I'm a terrible role model

Yesterday as we made our way from my house to the Minnesota Zoo in Apple Valley to meet friends and try to wrangle about a dozen kids, I decided to pass the time by conversing with my three and four year old nephews. I tried to steer the conversation away from the topic of poop which isn't exactly easy. Those kids definitely love to throw out the word "poop" as often as possible. Having failed in that area and after finishing my sausage and egg biscuit, I decided instead to corrupt the little guys. After all, they don't know what I'm talking about most of the time so there's little harm in it. Right?

As for how much harm I did, I'll know in the coming months if their mom complains to me about them repeating what I said. After all, they're too young to know what a "deadbeat" is and what it means to be bald.

I did manage to get in to a heated argument with them. Each time I asked them what we were riding in, they responded with "A van" and I countered with a different object such as armadillo, garbage truck, sail boat, suitcase, giraffe and my favorite, a pocket rocket. Amazingly, I came up with responses for about ten minutes at which time I told them that it was time to sleep. Yes, I dealt with two sugared-up little boys in a confined space for about twenty minutes before telling them to go to sleep.

The Minnesota Zoo, though, proved to be a mystical place for my daughter. She growled at the bears, tired her best to oink at the pigs and made monkey sounds at the monkeys. For the price - free - she definitely got her money's worth. Even after she walked about a fifth of the overall distance on her own two feet, she still had the energy to run around outside once we got home. How a kid can do that, I have no idea but even though my feet still ache a bit today, it's all about trying to create memories for her and as she growled like a bear at me while I got her dressed this morning, I have to say that we accomplished that mission.

I even took photos of the animals - some of which may end up on MinnPics because the photos were taken in Minnesota so check out the MinnPics blog and see what you've been missing.