Five meet the monkeys and more

Another beautiful day, a picnic and a carload of family heading off to have fun at a safari park. We have been so lucky with the weather this year and this had enabled us to spend huge amounts of time as a family, sometimes with extended family and sometimes with friends. To be out doing something in the fresh air (frequently pretty much cost free) has been amazing this year. People often say that as your children become teenagers they no longer want to spend time with their parents, this in some respects is definitely true however, if the teenagers are with you, once they've recovered from any grumps from being "forced" to come, they have the best of times too.

Today's trip appealed to all. we were able to feed the giraffes and the seal lions and could get up close enough to touch penguins, meerkats, lemurs, wallabies and snakes. There was something for everyone, we saw lions and tigers, wolves and elephants, hippos basking in the river enjoying the sun and gorillas playing in their enclosure. The favourite of course is the monkey drive thru, there are us parents praying that the monkeys leave our car alone and the children calling them, praying that they will all climb aboard our car. The screams of delight as a monkey swung up on the wing mirror and another slid down the rear window were worth the risk of any damage.  I think!

What was lovely about our trip was how often the children referred to the impending arrival of child 4. "When we come next time child 4 will sit on your lap driving the car, child 4 will love the boat, the train, the penguins, the play area." All three are ready for a brother, I am not foolish enough to believe that everything will be a garden of roses but generally for the whole day yesterday all three got along, teasing, playing and laughing together.