Zoolights!

Against my better judgment, we took Rachel to see "Zoolights" last night. I say "Against my better judgment" because it was after our commute from Salem, which I had hoped to do earlier in the day, but at 4:15 (the time I got back from my office after doing a lot of running around on dumb errands) the dean, the associate dean, the alumni relations director and one of the admin assistants were in the dean's office drinking wine, and what could I do?? So I joined them and we had a nice long conversation until around 5:40 p.m. or so, when I looked at my watch, hurriedly gathered everything together and dashed out the door.

So I asked Drew whether he wanted to see Zoolights last night or tonight. "Zoolights" is a beautiful light display at the Oregon Zoo up in Portland, and I was dying to take Rachel to it because I thought she'd really get something out of it. But it was late, and I was tired, and I was hoping Drew would say tonight instead of last night.

But he suggested last night, so I raced Rachel out of daycare and into the car, drove all the way to zoo only to discover a sign saying "parking full" and directing me to a remote lot where we had to wait for a shuttle. After navigating her heavy stroller down a hill (Drew had already gotten to the zoo and miraculously found a parking spot in the main lot. Residual Parking Goddess magic?). And after I got Rachel's stroller down the hill there was a ginormous line to wait for the shuttle. AND it was cold, AND Rachel had just woken up from a nap, and the diaper bag was killing my back and she hadn't eaten dinner...and I thought of skipping the whole thing.

But you know what? I stuck with it, standing on line because I told myself that sometimes you just have to suck it up in life, and it turned out Okay. Rachel started sobbing when I stood her next to her stroller but cheered up immensely after she realized she was on a BUS (and a yellow SCHOOL BUS, at that; we could've skipped the light show and just stayed on the bus the whole time, I'm sure) and stopped crying immediately. Drew was waiting for us at the shuttle stop and had gotten through the long line of ticket buyers to buy us tickets.

And when we went in, we saw a fairyland! Not a single religious display, but lots and lots and lots and lots of lights on trees, bushes, coffee stands (decorated to look like gingerbread houses), buildings, etc. And the best part was we got to ride the Zoo Train! It's a 15-minute train ride throughout the zoo and all the outdoor habitat areas were encased in lights representing animals (tigers in the tiger area, kangaroos in the marsupial areas, etc.). Some of the displays were moving, like the one that had gazelles jumping over a hump or ants marching in line. Rachel sat on Drew's lap and just took it all in. Before we boarded the train she wanted to touch every single light she encountered, and during the train ride I swear I could see the glow of the lights reflected in her little face. "I rode a train, Jennifer!" she said, practicing telling her daycare teacher about the experience.

We got her home way too late -- she wasn't in bed until 10:30 -- and except for half a granola bar that I offered her, she never ended up having dinner.

But it was so worth it.