"We're all going to the zoo

today - I think the song actually says "tomorrow" but it will be today.
I haven't been to a zoo of any sort for a very long time. I don't like zoos. I would much prefer that animals remained in their natural environment even while I recognise that zoos actually help to preserve  different species.
But, the smallest kittens are here for a "long weekend" - the sort of thing they have to do before school takes over and holidays are only possible in school holidays. Only one of the smallest kittens goes to school and she was given "special days" to come and see her great-grandfather, the Senior Cat. 
So yesterday we headed off for "fish and chips at the beach". There is a very good playground at that particular section of beach. The Senior Cat watched in alarm as Kitten Two, aged four, raced up a rope like climbing frame and waved from around ten metres up. I tried to point out that, if she fell, the thing was designed to trap her at the next level. He was not convinced.
They went on the ancient carousel that has been there since the Senior Cat was a child - a first for all of them. Four adults had to go with them because they are not yet old enough or tall enough to go on it alone. There was another young girl looking longingly at those brightly coloured horses too. Given the money for a ticket she looked shyly at the Brother Cat's partner and then, with a huge smile of relief, at the "Yes of course you can sit on the horse next to  us", she handed over her ticket and climbed on. The music started again and they were off into that magical world of make-believe. 
"It was like a real horse!" Kitten Three, aged three, informed me as he went off to hug his great-grandfather for the umpteenth time that day.
They ate more fish and chips than the adults and then consumed ice cream in cones on top of that. I am sure the owner of the stall added extra large scoops to each cone. There were more "please" and "thank you" words at that! Even Kitten Five, just a  year old, helped herself to a large  quantity of fish and chips and topped it off with a smaller amount of ice cream and an approximation of "thank you".
And, despite all that and all the energy they had already expended, we went back to the cabin park where they are staying and they raced into the enclosure which has a "bouncy pillow" - an inflatable mounded mat you can actually bounce on. It was getting cold by then. The wind was icy but they didn't seem to notice - until they stopped.
We left them to eat the pasties I had made (with prodigious amounts of tomato sauce of course) and Brother Cat yawned as he drove us back.
What, I inquired, did the Senior Cat want for his tea? He settled for a mug of soup. Adrenalin has kept him going. It should keep him going for the zoo today. They leave tomorrow morning. 
I have "knitting at the bookshop" tomorrow afternoon. I suspect that all the Senior Cat will have on the agenda is an extended cat-nap!