Today at the Zoo!

Today was a beautiful, sunny day...perfect for a trip to the zoo! Our friends Nancy and Izzy asked us yesterday if we were up for meeting them there, so we looked at the weather forecast and said, "yes"! After breakfast, we packed up and got ready to go. AJ kept asking me over and over if we were going to the Brookfield Zoo and if we were going to see dinosaurs, since that was his last zoo experience, but somehow we got out of the house without me pulling out any hair...

We took the Armitage bus and AJ liked it just as much as he used to last year. It's easy to take it straight to the zoo, and AJ likes to talk about the people getting on and off, the things that we pass, the red light we stop at, etc. One of the funniest things he did during the bus ride was to turn around in his seat to see out the back of the stroller and out the front window of the bus. Then he would tell me he could see the bus driver! :)

So at the zoo, we saw lions, sea lions, rhinos, flamingoes, giraffes, etc. Here are the kids (AJ, Emilio and Izzy) out of their strollers and on the loose. It's hard for them to see the animals from their strollers, but it's hard for us to keep them close to us when they aren't in them! Here are AJ and Emilio looking in on the rhino. The both really liked to try to climb the railings...so tempting, I know!  At least they could not get very far on these vertical rails, but over on the south side of the zoo they have horizontal wooden fences...hmmm...it only took them about 3 seconds to figure out they could climb those! Good thing we can always bribe them with food. :)

I also had a little bit of luck getting AJ to walk with us by telling him we were going to see the polar bears, but when we got there, the polar bears were not swimming in the water...
good thing was that AJ had also wanted to see the giraffes, and they were there too, walking around and eating! In his excitement over going to the zoo, AJ brought his giraffe (and a frog), so here he is showing the real giraffe his stuffed one, and the next shot on the left is AJ letting his little giraffe walk in the "savannah". It was really fun to watch him pretend and interact with the giraffes! I had never seen him do that before in such earnest make-believe, so I did not try to rush him even though our friends had moved on and were waiting for us (thanks Nancy and Kate for being patient!) :)

The giraffe is a little dirty now after the savannah-romp and the round trip on the bus, but I still let him sleep with it tonight. I figure it can swim in the washing machine tomorrow...

We had a really nice lunch at the lagoon's cafe, and afterward Kate treated the kids (and moms) to ice cream scoops. AJ wanted chocolate, no surprise there, and I had to eat fast to get my half! Here are the pictures of how much he liked it...good to the last drop!

After I cleaned AJ up and we were done with lunch, we said goodbye to Nancy & Izzy, and Kate & Emilio headed over to the Farm in the Zoo with AJ and I. It was pretty crowded over there and AJ was mad that he could not climb into the tractor (and cut in front of about 20 people waiting in the line), so we led them around the area as fast as the person on the end of "crack the whip" and headed home ourselves.

AJ managed to stay awake on the bus ride home, and I put him straight to bed for his nap. What a fun day we had!  Can't wait to do it all again soon.