The Australian Zoo

Sunday is our fun day so I decided (it always seems to be me that decides :) we should go to the zoo. I had a two for one coupon on our Raisin Bran box (which helped me decide) and Ellis had mentioned that he wanted to go the zoo last weekend. Of course when we said we were going to the zoo
today he said he didn't want to go. So we had to use our old standby - well, I guess we could leave you here, but then the police will put mommy and daddy in jail and you'll end up living with people that don't really love you like we do. Terrible - but it seems to work. We did try reasoning with him for a while before resorting to scare tactics.

I should have thought about the weather before we went to the zoo. For some bizarre reason I forgot to think about how the zoo is outside - no air conditioning. It was hot even though we got there just after opening. I think it was another mid 3os day. Yuck.
We were waiting around at 10:30 to get a chance to feed the elephants when Ellis started to complain "it hurts - the sun is hurting me - owwww - I want to go home." Ok - abort that plan - we walked about 500 feet - a miserable looking bunch. Ok - let's eat lunch - it's only 10:30, but we've been up since 6 -must be lunch time. After lunch we sat in the crocoseum (should mention that this was the Steve Irwin zoo - Crocodile Hunter - Crikey). That was good - if we didn't move we didn't sweat much. Ellis decided to run around the stadium instead of watching the show - that worked. It was cooler up in the nosebleeds. It was kinda cool too as they released birds in the show that would fly up to where we were - and zoom around. After that we saw a few more animals and decided it was time to go. Drove to the beach - huge waves - Cyp said - "no swimming today I guess." Till we got out and saw that yes, indeed, most people were swimming. I guess the waves were nothing to them.

Drove back - got stuck in Sunday traffic. Ellis asked about our family in Australia - were we going to get a new one? Is Graham our new family? He's been talking about everyone a lot lately and I think really misses everyone. I think seeing the different animals at the zoo makes him realize we aren't in Canada anymore (that plus the fact it is so darn hot). I tell him Christmas is coming and he looks at me like I'm insane. Then he starts going on about how it doesn't rain here.

Tonight Cyp and I went out on a date. At first Ellis was like - I'll come with you but when the babysitters showed up and were actually showing interest in his computer art he was like "bye - have fun"

We went to a nice Italian place downtown. It was BYO (bring your own). Our dinner was $70 - a huge salad to split (good too), two mains, tiramisu and a corkage fee of $6. That included tip and tax (which is not actually separated out). I thought that was not bad and the service was really good. When we got home, Rowan had just woken up and Ellis was in bed. Pretty successful for our first night out. Ellis came flying out about 20 minutes after the babysitters left - "they read stories and brushed my teeth, but they didn't change my diaper." I think they had, but I did anyway and put him back to bed. About 2 minutes after that he came out and said "I poohed." He had been holding it all day again. He has serious poo issues. I think that was why he kept wanting to go home all day. I told him to just poo in the car at one point but he said "it will squish out and go all over my seat." Oh dear. Sorry - another case of TMI.