long in the wild. But in captivity, it was given a second chance, and the fact that she couldn’t fly, didn’t stop her from trying.

At the zoo, a bird trainer, was given a brief introduction to kestrels, their amazing speed, along with additional traits. She had that bird with her. Kestrels have always fascinated me, and I’ve read a lot about them throughout the years. Tiny compared to some of the larger birds, but swift, and deadly; they eat other birds.

Regardless of the failed attempt to wear out the children, I think it’s safe to say that the adults had as much fun as the children. 

My daughter did have a good laugh when I told her about my failed plan. “I ache so much it hurts to crochet!”, I said, but I still picked up my crochet hook and made a few more crochet bookmarks for my daughter’s third-grade class.