We're Goin' to the Zoo, Zoo, Zoo

Although it could be, that post title is not a reflection of my mental state; I did actually take the boys to the zoo yesterday.  The weather was gorgeous, we had nothing planned, and our local zoo is free.  Done and done.

Sam is absolutely enthralled with animals right now.  And he is incredibly expressive.  These two things combined to create an amusing trip.  He was making me (and most other adults present) laugh at every single exhibit.  He would start with an incredibly loud, "WHHHHHOOOOOOAAAAA!  Look at that animal!!!"  This announcement was usually accompanied by laughter of disbelief in what he was seeing.  Then he would go on to narrate what the animal was doing and why.

Both boys wanted to feed the goats first.  Alex enjoys this activity for approximately 9 pellets of food and then he's good.  Sam, on the other hand, thinks feeding goats is beyond hilarious.  He probably would have thrown a fit when we were leaving to tour the rest of the zoo, but he was entirely irritated with the other goats that were pushing around "his" white goat.  He only wanted to feed the one white goat.  Have you ever been to the goat feeding area of a zoo?  It is pellet fueled goat mayhem.  You cannot feed just one particular goat.  And if you do manage to get one goat more than one pellet, the other goats will get pissed and just push their way through.  And then your favorite white goat will fade into the sea of pellet grubbing goats and you will be ready to look at some meerkats.

Given his obsession with bears, our lunch with floor to ceiling windows next to our table looking into the polar bear exhibit was particularly good.  The only bummer was that the bears were napping the whole time we were eating.  Perhaps that is for the best though.  I would not have dealt well with all the chewed up hot dog flying at me while he was excitedly telling me exactly what I could see the bears doing.

He also could not get over how big the rhino was.  He kept looking at it, yelling about it being giant, and then turning to me wide eyed and mouth agape.  Sometimes asking me if I could believe how giant the rhino was.  He is a trip.

While Alex enjoyed the animals as well, I think he was happiest that I let them goof around in the play area for a while.  An activity that normally irritates me. Why why why do I want to stand here in a playground when there are prairie dogs to watch??!