Zoo

Yesterday, we took our zoo

to the zoo.

Between my two sisters' families and ours,

our crew consists of

one five year old, two three year olds, four one year olds and two under two months.

I like to think we took it upon ourselves to populate the world.

It's not just a mouthful, it's a mindful.

It took us all morning just to pack lunches, tie shoes, change diapers, make last minute potty breaks, fill up sippy cups, load the stroller, change more diapers, feed the babies, a few more bathroom pit stops, and we were off.

Ooing and awing over penguins

 and polar bears, monkeys and giraffes, rhinos, tigers and elephants,

a gondala ride, a picnic,

an ice cream treat break,

minimal sunburn,

an animal cracker snack (let's pretend I planned that theme…),

two snoozing babies,

a mere handful of tearful wailing meltdowns, and only one crash and burn wipeout.

The kids were beside themselves with excitement,

 the dads were right there leading the way,

 and the mommas, 

well, we kept count of our ducklings all along the way.

My mantra for the day was something like this -

"One, two, three, four, one, two, wait, where's Judah! oh there he is, three, four, one, Tristan come back, three, four, Ellie, hold Addie's hand, two, three, here's your pacie, four, one, two, three, four…"
Counting to four…over…and…over…and…over...

The amazing salvation through this blessedly busy time in our life though,

is the comraderie that comes with doing life together, alongside each other,
celebrating the small successes,
sharing the tears, the giggles, the epiphanies and the load,

 the hand holding, the baby trading,

 the stroller swapping,

the uniting understanding that we're all in this together,
making mistakes sometimes, celebrating small victories other times,
 paving the way for our little (big) families,

doing our best to nurture tiny hearts

and giant imaginations,

all without losing our sanity, or any of our offspring.

I may or may not have been in bed at eight o'clock when we returned.

But, more importantly, and more successfully, I might add,

my zoo was as well.