A trip to the zoo

Today, Margaret and I went to the zoo for the first time after she took a nice long nap on my chest in the morning while I watched TV (she also had raspberries at breakfast - tart, it would appear - and applesauce at lunch, both for the first time.) It was a gray, drizzly day so the zoo was nearly empty. While we enjoyed the absence of crowds, we were wandering around under an umbrella all day, and some exhibits were closed for renovation since it's off-season.

I wouldn't rate this trip as a big success, although I and probably Margaret preferred it to sitting around the house all day (and she probably found it more interesting than a trip to an art museum.) Only a few animals caught Margaret's attention. Big animals, such as the elephants, did so, probably because it was easy for Margaret to register their presence. We watched a hippo try to bite a big exercise ball for a while, and it was fun to watch the elephants fiddle around in their pens. Margaret also liked a room of tamarins. They were chasing each other and bouncing all over the place which elicited a bunch of giggles from Margaret. We were lucky to catch them in action since, when we went back to see them again, they'd all climbed into a box and had gone to sleep. The meerkats were also a hit especially since one of them stood up against the glass right in front of us. Margaret found that pretty funny too. But she also spent a lot of time watching the other kids who would come over whenever an animal did something interesting (which, it seems to me, animals at the zoo do far less frequently than most visitors would like.) Apparently, other kids are pretty entertaining.

Margaret feel asleep in the Baby Bjorn (the use of which, along with Mom's absence, explains the lack of photos) between the big cats and the seals. She's getting pretty heavy to carry around for hours especially when she falls asleep since she becomes complete deadweight. She woke up to see the cheetahs and drank a bottle as we walked to the Metro stop.

We rode the Metro to and from the zoo with Margaret making googly eyes at other people on the train. On the way home, we stopped at Trader Joe's to get something for dinner and got a balloon while we were there. Margaret had a grand time as I bounced it off her on our walk home.