Woke up and enjoyed the breakfast buffet at our hotel. I was hoping to get us to the zoo by 9am when it opened (I find that most kid places are the best in the morning because they're not as busy), but the shuttle was unavailable until 9am. So we vegged out in the room for a bit (we're early risers), grabbed the shuttle, and caught the MAX rail in (with a quick rail switch at Rose Quarter). I just love the public transit here! So fast and easy. Didn't have to deal with traffic, taking kids in and out of carseats, or parking (or getting lost!). Plus, when you ride to the zoo you get to get on and off in a cool tunnel! The forecast read 59-61 degrees (depending on the source) and 90% chance of rain so we packed accordingly. But we lucked out! We enjoyed the zoo until early afternoon with barely a drizzle (and several episodes of sunshine!). We had hoped, however, that the weather might deter other visitors (and thus were looking forward to a nice quiet mid-week visit to the zoo) but it's school-zoo-visit week and it was a MADHOUSE! Kids everywhere! That made it a bit stressful (just keeping an eye on everyone and pushing through the crowds), but we still had a good time. Addie and Hayden's favorite was the sea lion and I fell in love with the new baby elephant, Lily. Adorable!
We ventured out right as the rain hit (I think around 3pm) and then stopped downtown for a bite. By then we were rather tired and hungry (and caught in the rain), so we just grabbed the closest place - Qdoba. Fueled up and then caught the train back to the hotel (Hayden crashed out on the way).
Next item on the agenda? The hottub of course! It's the only place Addie continues to request. Loren played with the kids while I read (the SEVEN books I have to read for 2 5-week summer classes has me in a bit of a panic) and then we mosied back to the room for some more quiet time until we were hungry enough to head back out. I decided to take us on a little driving adventure to see what we could find, so we meandered through quite a bit of industrial area until we came to a few neighborhoods. We still weren't finding anything tantalizing, so I checked Urban Spoon and found us a barbecue joint in Boise (had to be good, right?) called Russell Street Bar-B-Que. And it was delicious! Loren enjoyed pork chops while I had pulled pork (yum!); Addie had a sampler of mac and cheese, mashed potatoes, and fries; and Hayden mostly enjoyed dipping fries in ketchup (mac and cheese too), barbecue sauce, and peach chutny.
We're now settled back in at the hotel and the kids are laughing uncontrollably at Garfield (it's way too late, I know, but hey, it's vacation). Tomorrow we head to the beach!
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