Zoo Trip

Yesterday, we went to the zoo. There are two zoos within about equal distance from Ann Arbor - the Detroit Zoo and the Toledo Zoo. Both are about an hour away. We heard that the Toledo Zoo is better so that's where we went. The kids were good in the car. Of course, they only lasted about a half hour before we had to turn a movie on, but watching "The Three Musketeers" was great fun for them. (As a side note, Goofy is now Charlie's favorite character. He calls him "Goosie".)

We got to the zoo at about 3:30. Our friends, the Rodriguezes arrived shortly thereafter. The zoo was having power problems so several of the arctic exhibits were closed. Little did we know, animals all seem to like taking afternoon naps, too. So we couldn't see the polar bears or seals, and many of the other animals were either far off in the corners sleeping (wildebeasts, tigers) or already put away in their cages (elephants, giraffes, rhinos). We thought it was all just a huge rip off and disappointment. For a while, we thought the only animals we would see were bronze statue animals.


As we continued walking, though, we came upon the duck pond. Charlie loved it! He got down on his belly and stuck his head through the railing so he could get a closer peek at the ducks. There was a very large white bird (either a duck or goose) that Charlie kept calling the Mommy Duck. He thought it was funny when the ducks would swim under water to get food. He watched these ducks for 15 to 20 minutes. Jack, of course, just sat in the stroller and ate his raisins and goldfish, content as can be.


We then made our way to the elephants. They were put away in their cages, but we were able to catch short glimpses of them every now and then. Charlie was thrilled. He didn't mind that they were put away. Charlie saw the hippos close up and he thought it was cool that the hippos had a giant ball to play with. He also saw the rhino (through the window to his indoor cage). Every time the rhino would lift his head up to see us, Charlie would try to escape by climbing up Jon's arms. Jon told him, "It's okay, the rhinos are our friends." The next time the rhino lifted his head, Charlie said, "Okay, rhino's my friend," and he wasn't scared anymore. This was turning into a good experience for all of us. Who were we to complain about the animals being put away if the kids didn't care?


Finally, we walked to the aquarium. Charlie and Jack both liked this area. We let Jack get down and crawl wherever he wanted to go. He had fun just crawling up and down the steps by the exhibits. Charlie's favorites were the spider crabs and the life-sized model of "Bruce the Shark" from Nemo.

Our last stop was the playground. Both kids had fun playing there. Jack crawled through the dirt and got covered in it. He was in heaven! Charlie watched Javier go down the large twisty slide a couple times and then decided that if Javier could do it, so could he. He went down once and seemed to enjoy it, even though he didn't go down a second time. This was his first time going down a large slide without being otherwise coerced. We were proud of him.

They were good in the car on the way home. We got home and put them to bed. They were tired after such a fun day. We were pretty tired too!