You Have Two Choices - Laugh or Cry

When things don't go as planned you have two choice; laugh or cry. You see my family has a horrible track record when it comes to trying things out for the first time. For example, the first time we went to DisneyLand I woke up with the stomach flu. My kids were crying about missing out on the happiest place on Earth, while I cried in pain-both emotional and physical. In the end, it turned out good since we were able to extend our trip and go the next day. 

My kids have never been to the zoo. We didn't have one in Las Vegas unless you count the crappy petting zoo in Bonnie Springs, which I do not! So when we found out that the NC Zoo is only 90 minutes away we decided to take the kiddos. I thought we would have a fun day and then bring home three exhausted kids. 

I was kind of right. 

The kids were so excited to go to the zoo! They each had their favorite part of the zoo. Isabella loved the seals, Molly liked the turtles, and Mark said he liked the tram ride the best. The giraffes were a huge hit with all three kids. 

We were over in Africa about three hours into our day looking at the gorillas when the sky turned almost black. This was not a good sign. Within minutes it went from a nice sunny day to down pouring rain. By the time we found some shelter, we were all soaked to the bone. There was nothing dry on us; even our socks were soaked. 

In the beginning the kids thought it was a fun adventure! They were running in and out of the rain and having a great time playing. You have to love kids; they can find fun in almost any situation. 

But it started raining harder and the wind blew in which dropped the temperature. Everyone was shivering and the kids started to get scared from the booming thunder. Brett and I decided to make our way to the car since there was no end in sight for the rain and we were soaked anyway. 

That turned out to be a big mistake! The kids flipped out in the rain. Mark's sensory processing disorder reared its ugly head in a big way with every clap of thunder. He started screaming and refused to take another step. Brett and I took turns carrying him out which of course made our daughters cry to be carried too. 

I think this picture sums things up!

We finally made it to the bus pick up spot to drive us to the other side of the zoo where we were parked. We waited for 20 minutes for the bus to pick us up but we did eventually arrive at our car with three screaming crying kids in tow. Once the kids were in dry underwear (since I didn't have clean clothes but thankfully had 2 pairs of underwear and 1 diaper) and had some snacks they calmed down. 

Meanwhile Brett and I were wringing out our socks and had nothing to change into, so we drove 90 minutes home soaking wet. And hungry since we gave the kids the majority of the food and stopping for fast food was out of the question-our no processed foods challenge was going on. No way was I going to cheat when I was that close to winning!  

Waiting on the bus

Once we got on the road and the kids had calmed down I looked at Brett and asked "how long do you think it will take until this is a funny story?" We instantly started laughing hysterically. 

Sometimes you just have to laugh! In that situation you could only laugh or cry, and we already had three crying kids. Picture us driving down the road giggling about our bad luck striking again. We will  never forget our family's first trip to the zoo and thankfully there are many good memories of the day as well

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Like this moment. 

And this one!

Perhaps my favorite picture. 

With all the animals and rides, my twins were fascinated with the drains and stopped at every one.

I know that I'm a better person when I try to find the good in the situation instead of focusing on the bad.