How many mistakes can a rookie mom make?

Hah, I like that the title rhymes, even if it does detract from the fact that this post is really about the boys' first trip to the ZOO! But seriously, I haven't counted yet, but I showed my "rookie mom" stripes today on our first zoo trip with a handful of "oops" moments.

1. We left late in the day, giving us about an hour to spend at the zoo. This was not horrible, considering I have a freaking stress fracture and have already asked waaaay too much of my crippled foot this weekend, and didn't actually need to be walking around the zoo. But, still, rookie moms don't allow enough time to see anything other than the primates and the children's play area - not the best "first zoo" experience, but it was a fun day, nonetheless.

Jack was very interested in the primates!

Ben, checking out the monkeys

2. I haven't been grocery shopping this weekend, leaving us with scant snacks to choose from, so I went with little fudge graham cracker snacks. You know, the ones with chocolate on one side? Sooooo, yeah, didn't actually think through the fact that chocolate tends to melt on a hot summer day outside, and when eaten by toddlers that melted mess ends up everywhere. They didn't mind though, so really it was nothing a few wet wipes couldn't handle. Still funny, and still a rookie mom thing to do. I promise I actually thought about it, and then thought - nahh, they'll eat them before they melt. Sigh.

Faces, hands, clothes, and stroller - everywhere!

Ben was the messiest - but he still wanted more, please.

3. I didn't bring a change of clothing. Since the center of the children's area at the zoo is a delightful stream through which the children frolic, this is a terrible rookie mom thing to do. I guess I thought, Ben & Jack are walking now, so they'll just walk through the stream like little gentlemen and cool their feet. ??? What? I have taken these babies to water features before, but you'd think I didn't know that they would fall in the water, crawl through it, kneel down in front of the little fountain to feel the water streaming, and splash. Ohh, dear. But still, I can remove wet clothing, and I did have dry diapers to change them into, so we just went home in diapers. Strolled them out of the zoo clad in nothing but diapers, super classy-like.

I think that's it. So the answer is 3 - 3 in one day! Impressive :) The boys loved the children's area, though - they were very intrigued by the noisy donkeys and sheep, and suuuuper interested in the ponies. When we would walk away, they would crane their heads around, point at the ponies and go "huh?" Naturally, we visited the ponies several times. It was a fun day, despite all my "oops" moments! We did get a family membership, so next time will be even better. :)