ZOO

What a great day we have had! Gracie's first trip to the zoo! We have been planning this for weeks and have been telling Gracie she would get to see the monkeys. Ben and I have just been excited to spend a good quality family day together after tax season. Gracie spent the first little bit looking overwhelmed with her thumb in her mouth, but she warmed up...in more ways than one. That top picture was when we stopped for a water break and her hair is just plastered with sweat. I can't imagine going in the middle of the summer! She wasn't a bit scared even at one point with a monkey right up against the glass in front of her--"oo oo". She liked the meerkats and a few of the big cats, and the giraffe which she calls a "moo" ?? but I think her favorite was the rooster. It was crowing and she was trying to imitate it which was pretty cute. She has been saying that a cow says "moo," from one of her books but she didn't want to touch the cow in the farm petting area once it was in front of her--it admittedly was a bit stinky. Fairly early on we saw a large male lion very close up, basically just on the other side of a glass, and it was sleeping and she said "night, night", and then began telling Ben everything she knew about animals in succession "woof woof, puppy, meow, night night, moo..." So she at least got the concept that this all had something to do with animals. She also enjoyed the fish aquarium but generally I think she just loved having both Mommy and Daddy giving her undivided special time and when it was time for bed tonight she was at the back door saying "go, go" wanting to go again. We are sad that Ben will be back at work tomorrow we like having him home with us. We didn't get too many great pictures...we were too busy having fun.