epic fail: zoolight safari

If I was not fully embracing the Christmas season before, I certainly am now.

In the past seven days, celebrating has been in full force:

• Bowling with the co-workers, followed by a friendly game of Dirty Santa
• A field trip with friends to Andrew Peterson's Behold the Lamb of God concert
• A final choir rehearsal
• A dinner and gift exchange with my accountability group
• A Christmas brunch at work
• Another dinner and gift exchange with Lori
• A musical celebration of Christmas at church
• A weekend visit from my good friends the Burchfields, including ...
• A night at the Zoolight Safari here in town.

All were so fun and festive until that last one.

While Kevin and Amy went out sans kids to celebrate their eighteenth wedding anniversary (cheers!), I took their three girls and my Little to the zoo here in town.

Brave, right?

Supposedly the Zoolight Safari is all the rage with the kids here in town, but I am here to tell you that for us, it was (sadly) a complete and total bust.

I was encouraged when we entered the packed out parking lot, and somehow managed to get the closest space to the entrance.

What a tease.

Unfortunately, that was the evening's highlight and things went south pretty quick after that.

• People were everywhere, and lines were outrageous.
• It was bitter cold outside.
• Animal exhibits were closed.
• Every special "attraction" required a separate, additional ticket.

We snapped this photo before we realized what a drag it would be.  They were still mostly smiling at this point.



Between the extra tickets and the lines, it drove the ten-year old to conclude:

"I hate to say it, but this zoo is boring."  (No, that is not a paraphrase.)

Then the three-year old said, "I have to go potty."

So with that shot to the ego and after a mad dash to the nasty restrooms, we returned to our rock star parking space, strapped everyone in, and left the Zoolight Safari to the rest of the poor deceived people who thought that was a good use of time.

At home we made bagel pizzas that were slightly redemptive, but the zoo experience was such an epic fail, it will take my pride some time to fully recover.

Oh well.  It's good to have a little Griswold family luck to make Christmas extra special.