overdoing it

I wish I could say today was better...

I went to work out at 6 am. I came out exhausted instead of energized.

I packed up everything the night before, planning to go to coop classes and then to the zoo which is in the same park as coop. Everything except the ipod which I use for music during story time. The ipod was in the car, so I sent kids out in the morning to get it so I could update playlist. It took three kids 15 minutes and minute instructions to find it.

Then we got to the classes. I led the toddler class, while the boys did Destruction and Fun with Numbers. 8 yo came out of his class with a Shmusophone, which he proudly wore around his neck and extracted interesting sounds from. 6 yo came with number kite which he took for a flight outside.

I spent the next class time cutting out bunny ears for next week's story time. Then the boys made sugar cube pyramids held together with frosting. They were convinced that it is not kosher, but I checked with the teacher and reassured them that they can eat it.

Then we went to the zoo and lunched there. I told boys the could have five sugar cubes off their pyramids. I printed out a page asking each one to find five kosher and not kosher animals and to write them down. Then, at home, we were supposed to look up their names in Hebrew. We started with pandas which were awake and sprawled on their backs, eating bamboo. I told boys to try to sit/lay in that position and eat.

Next was tigers/carnivores. 6yo got his head inside a giant skull. Then we walked to Komodo dragon, and 6 yo wrote it as his non kosher animal. He camped out next to the sign and copied it. We spent a while in the reptile house, and boys found lots of non kosher things there.

Then they complained that there are no kosher animals in the zoo till 6 yo remembered the giraffe. On the way we saw a duck, so that also made the kosher list. The giraffes were amazing, trying to eat leaves off the tall tree with their long purple tongues. That's where 8 yo's list got blown out of his hands and into giraffe's enclosure. He got very upset and I was hoping he would come up with some kind of solution.

Parakeet house was next. I was tired and thought that my whole idea of a list was a bad one. The boys, meanwhile, found some sticks with a few grains still stuck to them and tried getting parakeets to come and sit. There is a lot of patience required in waiting out a parakeet. I did not have it then, but boys persisted in holding their sticks and luring the birds.

Next, I walked the boys to the farm and the remembered that sheep and goats are kosher. 6 yo checked out the hooves and they both brushed them. 2 yo was very tired by this point. She is also afraid of goats, but this time, she asked to go in.

For the final activity, we did a train ride and a carousel ( our zoo has passport program where if you come very month for 6 months, you get the rest of year carousel and train for free).

By the time we got home, 2 yo was fast asleep, 6 yo was complaining about the song in the car and I was done. I asked the boys to help me bring in all the objects from the car. That's when 8 yo kicked a 6 yo and marched everyone home and declared pajama time. By the lack of complaints, I know it was a wise choice.

For dinner, we were supposed to have fish and chips. I told boys that if they peel the potatoes, I will fry them, otherwise, it will be something else. 6 yo started on peeling and promptly peeled his finger. 8 yo took over, but got distracted in the middle by a bug in the sun room. I figured that if he does not come back, the potatoes are just not happening. He returned after 10 minutes and finished those potatoes.

Right after dinner, I collapsed onto the couch.

Each part of the day was fine, but altogether, it was too much.