Saturday, August 17, 2013

Another trip to the Zoo

Can you tell I've missed going to the Zoo?  I missed 6 months of it this past year.  I think this last month I've been making up for lost time.  Well, the weather has been great for it.  And we've got the membership, why not use it?!   And so I have.

A friend of mine from high school mentioned that she had taken her 11 month old daughter to the zoo with her parents last month for the first time, and she'd had a wonderful time.  I invited her to tag along on our pass sometime and she took us up on it.

We picked a perfect day for it!  And we avoided the crowds.  So Nice to go while the majority of kids have started school and field trip season has not yet begun.


When we arrived, Ray the sea lion had a lot to say to us.  


Sam and Emily loved watching the fish. 


This is Diego.  He loves to entertain the kids in the window.  He used to be Alpha, and Ray came in and has taken over.  


Then we went to the Dog Show.  We went with Kathleen a couple weeks ago, and Sam had been bugging me and bugging me to go back.  Last week it wasn't going, so we caught it.  Even Jake watched from my lap, and kind of mostly enjoyed it.  

The Dog Show is located behind the bird exhibit.  So we caught that afterwards.  We hadn't seen that one in a Long Time.  OK, we only went once, and Chris was flipping out, and he never wanted to go back.  


But Sam was a bit more interested.  He wanted to "Be a Bird".  Jake was snippy and needed a break, so we found the restrooms.  Turns out there's a preschooler/toddler park back by the bathrooms, and a spiffy nursing area.  


We went in to see the budgies.  I always have such a soft spot for these guys.   Sam has picked up on my love for them.  He didn't mind reaching for them.  


They remind me so much of my old parakeet Bud, who looked like the one in the middle below, with a yellow head, green body and blue tail feathers.  Pretty boys. 


Jake was a little less festive.  He fell asleep before we got in to see the birds.  And then in the African section, they got a little noisy and woke him up.  Then he was really not too sure about it.  And there was one peahen sort of bird, a guinea fowl, that worried Sam too, just a little too big for his liking, and getting a little too close for our comfort as we tried to exit. 


So we headed up to Butterflies.   We thought little Emily would love them.  She did.  She was content to just sit and watch them.   Me too.   The Julias were out flitting about in the sun, so pretty. 


An Owl Butterfly buzzed around us and the strollers before landing on the leaves and moving on. 


Sam checked out the chrysalis cabinet. 


Apparently, in the summer from 1-3 they have the Komodo dragon on display in the gardens.  Though no one could go near him.  He did look happy (ish) in the sun, like a lizard on a rock. :) 


Sam found pretty flowers, and liked running around, but these purple salvia had too many bees for his liking. 


He found a lot more Joy in these froggies.  


I love how they put sunglasses on them.  And Sam just loves playing in the water streams. 
Perfect for a warm afternoon. 


Sam was cracking me up. 


Meanwhile all that fresh air exhausted Jacob.  And he was slurping along trying to find his thumb.  


No luck, maybe next time. 

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