The Zoo

Well, I'm not keeping up so well...once a month it looks like. We just get so busy, and then when I have "free" time blogging is either at the end of my "to-do list" or I'm just procrastinating. Today it's me procrastinating because I don't really feel like swiffering the bedroom, which means crawling around on my hands and knees to reach under the bed and all other dark corners. I know I need to do it, but yesterday was so much fun that I would rather share that experience than clean!

We set out for the zoo around 9 a.m., and found ourselves at a nice little zoo safari restaurant on Nolensville Road. Ooops! We entered the wrong address in the GPS. While technology is great, it has it's disadvantages, like human error. Another 20 minutes and we arrived. I couldn't help but wonder the whole time we were there what Carter was thinking. I look forward to when he can tell me. He can make the sounds the animals make, mostly from mimicking his See & Say and us, but he's never heard most of them. He plays with the animal toys everyday putting them in Noah's ark, in the barn and driving them around on the tractor, but he's never even see them in real life. So, I was really getting ancy for him to see all the animals.

I wasn't totally surprised, however, that he seemed most excited to just be exploring a new place and to walk around independent of Mommy & Daddy's hands. I think his 2 favorites were the monkeys and the meerkats, perhaps because they were the most active. The meerkat exibit was right at his level, so that was fun! Carter enjoyed the farm section, too, making all the animals' noises along with them. Of course, I was the one to spot the carousel, so we put Carter on not knowing if he'd like it or not. Well, the verdict is in: he is like his Daddy. He hated it, and I ended up just holding him as we went 'round and 'round. After touring the Africa exhibit we got our choice of any picnic table under a huge shade tree in the middle of a huge lawn. We and 3 other groups were all that were there...wow! Jimmy & I love going places on off-days! It was so quiet! We ate a tasty lunch we packed at home. When we finished, Jimmy and I headed one way, and Carter headed the opposite direction toward the birds, nearly running and flapping his arms! We went in, and they swooped all around, scared of the hawk overhead. There is a metal net to keep them in, but they didn't know. The birds' screeching made it so loud in there, but Carter loved it! We then walked over to the Savannah area. While the zebras, eland and ostriches were really interesting, we just had to have some Dip'n Dots. The "ice cream of the future" was more a treat for Mommy & Daddy, but Carter enjoyed it, too. He had a lot of fun walking around the bamboo paths through the China section and occasionally spotting some of the animals. He really got excited about the red panda. Nothing crazy or extraordinary happened, but just enjoying a beautiful day with our family was so relaxing and so much fun! I hope we can go again soon!