My Parents Are CRAZY!

I'm pretty sure Nora thinks we're a little insane.

And that's ok, because really, she just needs to get used to the idea, because we aren't changing.

But this morning, we got up and while Brian was loading up the car with our picnic lunch, I said to Nora "Daddy's got the day off. Want to go to the zoo?"

Nora doesn't say yes yet.

But she immediate let loose with three distinct animal sounds all in a row: That of the elephant, monkeys AND lions.


This girl knew where she was going!

We have been to the zoo a lot lately, but we haven't been able to get inside to see the baby, who was born last summer, for a few months now.

Samudra, a baby boy elephant, has been behind closed doors "in training" during the weekends with the heaviest zoo traffic.

But today was Monday, and we had the first parking spot outside the zoo, and only a few dozen people were in there by noon.

So the zoo people let us in to see Samudra and his Mommy, and Nora just loved it!


Today was much warmer than Friday, so we didn't need mittens, or nearly as many stops indoors to warm up.

Instead, there were quite a few kids at the play area with the various animal sculptures, and Nora ran from one to another and another -- almost in circles, often trying to make eye contact with the marble and granit statues, and saying "hi" to some too.


She's the same way with live animals -- as we headed into the petting zoo near the zebras. There's a little pigmy goat area, which is almost always closed during the winter, but this morning we asked if Nora could go in and they let her and a couple other kids join in.

She gets right down to the goats, and will look them right in the eyes. No fear, just "Hi!"

We're still working on what goats say), and she just doesn't understand that everything with eyes doesn't necessarily talk back.

After lunch we went to Lorikeet Landing so Brian could get his bird fix in.

One neat thing we found out today too is that the new lions are at the Zoo, and "introduction" sessions are about to begin. Through the zoo breeding programs, they're going to be making a brand new pride of lions with young lions from other zoos, and the construction on the zoo area for the new big cats section will be done by this fall.

Soon, the roar in the zoo will be real!