After a couple days of not leaving the house, I brought the girls to Zoo on Wednesday.  It was a mistake to wait until Wednesday to get them out of the house.  And, it was a mistake to go to the zoo today.  It was far too hot to be anywhere there were groups of people or animals, let alone both. 
 
We wandered around the zoo aimlessly, with the girls taking turns leading the way.  We had about an hour until the Seal Show was to start.  I told the girls that the plan was to watch the show and I showed them the theater where it would be, and I showed them the shady areas of the theater that we would hope were unoccupied when it came show time.  Until then, we would try to walk slowly and try to stick to air-conditioned buildings, no matter how they smelled.  The girls’ energy level and threshold for discomfort are both much greater than mine.  But eventually, the heat came to be too much for those two, too. 
 
After Audio loudly announced, “I’m steaming like Hell!” I knew I could convince them to sit in the shade and wait for the Seal Show to start.  After we stopped at the drinking fountain and checked to see if anyone wanted to use the restroom, we headed to the theater.  I had never seen the Seal Show and had been playing it up for the girls to get them excited about our outing.  All three of us had high expectations. 
 
We sat down in a shady area near the back of the partially covered theater at 2:00PM and planned to sit there until the 2:30PM showtime.  But, Audio thought we should sit closer.  I agreed that she had a good idea, so we went down to the front and sat in some shade, there.  We watched the pinnipeds swim for a few minutes before Dee Dee announced that she had to use the bathroom.  She’s eight now.  So, I asked her if she remembered how to get to the restrooms near the fountain we’d recently visited.  She did.  So, I told her that if I didn’t see her in ten minutes, I’d come looking for her.  The show was going to start in 25 minutes. 
 
While I was watching my watch and waiting for Dee Dee, Audio let me know that she needed another drink of water.  So, when Dee Dee returned at 2:18PM I sent her with Audio to get another drink.  I told her that she had five minutes to get back or I’d come looking for them.  They were back right after an announcement that the show would be starting in ten minutes. 
 
The seats around us had started to fill and the girls had to squeeze in a bit to fit.  Then, Audio started bouncing.  She wanted to go to the restroom.  I advised Dee Dee to stay right with Audio the whole time, and I told her I’d give her ten minutes and if I had to come find them, the show would have started by that point and we would need to stand in the back, in the sun when we returned.  We all agreed that we’d had enough sun for one day. 
 
I pulled my phone out to text my wife to let her know that I had just sent the girls off together for the first time, on their own, in a strange place.  Before I could hit send, the girls were back.  Audio had fallen and skinned her knee and palm.  She sat on my lap and told me that she’d need a bandage when we got home, and it should be a fun bandage, it should be colorful. 
 
Over the loudspeaker, they announced that the show would start in five minutes.  I asked if Audio wanted to go to the bathroom or try to hold it until after the show.  She decided to go to the bathroom.  Dee Dee followed her up the stairs and out of the theater. 
 
I felt bad that after a half hour of waiting, the girls would miss the start of the show.  But, they made it back just before the entertainment was about to begin.  The show started and a lady in big sunglasses talked, and the girls looked happy.  Then, a seal came out.  It was fed a ridiculous amount of fish (I was surprised by how much both the bucket and the seal could hold!  It may have been a magic bucket.  It was likely a regular seal.).  The lady told us about the seal while it did some tricks, e.g., blowing kisses, spinning in circles, swimming in ways that made people go “oooh.”  Then, the seal left.  The lady talked a bit more.  But, by that point the girls weren’t interested.  No one was interested.  But, the lady kept speaking. 
 
Eventually, the lady shut up and everyone was free to leave.  The whole show, from start to finish, lasted ten lousy minutes.  And, only about six of those minutes were actual “seal minutes.”  So, we sat and looked at the water for a while as others made their way out of the theater. It didn’t add much to our experience, so we got up and left, too.