zoo-per fun day

our crazy fun, insanely busy weekend kicked off with a trip to the l.a. zoo with the bean's class.  chaperoning trips like this are popular with the parents, and so the teacher usually puts names into a hat and draws randomly to keep things fair.  i was lucky enough to be chosen this time, and since the teen had the day off, she and her special friend joined us for the fun.

my group was supposed to have three kids in it, but with one out sick, i was only responsible for the bean and one of her little friends.

i hadn't been to this zoo in years and years.  and while the previous few days had been hotter than hades, we got lucky with about a 10-degree cooldown.  it was still hot, but it was tolerable.  and the animals were fun to visit.

this building contained all the ickiest things, like snakes and lizards and spiders and stuff.

 and there were lots of fun photo ops for the bean and her friend.

more fun aminals!

 this was a few seconds before one mounted the other, and i quickly ushered the kids away - "HEYYYYY, let's see what's over HERE!"

this film crew was snickering and tittering on the sidelines, though.  heh.

we found out the hard way that the elephants only came out once during the day.  this is as close as we got to them.

oh - the teen's old buddy rock-ell and her boyfriend came out to join us, too.  selfie stick time!

in the gift shop, i scared the crap out of the others when i snuck up behind them like this:

we were able to take the bean home in our car instead of having her ride on the hot, sweaty bus.  on the way, we made a quick stop for some refreshments at our favorite boba joint.

first activity of the weekend, check!