Pointing the way around the Zoo

Lions and meerkats and bears! We had a great time with wide-eyed Collin at his first zoo experience. Great Aunt Cheryl & Great Uncle Walter gifted us with a membership, and the first Saturday of every month allows members in an hour early - at 8 a.m. I had been talking up all week that we were going to get there at 8 a.m. I was pretty sure this was an impossibility since neither of us are morning people, especially Cas on the weekend, and Collin normally wakes up between 7:30-8:00 a.m. But we arrived at 8:45 and had a lovely 15 minutes before the general public joined us!

We'd practice the lion roar, point to the lion, and then see a big grin like this -
Collin was intent, pointing at all the animals he saw.

Staring down the jaguar (from behind glass, though from the picture you may think we let our child press against the chain fence)-
Posing on the bench with mom and dad. He liked the animals, but was equally entertained climbing onto the benches or finding leaves on the ground. Doesn't take much to entertain our 15-month-old.

Collin was not so sure about the monkey - he was particularly vocal Saturday morning. As long as he was on the other side of the cage in mom's arms, he was okay.

Sitting high to see the giraffes -

Finally, the highlight of every childhood trip to the zoo - the children's petting area -

Even though there were tame goats everywhere accustomed to receiving toddler pets, Collin really wanted to mess with the horned ram. Typical boy, drawn to danger.

Cas snapped an incredible picture of the fountain, a bird mid-flight, but unfortunately a cranky toddler. Once I set him down, he went running for the pigeons.

We can't wait for our second zoo trip. After we enjoyed 15 minutes of membership-level calmness, Cas assured us next time we would get there right at 8 a.m.