Animal Overload

This past week we learned that the sun does in fact shine in Washington.  It was such a beautiful week that we had to take advantage of the weather and get outside.  Thursday the kids and I decided to explore a new zoo - the Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium.  I was a little hesitant going by myself, but it ended up being a fantastic experience.  First, the zoo is gorgeous and exciting, yet still small and welcoming; probably the best zoo I've ever visited.

Second - we were thrilled and surprised to discover that the featured animals correlated perfectly to the book we rowed last week, The Very Last First Time (which was about an Inuit girl living near the Arctic).  After spending all week talking about polar bears, arctic foxes, walruses, seals, muskoxen, and caribou, you can imagine how fun it was to see them up close (and I do mean CLOSE).

Hello Polar Bear!

 In a dramatic departure from previous zoo encounters, Aubree queried, "do they have a petting zoo?"  Though the petting zoo only consisted of a few goats, Aubree was undeterred and later confirmed that petting the goats was her favorite part of the trip.

The white goat liked to stick his head through the bars and rub back and forth.  Bryce didn't want to touch him, claiming, "he keeps saying 'no, no!'"  

Does this count as a "petting zoo?"

In another surprising twist, Bryce said his favorite part was seeing the sharks.  Bryce has a tendency to be afraid that things are going to eat him.  He doesn't generally get terrified, just concerned.  As in, "I think that dog is going to eat me."

But seeing the sharks? No problem.

 Posing behind fake shark teeth?  No way.

Bryce's other favorite thing was sliding on the "otter slides."  I had to promise that we'd come back (and bring Dad), otherwise he wouldn't stop his sliding circuit.

And, of course, no outing with a newly potty-trained kid is complete without a visit to the public restroom.  This kid-sized toilet was as big a hit as any of the exotic animals.

 We also really liked seeing the tigers, including two cubs.  I was a little unnerved being so close, because just last week I had a nightmare that I was at a zoo and tigers got loose and were chasing people.  But, I guess I wasn't nervous enough to avoid holding up this appealing morsel...

As I mentioned, we LOVED this zoo and hope to go back soon.  But then again, it could be that the zoo is actually really terrible and it's just all that sunshine making my brain happy.