We went to the zoo today with our friends.
We’re talking about the letter Z is for Zoo this week in school, so what a perfect opportunity to take a fun field trip to a small local zoo? Plus “Go to the Zoo” is on our summer list, so we had to go.
I had never been to this local zoo before. In years past, we’ve gone to the place I fondly refer to as the Dirty Weird Zoo, which is closer to our house (plans to go there next week). This little zoo was delightful (except for a few stinky moments, unavoidable at small “up close” zoos).
I just loved how much the girls enjoyed seeing the animals and hearing all the smart things they had to say about them.
One of the first animals we saw was this guy:
I said, “Hm, is that a meerkat?”
Miss said, “No Mama, that’s a ring-tailed lemur.”
Well.
Though there were many, many really cool animals to see, one of the favorites was this pond with big bright orange fish (maybe koi?):
When we went to the Nature Center with my Mom a few weeks ago, Lass had no interest in stopping to look at the various animals. She just kept saying “Keep. Walking!” She wanted to get to see the opossum that day I think. Today she kept asking to go back to see the fish. Over and over and over.
Similarly, her sister kept saying, “Mama I want to save my allowance for: insert every single type of animal we saw today here”. The whole time we were there. My girls are nothing if not consistent/persistent.
Anyway, the fish were a big hit.
They both said they really enjoyed seeing the zebra and the baby giraffe too.
But they didn’t seem nearly as excited about those as they were about the bird house (Ew).
They all loved it, but the bird house totally grosses me out.
As does the petting zoo, which was also a huge hit amongst the short crowd.
I will say that, though I usually don’t much care for the petting zoo, this one wasn’t too bad. The animals were relatively clean and all very docile. Aside from one near disaster involving a two-year-old trying to manage a bunny while the staff member looked on and freaked out but didn’t really help, it was quite nice.
The other favorite with the kids was the playground.
It was a heck of a playground, with tons of huge play structures and several of these amazing merry-go-round things:
I loved these things. The merry-go-round was my favorite playground staple when I was a kid (though we never had one as cool as these!), followed closely by the teeter totter.
Considering that there are no merry-go-rounds or teeter totters to be found on playgrounds anymore, I was really excited for my girls to get to enjoy these.
My other favorites of the day?
This guy, who sat right up at the fence and made funny faces at us:
And this next little guy, my fave for two reasons:
1. Obviously he is adorable.
2. Several months ago Miss told my Mother-in-law that she wanted to look on the computer for a picture of a fennec fox. I had never heard of this type of fox, but my MIL obliged, and I walked into the office at the Farm to see her and Miss scrolling through photos of little critters that look just like this:
A fennec fox.
I was more excited to see him than Miss seemed to be. Apparently she’s so over the fennec fox.
And I was just thrilled to see this hummingbird up close and personal.
Hummingbirds amaze me. They almost never stop moving and yet they always look perky and graceful at the same time. Don’t they ever get tired?? I kind of feel like I’m a hummingbird wannabe some days.
Today was a great day.
