Lemurs, and Kangaroos and Tigers! Oh my!

Yesterday, I was an evil mommy.  Well, I was a good mommy, but in the eyes of the school board (if they were to find out) I was an evil mommy.  Brooke, a fabulous friend of mine, had told me about a week ago that this mall in Elkhart, was going to have Baby Tigers to play.  What? Playing with a baby tiger?!  The whole thing sound too good to be true!  Naturally, I plotted to take Lily... without telling her. 

On Wednesday, I informed her that Thursday morning I'd be picking her up early from school because we had to go to the Doctor and get our flu shot.  She really did not like the sound of that. Instantly, there was a whole bout of "I don't want to get a flu shot!"  "Do I really need one?" "I've already been sick!"  and a few other choice phrases that kinda pissed me off, but I just sucked it up and despite the pre-teen attitude showing through, continued with 

my plan. 

I picked her up on Thursday morning around 10:30 and off we went, Lily grumbling on the way.  We clicked onto the bypass and I couldn't hold it in any more.  I told her that we were not going to the doctor to get shots, we were going to play with baby tigers.   Lily was instantly awestruck.  Baby tigers?! What?!  How come we get to play with baby tigers?  And the kicker: Mickie and Thomas were coming with us.   Instant happy kid!   I haven't seen her this excited since we went to the circus over Thanksgiving break!

When we got there, the tigers were a bit too rambunctious, so we opted for the baby

 wolves instead.  We also got to feed a lemur a piece of banana and pet a baby kangaroo.  The lemur decided to jump into the kangaroo's sleeping pouch, which annoyed the kangaroo and antics began.   I've never seen a grumpier kangaroo.  In fact, I didn't know kangaroos were capable of getting grumpy.    The tigers were twice Jackson's size.  They were still baby, but they were large... and everyone decided that yeah, that's not the smartest thing, especially with them being so playful at the time.  

The baby wolves were sweet and friendly and so incredibly soft.  Jackson kept running around yelling "Dog! Dog!"  It was very cute.  I think he had a lot of fun too!  Lily was showing both Thomas and Jack how to pet the wolves and while Jack was doing very well petting them, Thomas got a little scared and opted to leave the cage and go back to his mom who was standing by outside.  He preferred hanging out with the lemur rather than the wolves.  

It was definitely a fun day.  We ended at Steak and Shake with all the kids wanting macaroni.  It was the worst service ever and then Lily slipped and hit her head (she's got a giant bruise on her forehead, and I'm thinking about taking her to the doctor today because it looks so bad).  She cried for about 10 minutes and lately she hasn't been crying too awful much when she hurts herself, so I knew it was bad.  Poor kid.   After that, we went and picked up Jason, Mickie's husband, and headed home.  Mickie watched the kids for a few hours while I went to a meeting for the newly formed River Bend Film Festival committee.  (More on that soon.)

Things seem to be snowballing in the social commitment portion of my life.  I've become very busy lately.  I'm enjoying it, though.  It gives me something to look forward to.  Although, I have no idea what I'm going to do when I'm done with it. Who knows.  That being said, I really need to get moving.... I've got a long day ahead of me...