A Day at the Zoo

We spent yesterday at the Philadelphia Zoo. It was a beautiful day and we had a great time. When we first arrived we split up for the first hour. This is something we're doing more and more lately; it changes the whole dynamic; and it is really fun to experience different combinations of us five. So, for the first hour, while Braydon and Kyle were off doing their own thing, I had Owen and Meera all to myself. Owen was so happy to push Meera in the stroller, all over the zoo. His attention span for each exhibit was about 2 minutes max, which worked out perfectly because that was about Meera's attention span for each exhibit too. I let them lead the way. But when we got to the gorilla exhibit our pace suddenly slowed waaaaaaay down. Owen (and Meera too, but especially Owen) was absolutely enthralled with one gorilla who happened to be sitting very close to the glass wall. For about 20 minutes Owen just stayed there, as close to the wall as he could get. For a period of that time the gorilla was making eye contact with Owen, and then actually playing peek-a-boo with him. Owen was completely enamored. And Meera was just bewildered.
Later, after the five of us re-grouped and had lunch, Owen wanted to bring Kyle back to the gorilla so that he could see him too. Unfortunately, the exhibit was much more crowded then, and the big gorilla that Owen had befriended was lying down asleep.
Although the boys both said that the giraffes were the "high" of the zoo for them (photo at top), I'm pretty sure that his 'alone time' with that gorilla was actually Owen's high -- I know, for sure, that just watching Owen and the gorilla was my high. Meera's "high" was definitely the 'Children's Zoo' section (which is basically a petting zoo). In typical fashion, Kyle was sort of mystified as to why anyone would want to touch potentially dirty animals who lie on dirt and pee and poo right there on the ground. His biggest concern was where he could wash his hands after feeding them (his version of "feeding" them was throwing the food up and watching the animals try to catch it in their mouths--- actually letting the animals' mouths touch his hand was not an option as far as he was concerned). Owen, also in typical Owen-fashion, was all over the goats and sheep-- petting them, rubbing them, lying down next to them, wrapping his whole body around them, letting them lick his hands so that they could get the final crumbs from the food, etc., etc., etc. And Meera was just beside herself with sheer thrill and delight to be so close to such real, big animals. She loved it.



We had a very nice day at the zoo!

And Little Miss was sound asleep as soon as we got on the highway to head home.


déjà vu ~~ The last time we went to the Philadelphia Zoo as a family the boys were almost exactly Meera's age.