Ella's Corner: The zoo...and now I need a nap. (by Lindsay)

Every year in May, I end up taking the kids to Brookfield Zoo. And every year in May, I swear that I will never again take the kids to Brookfield Zoo in May.

The month of May is BY FAR the busiest time of year for school field trips. ESPECIALLY at the zoo. It's always a mad sea of people, trying to navigate your way through while keeping an eye on the little ones.

Well, we woke up this morning and Ella's aqua therapy had been cancelled. I saw that the weather forecast was 82 and sunny. It was the perfect combination for a morning at the zoo. So I thought, "What the heck, it's not THAT bad when it's crowded. Let's go!"

Sigh.

Once we got there, it literally took us 30 minutes to get from our car to the inside gates (and we parked right in front in a handicapped spot!).

Before we left, I had to do a little planning to figure out the best way to walk around the zoo, on my own, with all three kids (one in a power wheelchair). Ava and Henry aren't quite old enough to walk the entire time, as their little legs tire quickly. So I decided to take the single jogging stroller with the "Buggy Board" that attaches behind it for the other child to stand on.

Anyway, it was a complete madhouse. It was hard enough for me to navigate the stroller through the sea of people, let alone help coach Ella in her power chair. She can drive and navigate just fine, but she was SO distracted by the MANY, MANY people staring at her and making comments.

I knew going into this that we would receive some looks...it's not every day that you see an almost two-year-old driving a 300-lb. piece of equipment independently! Whenever we've been out and about with her power chair so far, we usually notice some expressions from others as well as encouraging comments, such as, "How old is she??? Wow, that's incredible!!"

It's never bothered me. And I never wanted it to bother me, because I know that's just part of life with a special needs child.

But today was different. Today was nothing but kids. Kids who don't know any better. Kids who stare. And at first the staring and comments hit me pretty hard.

Some of the comments that stood out...

"Look at that baby!"

"What's wrong with her?"

"Why is she in that thing?"

And then the worst was to hear parents/chaperones saying, "Shhhhhhh," while hurrying their kids away.

After the initial shock of SO MANY comments, I was kind of used to it and we just kept going. And as the crowds spread out, the remarks seemed to be more positive...

"Is she controlling that BY HERSELF??"

"How amazing!!"

And one boy even said, "She is SO lucky!! I wish I had one of those!" Obviously, he didn't know WHY she's in the chair (and he probably wouldn't think she was lucky then), but it was still cute just the same :)

Anyway, we had been out for about an hour or so, and Ella started getting tired. It hit her fast and hard. She needed me to tilt her chair back because she couldn't hold her head up anymore. And then she was too tired to push the joystick.

Uh oh.

Now what? Of course, it's no problem for me to control her chair from the back. But I also have a stroller to push.

So, I had to do both. And let me tell you, it was extremely challenging to control this huge power chair with one hand AND push a stroller with the other hand, without having them bump into each other!

Luckily it was time for lunch, so we were able to take a little break. But once lunch was over, Ella was still too tired to control her chair herself.

So it was back to double pushing for me.

At one point, I asked Henry if he would push the stroller for me and of course he was SUPER excited (he LOVES to push things). But he couldn't do it with Ava sitting in it, because she was too heavy, and of course, Ava (Miss Drama Queen) quickly became too tired to walk.

So you guessed it, more double pushing.

Obviously, it was time to go. I wasn't about to do this around the rest of the zoo. So we made our way towards the exit.

Now anyone who has gone to the Brookfield Zoo probably knows about the ramp going DOWN to the underpass tunnel and then back UP to the parking lot. Not an easy feat with anything on wheels (or even just yourself) after an entire morning of walking and chasing kids. But what choice did I have?

Luckily a sweet woman saw my attempt and immediately came to my rescue and pushed the stroller for me until we got to the parking lot. God bless her!

So it was an exhausting morning to say the least. But I definitely should add that ALL three kids were INCREDIBLE! They were on their absolute best behaviors the ENTIRE time! I was so proud, and I made it no secret to them. That fact alone made the entire morning well worth it!!

Here are some pictures and a silly video from our adventurous morning at the zoo...