10/25/2012:
Mommy had some discount tickets for the zoo that were soon to expire, so we made it a day. Mommy packed a picnic lunch, and we piled into the car to drive to the zoo. After we parked the car, we set up our picnic at the tables provided just outside the entrance to the zoo. We ate our sandwiches, crackers, carrots, and pretzels. I took the picnic stuff back to the car, while Mommy and Eric headed into the zoo for a much needed bathroom break.
Eric and I make a serious pretzel face.
When I got into the zoo, I headed toward the nearest bathrooms to look for Mommy and Eric. I did not see them, so I waited on a bench. I had seen one of Eric’s preschool teachers with her own children, so when Mommy and Eric finally found me, I pointed out his teacher from last year in the Bumblebee class. Eric went over and said “Hi!” His former teacher was surprised to see him there at the zoo.
When I asked Eric what he wanted to do first, he insisted on seeing the elephants. So, I looked on the map and found the elephants…they were all the way at the far end of the zoo. We would have to walk past all of the other animals to get there. When I asked him, he insisted again that he wanted to see the elephants, nothing else. We started walking in that direction, and of course, managed to see several other animal exhibits along the way. Always reassuring Eric that this was the way to the elephants. He had been to the zoo several times with Mommy and Blake with his Mommy, so he had seen most of the animals before.
The rhinos were resting…
The zebra was walking…
Eric was peering at the gazelles…
We saw lots of animals and, yes, we finally saw the elephants. When we got to the elephant habitat, Eric looked at them for a minute or less, and he was done. It is amazing what a 4-year-old will go through for such a short moment of gratification! At least we had a lot of fun along the way! Eric and I rode on the carrousel and the roller coaster, which was “scary but also fun!” We rode the zoo train twice around the zoo. As we were getting off from the first time, we saw Eric’s preschool teacher again and said “Hi” again. We got off the train and immediately got right back in line to board the train again.
The elephants were drinking and washing. Eric explained that they were picking up water with their trunks.
“Hi, Mommy!”
It was a fun day at the zoo for the whole family!