Big And Small, God Made Them All

I know this happened a decent while ago but I was looking through my photos and remembered that I wanted to post some from our trip to the St. Louis Zoo. When we were on our way back to Alabama from visiting family in Missouri (this past July) I convinced Michael that we needed to make a family trip to the zoo. He was unsure at first because it just extended our travel time. But in the long run we both ended up being really glad that we decided to make the trip. The St. Louis Zoo is absolutely fantastic! It has some of the best exhibits I have ever seen. We had such a great time with the boys seeing all of animals God made. The big and the small.






Besides the animals we had a bit of excitement on our zoo visit. About halfway through the day Gabe wiped out on some loose gravel and banged up one of his knees and the palms of his hands. While the injuries were not too serious, they did need some kind of cleaning and a band-aid. And of corse, I had neither. So we consulted our map and decided to make a quick detour to the first aid station. As (bad) luck would have it we were near the entrance of the zoo and the first aid station was all the way at the back. We took a crying and screaming Gabe (see previous posts about bravery) through the zoo as quickly as possible. (By the time we got there we were all super hot and really sweaty. We looked like we all needed medical attention I am sure.) Going by the map I entered the building I thought was the first aid station only to find it was the break room for the off duty train drivers. Seeing a red faced, sweaty woman walk into their room surprised them but when I asked for a band-aid they all jumped to their feet. Half of them charged out of the building looking for a major injury and the other half got on the walkie-talkie system shouting for medial backup. I kept saying, "Where is the first aid office? I just need a band-aid." Within seconds three golf carts carrying medial personnel and all kinds of medical equipment screeched to a stop right in front of us. All the men charged off the carts and began looking for the medial catastrophe. Boy were they going to be disappointed!!! Confusion on their faces, they turned to us asking if we knew where the emergency was. Michael and I just sighed and pointed to the puny Gabe. As comprehension spread amongst the group, all but one of the carts pulled away. Then a couple of medics and the manager of safety for the entire zoo were left to deal with a scraped up knee and hands. As it turns out, the first aid station WAS by the entrance to the zoo. (Very near where we were when the "injury" occurred.) But the map had it at the back of the zoo because the first aid station was due to be relocated there next week! Despite the trauma Gabe felt he had suffered, which we were sympathetic to, the entire thing was so very, very funny! Here is a picture of the banged up Gabe and the men who, as he said, "Saved my life!"