Zoo Time

A couple weeks ago we took Amelia to our free zoo.  For being free - it really is a nice zoo and a great resource for us.  Amelia hasn't been there since last summer, so it was like it was the first time, which made it really fun to see her respond to the animals.

Looking at fish!  Fish is also one of her words....'fsh'

More fish!  She was amazed at how big they were!

A picture with mommy....sort of....couldn't take her eyes off the fish :)

Next it was off to see the monkeys!  To which she sometimes will do the 'oo oo oo'

She was quite nervous about the monkeys.  It took a little bit of time for her to get comfortable with them - they were pretty much as tall as she was and they moved pretty quickly.

In general - we had a lot of 'up close' encounters with the animals which was fun, but a little overwhelming for Amelia.

Amelia really liked the little monkeys and they got really close to her which she liked a lot.

Daddy and Amelia looking at the monkeys

More of the little monkeys

And one more

This was the seal pool.  Amelia liked watching them even though they mainly swam under water most of the time.  She also felt pretty special that she got to sit on the banister with daddy...maybe that's why we stayed so long....

These were the sea lions.  At first Amelia was a bit unsure, but she liked to watch them.  At one point one poked his nose right up at her.

Here is the polar bear...he is a new exhibit - but Amelia was not a fan of him at all, so we didn't stay very long.

The lighting of this is off, but I thought the silhouette was pretty cool of the tiger and right to the left of his front leg is Amelia....up close and personal!   We also saw the snow leopards, which Amelia loved!  I think it is because they looked like one of her stuffed animals.

The zebras!  Amelia loves to pick out zebras in books, so she liked looking at them.

The giraffes, Amelia and Daddy.   Amelia also liked this exhibit.

We also saw the lions during her snack.  We actually got to see them move around and go after each other a little bit.  Amelia was probably more interested in people watching during this exhibit vs looking at the lions!

I have to say lately our house has been very animal oriented....we have library books, little people animals, the dogs, of course, and Amelia has been loving it!  She is very interested in animals and can pick out the same animal in different books - even though they may not look quite the same.  It seems like this is kind of a big cognitive jump to recognize the same 'label' of something.   We will even play - find the little people animal - I will name the animal and she will find it for me; however, its not her favorite game.  So next time you see her you can ask her what an alligator does and she will show you how they 'chomp'.