staring the gift horse right in the mouth

today we had free tickets into the zoo. That sounds fairly tame but when you consider it would otherwise have cost almost $100 just to get into the joint, its a great thing. So lets play the day... Oscar falls asleep in the car Felix insists he is pretending to be asleep, so wakes him up to prove it. We arrive, and have to wait a little while for the people we're getting the tickets from. Felix decides this is a good time to play in the garden beds. We get in. First whinge about not buying them Madagascar merchandise - Felix swings a ceramic mug around as if its an object that won't smash into a bazillion pieces on dropping. Then "I want an iceblock". Play this line over and over like a chorus in your head behind all that follows. At the map place (so we're like, 5 metres into the zoo) Oscar has a melt down and almost throws himself into the manky duck pond. From what we can gather, this is solely because he can't see the giraffes from where he is standing. Oscar wants to see the giraffes and ride in the skyway, Felix wants to see dingoes. I'm freezing. Felix calls me over to the manky duck pond where, for the first time in my life, I see ducks mating. We wander down the hill. There's a Felix fuss about not being able to see the wombat well, even though it is less than a metre from them. This is because I won't pick him up. Are you still playing the "I want an iceblock" refrain? Meltdown at the koalas as they are not giraffes nor an outlet for iceblocks. We make our way to giraffes. On the way we see the dingoes. Well, one. The other one is sleeping in the furthest corner of the enclosure. A scene follows when Felix accidentally swings the binoculars around and it hits Oscar in the temple. Oscar has another meltdown at the mere fact we try to move on. I take Felix to the chimpanzees - where I proceed to see one poo.in.its.hand.then.smell.it.then.eat.it. Oscar and AB are about 10 metres away and Oscar is s.c.r.e.a.m.i.n.g. The type where people stare then shake their head at the appalling parenting that must instigate such behaviour. How's that "I want an iceblock" working for you? We find iceblocks. It starts to rain. We make our way to the skycar. AB and Felix have a joke that we're going to crash. This naturally freaks Oscar out. We finish the ride and leave. Oscar melts down that he has somehow been tricked and we're now outside the zoo. Whole trip - 1 hour 10 minutes. All that aside... Made spag bol for dinner and chocolate sludge pudding. Divine. Pulled spare mattresses into the lounge room and the boys and I watched Tele in bed. They're now sleeping down there having a big adventure. Good times return.