Mermaids at the Zoo

     Lately the 4 year old has been very inquisitive about animals.  More specifically which animals are real and which are make believe.  Are Fairies real or just in stories?  Are giraffes real or just in movies?  Do trolls really exist or are they fake?  Are dinosaurs real or made up?  I have been fielding questions like these for days, weeks, forever!  Ok maybe not forever but so frequently in the past month or so and it feels like an eternity of real or fake animal questions and answers.  The big girls had all last week off from school due to fall break and Grandpa Dennis was in town giving our friend Carl a ride home from Texas after his traveling buddy had a bad motorcycle accident soooooo LET'S GO TO THE ZOO!

     I had mentioned a few weeks ago to my handsome hubby that a trip to the Denver Zoo would be an excellent way for Paige to see which animals are real and which are not.  Since the girls are out of school and Grandpa is here now seems like the perfect time so off we go!  My hubby, father-in-law and daughter #1 went up to Casper, WY for a few days so my handsome hubby could get some work done and then they drove down to Denver.  I loaded up little Byerlys #2-4 and drove over the mountains (through the snow) to meet up with them.  We visited the Front Range cousins at their new home and enjoyed dinner with them then let the girls swim in the hotel pool.  All this time Paige has no idea what we are planning for the next day.  I love surprises!!!!  

     It's ZOO DAY!  We wake up in our cozy crowded (there are 6 of us in a double queen room!) hotel room and everyone showers, primps, pastes on their faces and prepare for the day!  We grabbed a quick and yummy and FREE breakfast at the hotel and headed out on our adventure.  Since my hubby had driven down from Wyoming, I had driven over from home and neither of us would be going back to where the cousins live we had to take 3 vehicles from Loveland to the zoo.  Convoy!  Well, it was a convoy until the front range cousin who spends a lot of time in crazy metro traffic got tired of driving slow like us country cousins and flew by us... then there were two.  Haha.  We arrived at the zoo, found parking, opened up strollers, packed in bags of snacks and diapers and started our adventure.  As soon as we walked through the front gates the 4 year old realized where we were and she was THRILLED!  

     We walked all of the 80 acres that the Denver zoo covers.  They were featuring a neat exhibit aimed at bringing attention to ocean pollution where trash is used to create sea creature sculptures.  Cool.  We saw every "real" animal they had to show us.  There were penguins, monkeys, zebras, birds of many colors, lions, tigers, and bears, Oh my!  We were almost back to the entrance when the 4 year old spotted... Mermaids. That's right people- mermaids at the zoo.  So after telling the 4 year old for hours that now she can learn which animals are real and which are fake because every animal that is in the zoo is a real animal here in front of me set 2 mermaids.  Ugh.  The 4 year old is ecstatic though! She runs over to the sirens of the sea and throws her arms around their necks and enthusiastically introduces herself.  She asks for pictures with both and pets the scales on their tales and their fins.  She runs over to her daddy, shaking with excitement and yells, "I JUST MET A REAL MERMAID. MERMAIDS ARE REAL! I'VE ALWAYS WANTED TO MEET A MERMAID!" 

     And so our 5 hour drive over the mountains through the snow to see every "real" animal in the zoo taught the 4 year old that fairies, trolls, and pegasus are probably just make believe and that giraffes, hippos and mermaids are most definitely without question real.  

 

Thanks for stopping by to check-in on my 4 Little Byerlys.  Have a great day!