We shared a bowl of oatmeal and did a bit of cleaning up before leaving for the day, she loved her apple cinnamon oatmeal; I’ll need to make two bowls tomorrow morning. I had to make a quick stop at work, but after that we were off to the zoo. We arrived just after 11 and had no trouble finding a parking space. The weather was beautiful, 67 with a slight breeze; we didn’t even need jackets!
Clare loved being able to walk, and run, all over. She did great, she never went too far and waited when I asked her to and held my hand when I needed her too, she is such a big girl!!
Our first stop was the lions, which she pointed out and quickly let out a loud ‘roar!’ She immediately wanted out of the stroller, which I let her. She picked up on how to climb the railing pretty quickly, I guess it was an example of monkey see monkey do (no there were no monkeys on the railing). She kept walking up to exhibits and climbing up with the other kids, she had a blast!
We saw some zebra’s, which she also pointed out, but they weren’t doing much so she kept on walking after a quick hello. The leopard was pretty fascinating; he was climbing up on tree limbs right in front of us. She kept saying that it was a ‘big kitty cat.’ She’s right; it was a BIG kitty cat!!
The tigers were another huge hit, she pointed out that the one was sleeping. There was another tiger in the area as well, but Clare wanted me to hold her so she could see better so no pictures of that tiger.
Across form the tigers were the giraffes, or giraffeeees as she called them.
We decided to go down a path that we’ve never been down, toward the aquarium where we found some sea lions. Clare LOVED watching the sea lions because they were playing and splashing. She also liked hearing them ‘talk’, she had fun making sea lion noises, and it was pretty funny.
The polar bears were also over in this direction. One polar bear was leaning up against the glass right in front of Clare, she wasn’t quite sure what to think. Of course there were lots of other kids around, which made Clare even more skeptical. After a looking at the polar bear we walked on so the other kids could look. As we walked to the other end of their area we saw two polar bears napping, I told her they must be sleeping because they’d been up all night dancing just like in her book.
After the polar bears, sea lions and giraffeeees we walked towards the new elephant exhibit that’s scheduled to open in June, we looked thru the fence and talked about how they were building a new house for the elephants and that the elephants were on a trip so we couldn’t see them. I’m sure the new exhibit will be a popular spot this summer; I’m sure we’ll make a trip back to see them.
As we were walking to the elephants new house we walked past the camels, which Clare pointed out without my help, she pointed and said ‘look, camel!’ I was pretty surprised; I have no idea where she learned what a camel looks like. They were also sleeping, so she again wanted to remind me to be quiet – putting her finger up to her mouth and shhhh-ing. One camel started to get up and she starting saying ‘stand up camel, stand up camel!’
By this point we’d been at the zoo for an hour and Clare had yet to sit down, she’d walked the entire time and frankly I was expecting her to drop at any moment. As we were walking away from the camels she asked for lunch. I told her that I had some lunch but we needed to find a place to sit down, apparently she didn’t agree because she sat down right there in the middle of the road. I was able to convince her to get up and keep walking; she refused to get in the stroller. So, off to lunch we went. I picked up some fruit and chicken fingers (had to wait 10 minutes!) and we sat down in the shade for a little picnic, it was the perfect lunch.
After lunch we headed over to see the monkeys and penguins. Unfortunately there were only a few monkeys out playing; the last time we were there we saw a lot of monkeys. Clare had fun watching them and talking about how they were running. Also near the monkeys were some mountain goats, which Clare pointed out. Again I was surprised to hear her exclaim, ‘look, I see a goat!’ and then make goat noises. I was so proud!
We ended our trip with a ride, actually two, on the carousel. She had so much fun riding the last time we were at the zoo I knew she’d love it. Our first ride was on a panda bear, which she requested. She wasn’t so fond of the idea at first, and cried when I tried to put her on the panda bear. Another little girl and her mother came and got on the one next to us, I guess the peer pressure kicked in because she then sat on the panda and had fun while the other girl screamed the entire time. After a quick diaper change we got back in line for our second ride. While waiting for our turn she kept saying ‘thanks, kids! thanks kids!’ I’m not entirely sure why she was saying it, but maybe because I told her we had to wait our turn and the other kids were going while we waited; either way it was pretty cute. Also while we waited she pointed out a peacock on the carousel. Where she learned what a peacock was I have no idea, I was pretty surprised to learn she knew what a peacock was, let along pick one out. Our second ride was on a tiger; she specifically asked to ride on a tiger ‘ride tiger, please?’ How do you say no to a little girl that asks so sweetly (luckily I didn’t have to kick any other kids off so she could ride the tiger).
She kept watching the zebra next to her, I think she would have rode on the zebra had we taken a third ride.
She did ride in the stroller after the carousel; she was clearly pretty tired. She wanted a snack so I gave her some Scooby snacks which she ate (with her legs crossed) as we walked to the car. Once in the car she asked for her bunny and was a sleep before we reached the stoplight. We’ve been home for two hours and she’s still asleep, I guess she had fun!
So, today was a perfect day. We spent time together enjoying the beautiful weather and pretending the world around us didn’t exist. There was no schedule, the phone didn’t ring, Clare led the way and we saw lots of fun things. It was so much fun and exactly what we needed, I can’t wait to do it again.
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