Category: Mama Moments

Those funny and heart-touching moments of being a mama.

Of Toilets and Tornadoes

Of Toilets and Tornadoes

Last week Missouri held a special severe weather test day and sirens blared in sync across the state. There is a notification tower next to my son’s school and he has commented that the sirens are super loud during normal weekly tests, but this was a surprise drill, so I thought it might catch the kids off guard. When I picked up my tornado-skittish son from school that afternoon, I offhandedly asked him if that day’s siren was loud. I thought the extra warning may have startled him a bit because the entire school did the full-press severe weather run-through. I didn’t expect the response he gave, but we both laughed so hard that I had to share.

Perks of Preseason Football

Perks of Preseason Football

Yes, we are officially trying to cram as much fun into the last few days of summer vacation as humanly possible, so when my son and I were offered tickets to last night’s Chiefs preseason football game while we were still making our way home from a four-day trip to Branson we naturally said yes without hesitation.

Celebrating (Another) Snow Day at the KC Zoo

Celebrating (Another) Snow Day at the KC Zoo

Another wave of winter weather blew through town last night, which translated into another snow day for my second grader. I have completely lost track of how many inclement weather days we have accumulated this year, but I’m pretty sure these kids might be in school until Independence Day.

My little man is pretty good at entertaining himself during days like this, but as they start piling up we both get a little antsy. This morning I promised to do something fun because I thought we both needed to get out of the house (and I knew the roads would be dry by lunchtime). I was right on both accounts. My eight year old’s request for the day was to see the polar bear in her “natural habitat.” He sure knows how to work his mother. Although it was only 30-something degrees with a light breeze, I was all mostly in at the mere hint of something slightly educational. So after lunch we bundled up and off to the zoo we went.

snow day

snow day

This gibbon looked so lonely when we first arrived, but he quickly made his way over to say hi and hung out near us.

As it turned out, if you stood in the sun sheltered by a building and wore a large coat, gloves and a hat, it wasn’t a bad day to be at the zoo with the twelve or so other guests who had the same crazy idea as we. I also think many of the animals were as excited to see us as we were them. The gibbons and penguins seemed especially interested in our presence and sauntered up to say hi. We managed to catch the sea lion show, see the baby penguin and otters, watch the penguins eat, see a monkey chase a porcupine, feed the stingrays and get a personalized experience along with two other people at the bird show.

snow dayBaby Blizzard, that fluffy gray penguin on the right, was born in January. His feet are huge!

snow day

Feeding the rays is always a treat (for them and us).

Of course we didn’t venture out to see most of the animals, but with a yearly pass we didn’t feel cheated, and with all the enclosed exhibits, great keeper chats and shows, it turns out that the Kansas City Zoo is actually a pretty nice place to visit on a chilly, no-school snow day. 

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