All aboard!

As I believe I've eluded to previously, yesterday - President's Day - was about oh, the 50th time between December and February by my count that Ian stayed home on a day when we were paying for him to be in preschool. (With December being the huge winner, of course, thanks to all that wintry weather.) I mean, hey, I enjoy throwing money out the window was much as the next person - but I must admit that sometimes it gets a little frustrating. I think if he were in school full time I wouldn't notice it as much - but take away that precious Monday, Wednesday or half-day Friday and I'm in agony! Okay, well maybe not agony - but it is noticeable. Lately I've been trying to put a little spin on it and look at it as a valuable donation to the institution that is helping to educate my son in these critical early childhood years. Sometimes it works.

Okay - so venting aside, it became clear fairly early on in the morning that we were going to be in need of some sort of activity outside the home. I don't know, it might have had something to do with the fact that I must have heard, "I want to go in the car. I want to go in the car!" about 10 times by 9am. Alrighty, fine - we'll go in the car. But where? This is always the big debate. I can't tell you how many mornings I spend running through activity options in my head - most of which get crossed off the list for one reason or another...too cold outside...too crowded....we just went there...you always get sick after we go there. This is one of the reasons why the Tuesday Sports Class was so great. I didn't have to think about it...it was just on the schedule. And of course it's particularly challenging in the winter. So, after going back and forth over several options in my head yesterday, I looked at the relatively decent weather out the window and settled on the zoo. Even though I was positive that similar conversations were going on at that very moment all over Portland - and that we would all be converging on the same parking lot within the next hour. Ugh. However, before I could use it as an excuse to change my mind, I asked Ian about it - in the form of a choice, of course: "Ian, would you like to go to the zoo this morning or play at home? As if I didn't already know the answer. But hey, I gave him a choice which in little kid speak means control, right? So, off we went.

The Oregon Zoo parking lot delivered on its promise and more. The place was more frantic than me trying to get to free cone day at Ben & Jerry's. Just when I was about ready to give up and had announced to Ian that it looked like he was going to have to settle for a park visit instead, there it was: a spot! After some quick screeching and a few donut maneuvers in the parking lot - we had procured a location to leave the car so that we could peruse the wildlife. So really, it had been a successful day already and we hadn't even approached the gate yet.

One of the great things about our zoo here is that it comes complete with a miniature railroad. And in case I haven't mentioned it before or you haven't witnessed it, our kid is a big fan of trains. Probably somewhat similar to every other three-year-old boy in America. And at the zoo, Mom is a big fan of the train as well. I mean, all I do is get us on board and then just sit there and enjoy the scenery - and he's as entertained and excited as can be. What is there not to like? We got to the ticket stand just as the Zooliner (cute, yes?) was about to leave and amazingly, there was still room on board. So on board we got and off we went. In the summer, the train usually makes close to a half hour loop through the zoo and through Washington Park which is yet another fabulous Portland offering that adjoins the zoo grounds. However, as we learned yesterday, in the winter (when the train only runs on weekends...and apparently holidays) they significantly shorten the trip to around 10 minutes just around the zoo. Still enough time to see the elephants (we have a baby here now who is so cute!), wolves, the bald eagle and other various wildlife.

After our train ride, we went to visit the African area of the zoo where they have the cutest darn giraffe you've ever seen (I think these may be a new favorite animal for me these days), some pretty zebras, the monkeys, two hippos (who only wanted to show us their back side) and let's see...that's all I can think of right now because my brain is not working well. I will say though that seeing all these cool African creatures may have secured the safari theme for Ian's new bedroom (which I'm still giving thought to, of course). But after that it was well past lunchtime so we scurried back to our parking spot which I gave up after - taking a chapter from the Rod Blagojevich school of business - I sold it to someone who wanted it for equal the amount we had paid in Ian's school tuition for that day.

Today - my normal day with Ian - we went to storytime at the central Beaverton library. They do a nice little program for preschoolers with a few books and songs, which he seems to enjoy. Of course it also gave us the opportunity to pick up some additional tractor/truck/train/general construction reading materials. I was more enthusiastic than usual about loading up on these themes in hopes that they will serve as a hearty in-flight distraction for our Thursday travel to Texas. I don't know, but something gives me the feeling that I'm going to be up to my eyeballs in reading about excavators by the time we reach Houston. This trip will of course mark the end of Ian's 1.25(ish) year ban on flying due to consistent demonstration of demon-like behavior on airliners (except in his early months...he was great then!). There's been a lot of "prep work" happening...reading Amazing Airplanes, having discussions about what to expect, how we behave on airplanes, sitting in our seats, keeping our seat belts on (or harness, in his case), being patient, talking quietly....we'll see if it pays off. If you don't hear from me again, that might mean it didn't go so well. Oh, and did I mention that Ian will be missing school this Friday and again next Monday?

Until I write again.