One of those days...

Have you ever had one of those days when you planned for something wonderful to happen and then somehow a bunch of crap just hits you like a ton of bricks? We had one of those days on Sunday, literally. It was a beautiful day and we had just finished having company for two days straight. I love having our family around close by, but we had company two weekends in a row and were so worn out after two long weeks of work and such. My little man had his ballet recital on Saturday. It was so adorable. I'll post about that later. Anyway, to get back to the real story, Mike suggested we go to the zoo. They have some new exhibits which opened this weekend with some new animals. The kids and I were super excited as we packed a travel bag, got lunch to go, and hit the road for Grand Rapids and John Ball Zoo.

Now, remember when I said that you can plan for a wonderful day and what can happen? Well, crap happened five minutes after entering the zoo - duck poop to be exact. We were standing and watching the pelicans that are at the entrance when three ducks flew in from behind us to land in the pond. What's wrong with that you might ask? Nothing. Except that these ducks flew about three feet over our heads and decided to relieve themselves at that exact moment. Let me empasize - ALL THREE OF THEM AT THE SAME TIME!!!! Yup, you guessed it. DUCK POOP WENT EVERYWHERE! At first we stood there in shock and then began to assess the damage. Duck poop was all up the back of our bodies - jeans, jackets, back pack, my husband's hair. Caitlynn, protected by our bodies and the stroller top, was the onlyone who walked away clean.

Luckily we had brought spare clothes and the weather was warm enough. We stripped off jackets and changed Nick's jeans. Mike and I took turns scrubbing duck poop off the backs of each others jeans and shoes. I washed it out of his hair while he scrubbed the backpack clean and then dumped the soiled articles in the car. Thirty minutes later we bravely re-entered the zoo and RUSHED through the pond exhibits to bigger, and hopefully cleaner, things.

The rest of the day went off without a hitch. We spent a fun-filled day at the zoo enjoying the touch tank (sharks and rays), the pettying zoo (barnyard animals galore), riding a camel (Nick and Dad), cursing and plotting the death of any and all ducks and much more. What had started out as a crappy beginning turned into a beautiful awesome day. We concluded our day by taking a spin around the pond in the swan paddle boats. I know, I know. Hadn't we had enough water fowl for the day? These seemed tame enough though. Then it was time to head back home. Nick has been begging to visit Craig's Cruisers, so we made a quick stop there so that he and Daddy could have a go-cart race. Caitlynn and I found a place to feed the fish. Feeding fish is an understatement - fish frenzy would be more exact. Carp were everywhere, much to the delight of my daughter. They would come out of the water for the pellets floating on the top, sucker mouths making all sorts of kissing noises. It was a madhouse and she loved it! The day was done - started pretty nasty, but ended up good. More than one good thing came out of the experience, first of all, it will be a zoo visit we won't ever forget. Secondly, now we can laugh about the fact that the poop doesn't hit the fan, it hits us!