Our last few weeks have been filled with lots of overtime and crazy hours as we planned for the fall, had survey tables at Queens College and St. John’s University, helped with move in (or at least attempted to before we were told to leave by St. Johns!), held informational meetings, meet with churches and volunteers, hung and handed out flyers, planning budgets, and so much more. We were really thankful when our director moved our staff meeting to yesterday and gave us today off. In an effort to squeeze every bit of family time and summer into the little bit of time we have before school starts (it starts this Thursday!), we rented a car and headed off to the Bronx Zoo.
We have been watching the show on Animal Planet called “The Zoo” which is actually about things that are happening at the Bronx Zoo with the animals. Our kids were really excited to visit and see some of the animals and places they had seen on TV. We arrived at 10 and much to our surprise, stayed until the park pulled the animals so they could close down at 4:30. THE WHOLE DAY!! Not only was this zoo amazing, but the kids didn’t fight, were well-behaved, didn’t complain or throw fits, and we actually had a great time. Such a blessing.
My favorite would have to be the gorillas and specifically, a baby African monkey that was just born last month. When they are born, these monkeys are born completely white and don’t change to black like the others until they are about 3 months old. We tried to snap a picture but he was hiding and holding onto mom and dad – but you can see its white tail hanging down. So cute!
The kids favorite part? The red panda, since Kinsley has a huge love for them, being able to pop up in the middle of the prairie dogs, the petting zoo, the bug carousel, and the butterfly garden.
My least favorite part? While I loved the giraffes (especially since watching April the Giraffe give birth), I HATED the ostriches that were in the giraffe’s pen. I have a severe fear of ostriches and my girls LOVE to rub it in that I don’t like them. Maybe I will share that story of how that fear came about in my next blog post 🙂
Overall, it was a great day and such a fun surprise in the midst of the busy fall semester with campus ministry. Would you pray for all the things that are planned for this next week? Info meetings at St. Johns, St. John’s organization fair (pray we get a table!), first weekly Cru meeting at Queens College, favor with the administration as we aim to start things at St. Johns, and last but not least, both of our “little” girls starting school. Such a big week!