Wild Animals, Excitement and Equipment for Your Bed

Last month when we were in Seattle, Simon and I went to the Woodland Park Zoo. A most excellent day by all accounts. It was just the two of us so we could really focus on the animals Simon wanted to see and not be distracted by the sibling rivalry that seems to be popping up more and more lately.

We were staying at our friend’s house in North Seattle and two busses were involved to get to the zoo. We walked out the door from their house, crossed the street and presto the first bus pulled up right on time. A 10 minute ride to the transfer station. It was one of those cold but bright and sunny days that makes for beautiful crisp skies and as we looked between the streets as we went whipping by on the bus, we could see Mount Rainer peaking through. The second bus ride was much longer. Enough time to take off our hats and mittens and read a couple of chapters in the books we brought with us.

After 30 minutes or so we got to the zoo and went right up to the admissions booth. One of the cool things about home schooling in the winter is we can go to places that might normally be wild and crazy on the weekend or in the summer but on a Tuesday morning at 10 am in early December – we have the place all to ourselves. The zoo was one of those places. There was a wonderful indoor play space called the Zoomasium with a tree to climb up into and take the slide down, a climbing structure that looked like something out of the Swiss Family Robinson, and a stage for live animal demonstrations. Um, no thanks. Not interested in touching the snake.

But we weren’t there for the climbing structure really, we were on safari to find: the sloth bears, the sun bears, the elephants – both Asian and African, the red pandas, the hippos, the flamingos, hawks, snakes, birds, penguins, giraffes and reindeer.

After a day well spent it was time to head to the much anticipated gift shop. I reminded Simon that with just 2 weeks until his birthday and 3 weeks until Christmas he was not allowed to buy anything for himself. Plus, he had limited funds and a long list of family members to shop for. For a good half hour we were up and down the aisles of the deserted gift shop touching everything, expanding wish lists for Santa Claus, and remarking, “ahh, I have this same stuffed snake in a storage box somewhere”.

At one point Simon asked if it was alright if he got Evan and me a combined gift for Christmas, “Would we be sad to share a present?” I assured him Dad and I were use to sharing but all we really wanted was a poem he wrote, or a song he made up or better yet, a certificate to use at a later date for good behavior in a museum. He assured me that he had found the perfect gift and needed to take a $7.00 with drawl from the Mommy Wallet where he keeps a running total of his allowance. But the entire process was really to be top secret. He needed the cash but he needed me to keep well away. “No problem, I will be over in the plastic animal section reclassifying the dinosaurs,” I said.

Once the secret purchase was made and shoved discretely into the bottom of the backpack hidden in the Woodland Park Zoo recyclable brown paper bag Simon turned to me and asked, “Can I tell you what it is?”

“No! Absolutely not! I love surprises and as an adult you don’t get many so, no I don’t want to know,” I replied, louder than I should have.

“Oh, but it is really perfect. I bet you want to know,” Simon retorted.

This went on for the 15 minute walk back through the park to the exit nearest the bus stop. Finally I relented. “Alright, you can give me one small clue.”

“Well,” said Simon, “it is a piece of equipment for your bed.”

I laughed out loud imagining things that couldn’t possibly have been sold at the Seattle Zoo Gift Shop that my 7 year old son could buy with seven bucks. Had Simon noticed that Evan and I lacked some essential equipment in the queen size bed in the RV?

“A pillow case?” I suggested, to a peal of laughter.

“Nope, you will just have to wait. But it is definitely something that is missing from your bed.”

3 weeks, the Olympic Peninsula and Oregon Coast later, the brown Woodland Park Zoo bag appeared under the tree at my brother and sister in laws house in Palo Alto with a bow on it. Evan and I opened the gift together. Simon was absolutely right. How could we have lived for so long with out this most essential piece of equipment – a stuffed panda! After 14 years our marital bed is finally fully equipped.