The Zoo!

After a bit of cajoling, Ray finally consented to take a weekend day to head to the zoo with the kids. I thought it would be smart to go early in the day and avoid the rush and the heat. The pond is now home to The Nessie Project, sixth place winner in the 2009 Art Prize competition.

Maia was very excited. She was asking about seeing the Monkeys jumping on the beds. It's sort of a tradition to get your picture taken with the John Ball statue. Usually you are actually ON the statue... Maia wasn't all that interested in doing that.

Again... warm, mild breeze means a content Parker.

Maia checks out the Alligators.

(which were somewhat difficult to photograph in the shadows)

Maia checks out the Eagles.

Maia checks out some fresh water fish in a pond.

Maia and Daddy check out the fish.

When we entered the penguin area, one of the males was crowing (okay, we have no idea what the correct term is for that), which was pretty loud in that small, echoey room. This scared Maia quite a bit, and she got rather teary and clingy. Once Ray assured her "It's okay! They won't hurt you!" and we watched them dive into the water she relaxed and started to enjoy them.

More penguins

Maia checks out the penguins from the safety of Daddy's shoulders.

In fact, once she got used to the penguins and after we had moved on, she wanted to go back and see them again. All through the next few exhibits she asked to go back to see the penguins. "They can't hurt me!" she exclaimed at each new exhibit.

In the African area, Maia was initially a little startled by these drums... but once she warmed up to the idea of them, she was delighted.

And it got more difficult to get her away from them!

Flamingos.

There were waterfalls in lots of areas, and Maia was, once again, very interested in swimming in them! All water, in her eyes, is to be played in.

Flying monkeys!

I love the texture of this photo. Check out those feathers!

Maia checks out the flamingos.

Butterflies.

I don't remember what these are called.

A Tapir

The monkeys were rather dozey and weren't all that interesting.

Huh.

Grizzly Bears. Maia did not seem alarmed in any way about the bears (which were pacing rapidly while eyeing the visitors), however, there were two zoo employees standing near by with a bear pelt that you could touch and learn more about bears. THAT petrified Maia, and she wanted absolutely nothing to do with it!

The river otter was Ray's favorite. It was very fun to watch, but difficult to photograph.

Golden Eagle

Eagle sculpture

Daddy and Parker play together while we stopped for a little snack and to cool down!

Maia the Goof.

Overall - the penguins were Maia's favorite, and she enjoyed about 1/2 of her first slushie (cherry), and did very well drinking it out of a straw and not spilling it (although she did intentionally drop most of her Teddy Grahams on the ground). I'm thinking we got through maybe 1/2 to 2/3 of the zoo before Ray and I decided we were too hot to go on, and it would probably be just as well to go get Maia some lunch and down for her nap.
And after all was said and done (and once we were back in the car and some air conditioning), Ray admitted that he had a better time than he thought he would, even though it's not a particularly great zoo (as he compares it to the Bronx Zoo, certainly not!). So maybe we'll go back. Perhaps in the fall when it's not so hot!