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Wow - look at this gorgeous rainbow cake!
Apr. 11th, 2012 11:33 pmAnd would you believe, not a speck of artificial coloring?
That's a short post, isn't it? Today (Wednesday) we went to the Bronx Zoo. Under any circumstances, this is a long trip. Bus to the boat. Walk to the train. Take the train all the way uptown and into the Bronx. Ye gods. The zoo is right by the train stop, apparently, but that's the only close thing.
I decided that the best train to take was the 5. I could take the 2 up, but that either meant a longer walk or transferring at Chambers and I wanted to avoid a transfer. We got all the way into the Bronx (but still several stops from our destination) when we found out the 5 wasn't running all the way and we had to take the 2 anyway. So we went with the crowd to the only staircase all the way at the other end of the platform.
And we waited. And we waited. And the 2 came, and we all got on, and 60 seconds later we all got off as the driver announced "LAST STOP". Yes, he waited until we were all on to do that. Three "LAST STOP" announcements later and the train pulled out, totally devoid of passengers. Got on the next train which, due to construction, was going to skip our stop by one stop. Luckily somebody pointed us in the right direction so we could walk rather than transferring again - though really, as he pointed out, the whole horde of kids were all going in the same direction anyway.
See, of course, it's spring break here. And Wednesdays are free at the Bronx Zoo. God, I knew it was a crazy idea, but I was bound and determined to get there. Got there, waited on line. And waited on line. And waited on line. Periodically one of the staff would try to entice us off the line and onto one of the two machines selling Total Experience tickets, which allow you to do all the special attractions for free all day long, but nobody was buying. We weren't cruel enough to say so, but I don't think anybody would've been there if it hadn't been "suggested donation".
Finally got into the zoo! And we went here, and we went there, and the nieces learned quite a bit about why the huge rocks all over uptown parks (and the Bronx) have deep gouges in them, and they even learned a little bit about animals! Unlike some people, I insist they actually learn the correct name of any animal they're looking at and that we find out at least ONE thing about ONE animal in each area of the zoo. Otherwise we're done too fast, even at a big place like that. Also, unlike some people, when we see hamsters (yes, the same sort you get in pet stores!) or turtles chasing each other down (which is strangely endearing when it comes to the turtles) and then climbing on top of one another, I don't pass it off as "playing", awkward as the timing is. So they really did learn something, I guess!
Only two things marred the day. First, in the Mouse House (which was insanely crowded and very dark, so the nieces had to be right by me at all times, sad to say) I had to tell one kid - twice! - stop banging on the glass. The nieces were shocked and horrified because "He's not your kid!" but he was banging on the glass of those poor rodents. Tapping would be bad enough, but it wouldn't cause me to bolt across the room like I did, and he had to have been in or at least near his teens, which is definitely old enough to know better. The second time I told him flat-out that if it happened again I'd get security. This was a lie, of course, because I had no way to track security down before he left, but it worked, which is the important thing.
The other thing is Ana didn't get her camel ride. The day was overcast, so it was hard to tell how late it was getting. I'd said we'd do all treats at the end of the day so we knew how to budget our money. It's terrible to spend all your money on cotton candy and then find out later you could've gotten your face painted, and I didn't want to hear whining all day long if that happened. It was my money anyway. And then we got a bit turned around, and by the time we got turned right the zoo closed! I apologized profusely (so much so that Ana didn't whine at all) and promised that next time (probably in June, near the end, when it's bound to be more educational to go to the zoo than to sit in class with 22 other kids and a teacher who were mentally done with school a month ago) we'll do a camel ride first thing to make up for it. I really felt that bad! I still do. Poor Ana!
For a free day it really cost quite a bit of money in the end! Not on treats (although one exhibit unexpectedly was $4 per person, and once we were in I didn't want to drag the nieces out again), but at the end of the day. I'd planned ahead and brought food along with the mantra "I packed a lunch/snacks so that we wouldn't have to spend our money on their food", but I simply hadn't packed enough or a big enough variety! And there weren't nearly enough water fountains in the park, so their juices didn't go that far. Then by the time we left, I realized that what I'd planned for dinner would take too long to cook. ANY time would be too long to cook!
Lesson learned: Pre-prep dinner and pack more food. And also, when one animal is chasing (or diligently plodding) after another, there's a reason for it!
That's a short post, isn't it? Today (Wednesday) we went to the Bronx Zoo. Under any circumstances, this is a long trip. Bus to the boat. Walk to the train. Take the train all the way uptown and into the Bronx. Ye gods. The zoo is right by the train stop, apparently, but that's the only close thing.
I decided that the best train to take was the 5. I could take the 2 up, but that either meant a longer walk or transferring at Chambers and I wanted to avoid a transfer. We got all the way into the Bronx (but still several stops from our destination) when we found out the 5 wasn't running all the way and we had to take the 2 anyway. So we went with the crowd to the only staircase all the way at the other end of the platform.
And we waited. And we waited. And the 2 came, and we all got on, and 60 seconds later we all got off as the driver announced "LAST STOP". Yes, he waited until we were all on to do that. Three "LAST STOP" announcements later and the train pulled out, totally devoid of passengers. Got on the next train which, due to construction, was going to skip our stop by one stop. Luckily somebody pointed us in the right direction so we could walk rather than transferring again - though really, as he pointed out, the whole horde of kids were all going in the same direction anyway.
See, of course, it's spring break here. And Wednesdays are free at the Bronx Zoo. God, I knew it was a crazy idea, but I was bound and determined to get there. Got there, waited on line. And waited on line. And waited on line. Periodically one of the staff would try to entice us off the line and onto one of the two machines selling Total Experience tickets, which allow you to do all the special attractions for free all day long, but nobody was buying. We weren't cruel enough to say so, but I don't think anybody would've been there if it hadn't been "suggested donation".
Finally got into the zoo! And we went here, and we went there, and the nieces learned quite a bit about why the huge rocks all over uptown parks (and the Bronx) have deep gouges in them, and they even learned a little bit about animals! Unlike some people, I insist they actually learn the correct name of any animal they're looking at and that we find out at least ONE thing about ONE animal in each area of the zoo. Otherwise we're done too fast, even at a big place like that. Also, unlike some people, when we see hamsters (yes, the same sort you get in pet stores!) or turtles chasing each other down (which is strangely endearing when it comes to the turtles) and then climbing on top of one another, I don't pass it off as "playing", awkward as the timing is. So they really did learn something, I guess!
Only two things marred the day. First, in the Mouse House (which was insanely crowded and very dark, so the nieces had to be right by me at all times, sad to say) I had to tell one kid - twice! - stop banging on the glass. The nieces were shocked and horrified because "He's not your kid!" but he was banging on the glass of those poor rodents. Tapping would be bad enough, but it wouldn't cause me to bolt across the room like I did, and he had to have been in or at least near his teens, which is definitely old enough to know better. The second time I told him flat-out that if it happened again I'd get security. This was a lie, of course, because I had no way to track security down before he left, but it worked, which is the important thing.
The other thing is Ana didn't get her camel ride. The day was overcast, so it was hard to tell how late it was getting. I'd said we'd do all treats at the end of the day so we knew how to budget our money. It's terrible to spend all your money on cotton candy and then find out later you could've gotten your face painted, and I didn't want to hear whining all day long if that happened. It was my money anyway. And then we got a bit turned around, and by the time we got turned right the zoo closed! I apologized profusely (so much so that Ana didn't whine at all) and promised that next time (probably in June, near the end, when it's bound to be more educational to go to the zoo than to sit in class with 22 other kids and a teacher who were mentally done with school a month ago) we'll do a camel ride first thing to make up for it. I really felt that bad! I still do. Poor Ana!
For a free day it really cost quite a bit of money in the end! Not on treats (although one exhibit unexpectedly was $4 per person, and once we were in I didn't want to drag the nieces out again), but at the end of the day. I'd planned ahead and brought food along with the mantra "I packed a lunch/snacks so that we wouldn't have to spend our money on their food", but I simply hadn't packed enough or a big enough variety! And there weren't nearly enough water fountains in the park, so their juices didn't go that far. Then by the time we left, I realized that what I'd planned for dinner would take too long to cook. ANY time would be too long to cook!
Lesson learned: Pre-prep dinner and pack more food. And also, when one animal is chasing (or diligently plodding) after another, there's a reason for it!
