From traffic to twinkles

Zoo entrance, waiting in line

In what could only be called a debacle-turned-pleasant evening, David, Noah and I met up with Kristen, Clay and Will at the Columbus Zoo on Saturday night. When Kristen brought up the idea earlier in the week, I was so excited. I chattered all week long to Noah and David about the prism of lights we'd see, the exotic animals we'd get close to, and the fun company we'd have to experience it all.

What I didn't plan for was the traffic. We made good time from Mount Vernon to 270, clocking our time-in-transit just 2 miles from the Sawmill exit at 55 minutes. But then our car came to a complete stop, along with thousands of others. It took us at least 35 minutes to exit onto Sawmill, then another 20–30 minutes to fight our way the remaining (5?) miles to the zoo. Then we stood in line for another 30 minutes before we even made it in the gates.

The crew, checking out some snakes (and trying to convince Will he's ready for a nap)

I think we would have given up an hour earlier had we not known that the Mantovani family was waiting for us somewhere in the North America section of the zoo. We originally thought they'd only have to trek solo for about 30 minutes. Turns out we were at least an hour and a half late—perhaps not the sort of start to the evening we'd hoped for.

Noah, with more blankets than he knows what to do with.

Baby Will, almost four months old

No matter, once we finally hooked up, we set off in our bundled blobs of coats and mittens and went in search of animals and flashing light bulbs by the millions. I must say, my mood perked up considerably as soon as my eyes took in the brilliant colors.

Though my camera didn't do it justice, here's a taste of the lights

And Noah was so much fun—he was rattling back the colors to me as I picked them out—bue! (blue); geen (green); wewo (yellow); and so on. That alone would have been enough for me to call it a successful evening, but then my little boy's eyes simply lit up at every animal he saw.

Noah checking out the turtles

One of my favorite Noah moments was in the Australia section of the park. We were in a nocturnal animal exhibit when he caught sight of an animal from the cat family (somewhere between a bobcat and a house cat). All of the sudden he started meowing at the kitties and jumping up in his stroller. Oh it was priceless!

Clay & Kristen

The McCallen family

But, just when I thought this was an ordinary evening with friends, Kristen and Clay surprised David and I by asking us to be Will's Godparents! Just as she asked me the question, I had taken a bite of Noah's hot dog (which he was largely ignoring due to the pile of fries on his plate), and I started to laugh because I literally couldn't say anything with my cheek puffed out with an all-beef frank and bun. Once I'd deflated a bit, I managed to squeak out an enthusiastic "of course!"

Will, looking warm and cozy in the food court

And in true Tif fashion, I was at once misty-eyed at the thought that some of my dearest friends entrusted David and I to be an influence and support in Will's life. Wow, what an honor! In that moment I had to smile at Will who was happily slurping down a bottle, despite being up hours past his bedtime. I was already thinking about the ways we'll bond down the road—David wanting to hang out with Will & Clay on the shooting range, me wanting to make sure he's got the full collection of the Harry Potter books of his generation. I'm looking forward to it already!