Wild Animals

Lions and Tigers and Strollers, Oh my!

Last Friday was forecast to be the 1st "mostly sunny day" in Seattle in 91 days, or so I heard. Eric & Kelly wanted to take their kiddos to the Woodland Park Zoo. On a Friday. In the afternoon. During Spring Break. I thought the idea was sheer madness. And I was right.

But still, we went; you must persevere and capitalize on these sunny days when you get them.

Fighting traffic to downtown Seattle, down to Greenlake and through the packed parking lots was insane. Everyone seemed to be going to the zoo. Half of my ward's mommies, armed with their toddler-toting strollers, were there - as well as about a bajillion other Seattle-ites.

The cost to get a day pass was nearly 1/4 of an annual pass. With Benjamin getting in free, I figured it was worth the small investment. It will give us something to do on the other 3 days a year we see the sun!

Although the zoo was packed with hordes of pasty, sun-deprived people, it was fun to meet up with the cousins and compare the zoo animals with our wild animals. In the past, the penguin tank was Benjamin's favorite; while he did enjoy that, now that he's a little older, he seemed to enjoy more of the animals because he could actually see them and knew some of their names. This time we got up close with the shaggy, sloth bear. Benjamin was so excited, he started flapping his arms and screaming, "Oh, cool!!" repeatedly. We also thoroughly enjoyed the bengal tigers, jaguar, gorillas, flamingos, cranes, and a rare glimpse of their adorable red panda. The last one evoked the arm flapping, "Oh, cool" combination as well.

We ended the excursion with a visit to the ice-cream shoppe; I think that was Benjamin's favorite exhibit of all!