One of our favorite activities is going to the "free zoo" most people call Petsmart. We end up there about once a week. This habit started when we lived across the street from one in our last apartment. Now it has continued as they seem to be in many of the shopping centers I need to stop in. We love to look at the fish, birds, monsters (hamsters), cats, and especially the "Doggy Day Care." The doggy daycare is a glass walled room where people bring their beloved pets during the day. There are probably about 25-30 dogs in there providing us with quite the exhibit. I think we spent about forty-five minutes watching them on Monday. The kids LOVE it! We describe the dogs, compare the dogs' sizes, give them names, talk about their colors, and discuss which one we would like to have.
Yesterday, T decided that he should share his snack with one of them. It was pretty hilarious to watch him throw his cracker at the window only to have it ricochet back. He wasn't too bothered. All he could do was try to share, right? A few minutes later, a precocious little girl noticed how long we had been standing there, and suggested we buy one. I told her that then I would have to take care of it. Then B told her that, "We already have my grandma's dog." And I thought, that's right, sweetheart! It doesn't even matter that the dog is a state away, and you see it semi-annually, and it is small and pretty scared of you except for when you have food to drop. That is your dog. Good answer to that little girl!
The kids would love a pet, and J was almost convinced, by their giggles and smiles and happiness while looking at them the other day, to get a hamster. I am not really interested in getting a pet because I am already flexing my "Taking Care of Things" muscles quite enough with the two toddlers. J said he would take care of the cage with the kids, but I know that all of the his childhood pet hamsters' lives came to tragic ends. So, basically, I am not sure we are responsible enough for a pet right now, and our kids are still too young to even pretend like they are going to be. So, in the meantime we will just keep going to Petsmart. And we will continue telling the sales associates, "No thank you, we don't need any help. We're just looking. "
haha we do that too!
ReplyDeleteYour post just made me think of the movie Garden State. If you have not seen it, there is a part in the movie where the girls hamster dies and when she goes to bury it, they have a little cemetery that has like 50 little rock gravestones for all their dead pets! It's hilarious!
ReplyDeleteOh this a is funny! I thought we were the only ons to do this! It gets so hot in the summer here that we go to the "indoor zoo" instead of the outdoor one..;) so fun!
ReplyDeleteThought of you today...took Brayden and Caleb to the Rainforest Cafe. Did we eat there or buy anything?? Nope! We looked at all the animals, played with the over-priced toys, and left! Wasn't quite ready to brave the zoo with both by myself, so that was the best I could do!
ReplyDeleteLove the "free zoo" idea. Very true. We go often to the pet store, for Fritz the dog and Dumpy the frog food, and we often stay for an hour or more. I should start to think of it as the "free zoo" and then I won't feel so guilty that I never join the LA Zoo!
ReplyDeleteZoe is trying to convince me we need a rabbit. I actually spend lots of free time researching it. Crazy! Little zoo over here too!
Love your sweet heart,
Mary Robin