New Zoo!

We were able to go out and do something fun today as a family. Though we still have some things to get done, we have finally gotten to a point where our lives are not consumed with moving/unpacking/etc.

Jack has been asking to go to the zoo for quite awhile, so we happily obliged him. We were excited for our new zoo. The Detroit Zoo has its charms, but compared to other zoos it's really not that great. (I will miss the butterfly house, though.) We really liked the Cincinnati Zoo. We did not see everything since we were there for only four hours, but we still got to see a lot.

It was fun watching Amelie. Her last zoo experience was in December at Disney's Animal Kingdom, and she kind of enjoyed it but was mostly indifferent. Today was a different story. She seemed to really enjoy getting to see all of the animals and had to wave bye to them every time we moved on. Her favorite exhibit was definitely the Cat House. I lost track of all the times she excitedly yelled "Kitty!" Much to Kate's chagrin, she also really liked the snakes. "Sssss!"

Jack's favorites seems to have shifted. Giraffes used to be his priority, but today he was very excited by the elephants and the "rhi-nice-erouses." (Detroit did not have elephants.)

I love how they both have fake, forced smiles.

Amelie waving bye to the Gibbons, which were very noisy and active.

Can you spot the peacock in the picture? There were four or five hiding in the Tulips and Azaleas. They would just randomly poke their heads up to say hi and then go back down. It was pretty amusing.

Of course, we had to ride the carousel.

This was my attempt to get a posed picture of the two of them. It didn't work out so well.

But the playing pictures turned out.

Amelie shows the camera her "Stinker Belle" face. Imagine a snorting, ornery laugh with this look.

Jack's favorite part of the day (as it is anywhere there is one) was riding the train. Here is the excited boy waiting in line. (He was having some hat issues.)