Zoo Trip

As I mentioned in a post earlier today, Nicholas and I went to the zoo this morning. And we had our best zoo trip yet, by far.

I like the idea of taking him to the zoo. He loves outings. I like getting out of the house. He is interested in watching animals and big kids. My parents got us a membership for Christmas, so I don't feel guilty going for just an hour or two. It seems perfect.

But the zoo hours are not convenient. It doesn't open until 10. Nicholas usually goes down for his morning nap around 10:30, so that doesn't really leave time to go before his nap. If we wait until after he wakes up, we have to do lunch, and so it is 1:30 by the time we actually make it down to the zoo. And by that point it is usually too hot, making us uncomfortable and the animals lethargic.

But today we decided to intentionally screw with his naptimes, so I left the house with him at 9:30 and we were at the zoo when it opened. And we had an absolutely delightful time for about an hour and a half, at which point he was tired and resorted to sucking his thumb in the stroller, letting me know it was time to go.

The weather was gorgeous (70 and sunny!), the zoo wasn't too crowded (Preakness in Baltimore today), and Nicholas was remarkably chipper.

We spent the whole time in the two sections we'd never made it to on our other trips. This means we never made it to the main part of the zoo, but that's what a membership is for, right?

The Children's Zoo is my new favorite part of the zoo. It isn't perfect in terms of stroller/child friendly, but a million times better than the rest of the zoo. There are also some cool play structures as you go through for older kids, but even given his age limitations, he enjoyed it a lot. The animals were up close and kinds of animals that are just inherently less camouflaged. They are also animals that are in general a little more active in a confined space, so Nicholas was able to actually see them.

I think his favorite animals may have been the ducks, which seems like a waste of going to the zoo, but then again, where else is he going to see ducks in his daily life? Oh, and the rooster, who was about a foot away and kept crowing. He thought that was funny. He also enjoyed watching the donkey eat out of a big ball, although he kept trying to climb into the pen, I think to get the ball, honestly. I need to remember that just because I think the giraffes and elephants are cool doesn't mean he will, and stop focusing on those animals. There is no reason why a duck is inherently less interesting than a giraffe if you've never really seen either.

We also went into the petting zoo, where you can pet or brush goats, but he was pretty nonplussed. He wasn't scared of them (which I sort of thought he might be), but he also wasn't that interested in them. He did pet them some (although never when I had the camera out), but didn't react much when he did. Although he got a little more interested when he started pulling the goats' hair, but I stopped him from doing that pretty quickly. They are tame animals, but I don't want to know what happens if they get mad. In general, Nicholas just wanted to walk in circles around the petting zoo and watch the other kids pet the goats. After about 10 minutes I decided we should move on and stop taking up space for kids who really were interested in interacting with the goats.

Anyway, we had a great time and I also managed to get him to pose for a few shots. It is hard to get pictures on outings with just the two of us unless there is somewhere good I can set him down. So what you get are a few staged shots. But they are better than nothing and Nicholas was intrigued by the things he was sitting on.

Our little Maryland boy--sitting on a Terrapin and wearing an Orioles hat:

From

Cowboy Nicholas:

From 2010 May