Just Another Day at the Zoo…turned Amazing…

Today the zoo turned into the magical amazing place that it is suppose to be, a place of animals, learning and limitless boundaries.  Today was simply put, amazing.  It was recharging, sitting here tonight looking at pictures, I am still smiling.  Telling Mike and listening to Thomas tell him about the day was so enjoyable it made up for the exhaustion I felt after 5 hours of zoo adventuring with the Littles.  

Anyway off to the day, which started off slowly and we almost bailed on the zoo.  After my coffee kicked in and the kiddos started their wind sprints I decided to make a go at the zoo. 

We got there, I ordered my latte and we were off.  First we saw the baby small clawed Asian otters.  They were in a bit of trouble as the Mama and Dada had started to dig tunnel in their new exhibit to “hide” the babies.  The zoo keepers were able to get all but one babies off the exhibit and then that little guy understandably freaked out.  When they finally did catch him he let out the saddest squeaks and sounds until he was with his family again.  Elin was oblivious, Thomas was pretty worried about the little guy.  Then it was time to go and see the baby giraffe who was born a few weeks ago.  He was so cute and we stood their watching him for 30 or so minutes before we moved along to the other animals.  The kiddos also were able to touch a piece of giraffe fur and mane.  One of my favorite things about the WPZ is that they have volunteers and zoo keepers by a lot of the animals, especially the babies, that can give you more insight about the animals. 

Then we went and saw the hippos, elephants, monkeys and chimpanzees at a snails pace before grabbing lunch and watching the bird show.  After that we started to pack ourselves up and get ready to go.  Thomas and I have been saving container tops and the squeeze food packets to bring to the zoo’s recycling program.  They encourage children to recycle and they earn points to buy different rocks, fossils or shells.  Thomas picked out a few colorful rocks and was pretty pumped about it.  As we were walking out he asked if he could get his face painted.  He wanted to be a cheetah so he could run super fast.  Then he asked if I would be the same as him.  With Elin asleep on my chest I too had my face painted.  My favorite thing about this was watching Thomas see his painted face the first time in the mirror and watching him watch me get my face painted.  He had the biggest smile.  As we walked out of the zoo people didn’t know what to think, most smiled, some just starred.  Every time I looked at Thomas I smiled and better than that every time he looked at me his eyes lit up and he smiled.  What a great way to end a day at the zoo. 

Thomas was so excited to show his Daddy his face.  He has even asked to have it repainted several times.  Elin woke up and said “wow, pretty” and then got a few whiskers drawn on her face to join the team.  What a great day!