Yet another zoo trip

About every other week I take Isabella to the zoo. It's great taking her there so often, since 1. she loves it and 2. then we don't need to try to see every animal every single time. I find that every visit some of my favorite animals are out of view whereas others are especially playful, especially alert and active. Here are the highlights from this particular trip -

The Jaguar was especially active, pacing back and forth by the glass, climbing up on trees. You could tell he was prowling, looking at the children, thinking "I want to eat you". This was the most active I had seen him as he usually seems to be sleeping when I visit.

The river otters were swimming around, circling each other joyously. I LOVE otters. I will never forget when I saw the sea otters at the Vancouver aquarium around 13 yrs ago. I watched them swim playfully and lie on their backs, eating food off their bellies. I decided then that I believed in reincarnation and wanted to be a sea otter in my next life. I bought a toy stuffed sea otter that day which I still had until quite recently when my dog ate it. Anyway, here are the otters, being the joyous creatures they are.

Next we took a ride on the carousel, which we do every visit. Somehow I can never resist when Isabella says "Mommy I want to ride the horsies! I want to go up and down!". I hopped on my own steed next to her, and let me tell you, this 8.75mo pregnant lady got some funny looks when she hauled herself up on a horse's back.

Of course, every zoo trip ends with a good hour or so at the Zoomazium, which is Seattle zoo's indoor play area. It's amazing... all kinds of natural looking rockery for the kids to climb on, puzzles, fossils, slides, animal sculptures, puppet shows, and the occasional real animals (snakes, lizards, ferrets) that get brought out for the kids to learn about and pet. It's truly an amazing place.

Thanks, Isabella, for giving me reason to go to the zoo all the time, and thanks for helping me to remember that some things (like cute playful creatures of the earth) never get boring.