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Zoos and Trains
Apr. 14th, 2024 05:56 amYesterday I finally got to fulfill my promise to take Toddler to the Zoo. Back around Easter I decided to take a half day at work and go to the local community college zoo with him, but apparently Good Friday is one of the only four days they're closed each year. We ended up going to a park and walking along a creek, picking up sticks and spotting animals, and he had fun, but several times since then he's dejectedly said "the Zoo is closed :(" out of nowhere.
So I was like, you know what, it's a beautiful weekend and we're not going to have many more of those before summer hits in full. My only worry was Cabin Girl coming along, because I wanted this to just be the two of us. Surprisingly, she opted to stay home and have quality time with Dr Lady, so that ended up a win all around.
The weather was perfect, if not the crowd. I'd forgotten there was an art fair going on at the community college, so there were a lot more folks than usual, but not an annoying amount. The Zoo isn't super big, so I let him spend as much time as he wanted looking at every animal. He probably spent the most watching the ducks, hah. He was excited to see the gators (we'd been reading a book called Gator Gator Gator, so he kept calling them that), slightly terrified of the peacock (fair), and a wild fan of all the primates. Later he told Dr Lady that the gibbons kept doing tricks and showing off, which, I mean, fair.
He was having the time of his little life; and then he saw the train.
The arts fair had a small trolley dressed up like a train to shuttle folks between the zoo and the fair. It was barely big enough for an adult to sit inside, but you bet he was on a beeline for it. It's a good thing he spotted the train at the end of the Zoo, because he barely acknowledged the remaining animals (mostly birds) and kept asking "where's the train?"
I hadn't meant to visit the art festival but there was no way I was going to deny this kiddo a ride. We found the train and got on and he was just the happiest little train rider. I love the way his expression just kind of goes slack when he's overwhelmed with joy. 😂
The arts fair itself was not his cup of tea -- and mine neither, since I didn't bother bringing sunscreen and it was set up in a shade-less parking lot. The zoo is very well shaded and cool, but I could feel my skin crisping right away when we hit the fair. I got him ice cream, which he devoured in that same overwhelmed way, and then we had to walk all the way back because the train rides had just ended. That's okay because we told silly knockknock jokes and made monkey noises the entire way back.
Dr Lady had texted me that she and CG were "shredding and sewing," so I was a bit scared at what I was going to come back to. Turns out, she'd pulled out the shredder and CG was having an absolute blast shredding all the old medical docs we'd been meaning to, well, shred, while Lady sewed the taekwondo patches CG had earned on her uniform. So they had fun 😂😂😂
Toddler told them all about our trip -- how we saw a Gator Gator Gator, and the monkeys were showing off, and there was a TRAIN and it was blue red yellow, and he got to see a SNAKE and a BABY SNAKE.
His joy was the best part. I'm so glad I got to take him, and it was so easy just the two of us. I don't know what it is about siblings but sometimes two of them is like wrangling a dozen kids. I definitely want to do something like this more often -- go off on an adventure with just one of them.
Today we're going blueberry picking altogether, which will be adventure enough.
So I was like, you know what, it's a beautiful weekend and we're not going to have many more of those before summer hits in full. My only worry was Cabin Girl coming along, because I wanted this to just be the two of us. Surprisingly, she opted to stay home and have quality time with Dr Lady, so that ended up a win all around.
The weather was perfect, if not the crowd. I'd forgotten there was an art fair going on at the community college, so there were a lot more folks than usual, but not an annoying amount. The Zoo isn't super big, so I let him spend as much time as he wanted looking at every animal. He probably spent the most watching the ducks, hah. He was excited to see the gators (we'd been reading a book called Gator Gator Gator, so he kept calling them that), slightly terrified of the peacock (fair), and a wild fan of all the primates. Later he told Dr Lady that the gibbons kept doing tricks and showing off, which, I mean, fair.
He was having the time of his little life; and then he saw the train.
The arts fair had a small trolley dressed up like a train to shuttle folks between the zoo and the fair. It was barely big enough for an adult to sit inside, but you bet he was on a beeline for it. It's a good thing he spotted the train at the end of the Zoo, because he barely acknowledged the remaining animals (mostly birds) and kept asking "where's the train?"
I hadn't meant to visit the art festival but there was no way I was going to deny this kiddo a ride. We found the train and got on and he was just the happiest little train rider. I love the way his expression just kind of goes slack when he's overwhelmed with joy. 😂
The arts fair itself was not his cup of tea -- and mine neither, since I didn't bother bringing sunscreen and it was set up in a shade-less parking lot. The zoo is very well shaded and cool, but I could feel my skin crisping right away when we hit the fair. I got him ice cream, which he devoured in that same overwhelmed way, and then we had to walk all the way back because the train rides had just ended. That's okay because we told silly knockknock jokes and made monkey noises the entire way back.
Dr Lady had texted me that she and CG were "shredding and sewing," so I was a bit scared at what I was going to come back to. Turns out, she'd pulled out the shredder and CG was having an absolute blast shredding all the old medical docs we'd been meaning to, well, shred, while Lady sewed the taekwondo patches CG had earned on her uniform. So they had fun 😂😂😂
Toddler told them all about our trip -- how we saw a Gator Gator Gator, and the monkeys were showing off, and there was a TRAIN and it was blue red yellow, and he got to see a SNAKE and a BABY SNAKE.
His joy was the best part. I'm so glad I got to take him, and it was so easy just the two of us. I don't know what it is about siblings but sometimes two of them is like wrangling a dozen kids. I definitely want to do something like this more often -- go off on an adventure with just one of them.
Today we're going blueberry picking altogether, which will be adventure enough.
