day at the zoo

J and I had a mommy and me day at the zoo. Here is how it went

• As soon as he understood where we were, he said zebras?
• First animals we encountered were a couple of lions sleeping in the sun.
• First bathroom stop was actually for me. Restrooms were in the Lion house, downstairs and no elevator. Luckily, I had decided to leave the stroller in the car as I figured J spends most of his days walking, he should be able to manage.
  
• Went to the monkey house next. J said, "monkeys in the trees! Awesome!"
  
• A gibbon put on a great acrobatics show for us
• Second bathroom stop for J - again had to go down stairs and no elevator. Hooray for my no stroller decision.
• J started getting tired and saying, up! up! I carried him for a bit but then sat on a bench and let him snack on cheerios for a little while.
• Next stop - zebras, the one J was asking for when we came in. By now J was refusing to walk and I was thinking I need to rent a stroller.
  
• We stopped for lunch on an outdoor patio by the pond. J had chicken nuggets kids meal that came with apple, carrots, and chocolate milk . I had a grilled chicken sandwich, half of J's apple, all of the carrots that J wouldn't touch, and the chocolate milk(zoo did not have straws, J wouldn't drink from the carton, and his sippy cup was already full of milk from home). I thought the kids meal was expensive at $7 but actually I think they gave us double portion of chicken nuggets by accident and I got a carrot/apple salad out of it, plus the milk so it worked out ok.
  
• After lunch, I headed back to the zoo entrance to rent a stroller. J was so excited to sit in the stroller. We went to see the sea lions next and he would not let me take him out of the stroller seat.
  
• From the sea lions, we went to the children's zoo - a section that I never saw before so it must be new. I didn't see any animals outside in this section, but there was a building that had a very cool climbing maze. And there were bathrooms that did not require stairs so I changed Js diaper here.
  
• In the children's maze building one of the windows you could see into the beaver's pool and there were 2 beavers swimming around in there. That was very cool - I don't think I ever saw a beaver underwater before.
• We headed back outside and went to the Africa house where we saw the giraffe. At first, J said zebra but I told him it was a giraffe and he stuck his tongue out. We also saw a couple of ostriches - I forgot just how big they were!
• We did a quick zip through the reptile house - only went in there to use their bathroom because there were no stairs.
  
• Passed by the lions again - they were still sleeping in the same position as when we arrived.
• Went back to the entrance to return the stroller. J had a mini tantrum, screaming, 'my stroller! my stroller!' I think that was the first time I ever heard him say the word stroller.
• I took J on the endangered species carousel before we left. He had been on a carousel before, just a few weeks ago when we were in Canada. But this time, he did not want to ride the animals so we sat on the bench and he looked around at the carousel animals around us. He was very clingy which was nice actually because he doesn't let me hold and cuddle him much these days.
  
• I figured J was tired by this time and we headed home. I figured he would fall asleep during the hour it took to get back home. I was wrong. He sang to himself on the way home and was awake for the rest of the day until 8pm.