OK, it's almost been 4 months since I wrote anything here. Not bad I guess - right?
Since then, we have done not much of anything. (Thanksgiving, Christmas, the usual) In January, I went camping with a couple friends from church. We thought it might get a little chilly, but it turned out to hit 32º. That was a pretty cold weekend. I needed the experience however as a few of us intend to summit Mt. Rainier in August. It'll definitely go below 32º there and the windchill will be far worse. I got a 0º mummy sleeping bag for Christmas which makes sleeping in that weather extremely comfortable. Now if I could only get around to getting in physical shape.
For Valentines Day I thought I'd take my family somewhere they would both enjoy. As my wife has a severe fascination with exotic animals, and my child (11 months old) has animal characterizations all over her room and is learning to imitate the sounds of dogs, monkeys, and lions - I though I'd take them to the zoo for the first time. We went to the Fort Worth Zoo (which BTW is open 365 days a year - didn't know that). The first thing Laci saw were the pink flamingos. There were a ton and you could get very close. She was mesmerized by their noise and color. We then passed by the zebras and some other odd animals. Unfortunately, the monkeys were not out (atleast not the Gorillas). She also saw the hippo, giraffe, and rhino, but they were too far away to really get her full attention. The elephants were obvious to her and she reached out wanting us to take her over closer to them (fences prevented that).
The highlights were twofold. The first being the lion. Not only did she get to see it fairly close, it put on a show by letting out a couple roars. We've been teaching Laci to roar when she sees a lion and for her to hear a real one get that loud was very intimidating to her (to us as well). There's nothing like it and imagining how it would shiver your body if there were no fence and chasm between you and it is incredible. She now knows what that roar is really supposed to sound like. If you look at the pictures you can see the lion (and his spouse in the one picture where Laci is giving my wife Michelle a kiss). She also saw the "small" cubs playing with their mom and each other.
The second highlight was not reserved just for the zoo, but still: Laci got to feed a parakeet with a popsicle stick covered in seeds. I thought she'd not hold it still for the little bird so I held her arm out for her. For a better photo op, I let her do it on her own the second time and she was as steady and gentle as could be. (see pic).
Unfortunately, timing (naps and etc) prevented us from seeing probably 1/2 the zoo, but I know she'll go back again and again. Nothing else really approaches the same excitement for her than seeing (and touching) animals of all sorts. My only fear is that in the future, I will have to hold back both Laci and my wife from approaching every wild animal they can that have teeth (or beaks), so that neither is ever at the hospital getting precautionary rabies shots.
Take your kids to the zoo, it's cheap and they will probably love it, and there's never a day where it's unavailable.
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