I had a lot of things going on last week and by Thursday morning I started to feel like I hadn’t really spent any quality time with Caroline.
Guilt. It is a mother’s constant companion.
So I woke up that morning and asked Caroline if she wanted to do something fun.
She said, “No. I despise fun. I will have no more of this fun of which you speak.”
Not really.
She jumped up and down at the mention of all the fun so I gave her two choices for the day.
“We can go to the beautiful outdoor mall, walk around and enjoy the beautiful weather while stopping in the occasional store or (mumbled under my breath) we can go to the zoo.”
For those of y’all playing along at home I’ll let you guess which one she chose.
And here’s an important fact about me. I really don’t like the zoo. In fact, I kind of hate it.
I haven’t always felt this way and sometimes I can tolerate it, but over the last two years the San Antonio Zoo has been under a lot of construction which has made it less than enjoyable and twice as smelly.
It’s actually a great zoo according to people who know stuff about zoos, but I’m just not a fan of all the smells and the sleeping animals. Because let’s be honest, do you ever really see an animal do anything cool at the zoo?
RARELY.
There was actually this one time at the Omaha Zoo where I saw this polar bear do the backstroke and swim underwater. It was impressive. But I’ve kind of blocked out the rest of that trip because I made the unfortunate decision to wear a cheetah-print top and am embarrassed to this day by my decision to theme dress.
But if you’re ever in Omaha, go to the zoo because Marlon Perkins and Mutual of Omaha have created quite the Wild Kingdom. He knew what he was doing. And I bet he never wore a cheetah-print shirt.
Anyway, I told Caroline to go get dressed for the zoo.
SERIOUS LAPSE IN JUDGEMENT.
She came back in the kitchen about twenty minutes later wearing her best skirt, a t-shirt, and some knee-high socks. I told her she could wear the shirt and the socks, but NO WAY was that skirt going to the zoo with all the smells, the animals, and the hot dogs covered in mustard.
I went in her room to help her find another skirt because apparently her zoo experience wasn’t going to be complete without a skirt. She rejected all my advice and finally came up with this outfit.
At the moment this picture was taken she was lamenting the fact that she didn’t have any “beautiful, purple shoes” to wear to the zoo. Because I know when I look at that outfit my first thought is NEEDS PURPLE SHOES.
Who puts that much thought into what they’re going to wear to the zoo?
I mean other than someone who may or may not have worn a cheetah-print top to the Omaha Zoo back in 1993?
Some days it’s like looking in a mirror.
Except I usually don’t wear knee-high rainbow socks.