Zoo Trip

Laura and I took Nathan to the Zoo of Acadiana today. He had a great time! He roared at the lazy lion, chirped at the chirping birds, and told the bengal tigers, "go tigers!" Nathan greeted most of the animals by name - monkeys, birds, cats (all cats except for lion and tigers), and cow (texas longhorn). Their longhorn is named "Gus", so when we saw him we called to him to come to the fence. He just looked at us like we were crazy. Then Nathan went up to the fence and said, "C'mere right now!" Within a couple of minutes the "cow" was at the fence, where he poked his head between the fence bars so we could rub his head (he was a really friendly cow). He and Nathan stared at each other while Gus licked his (own) nostrils - yuck! Then, Nathan went to his stroller, grabbed his "giggle Elmo" toy, and moved toward Gus with Elmo extended to him saying, "I'll getcha, cow!" It was so funny! We sometimes chase each other with Elmo (when you shake him, he giggles), and say, "I'll getcha, Nathan/Daddy/Mommy". I guess he thought enough of Gus to include him in our game. When we came to a play area with a slide, Nathan excitedly ran toward it and said, "SLIDE!" He's only been on a slide a few times with me, and hasn't even seen one since a day at the park with his cousins back in April or May. Anyway, he remembered what it was, and proceeded to climb up the ladder on his own (I was close behind). At the top, he looked for us to make sure we knew how big he was to climb up there by himself, and then hesitated toward the slide. I reached up and helped him sit down, and down he came with a big smile and big laugh followed by "do it again!"

He saw the "turtles" (tortoises), and he got right up to the fence to look at them and one got up and started walking off. Nathan laughed and said, "COOL!" before he literally ran to the next exhibit. He got to see Jolie the white tiger and her really cool swimming pool, a big ostrich, a hippo, various birds, and some deer (he called them "dogs"). We managed to escape the rain clouds which were in the area all afternoon, although we heard quite a bit of thunder at times. At the sound, Nathan would exclaim, "THUNDER! LIGHTNING!" Thankfully, we didn't see any lightning.

He fell asleep on the way home and now he and mommy are napping. I may join them for a few minutes myself! Even though it was cloudy and there were many trees at the zoo, it was still very hot! (Thank God for coconut snocones!)

Our next BIG outing will be in a few weeks when we go to Orlando. We're leaving the 27th from New Orleans on Southwest Airlines, and returning Sept 3rd. Our friend Wendy and her boys are meeting us in Orlando, where we'll pick up our rental van and head to Laura's parents' home in Lady Lake (about an hour north of Orlando). We'll be there for the week, enjoying the clubhouse pool, visiting Daytona Beach, the Magic Kingdom, and maybe Sea World. We talked about whether Nathan and Micah (Wendy's youngest, who is two months older than Nathan) would even remember those outings. Wendy had a good point - they may not remember it, but they'll have a great time, nonetheless! We'll make our final decisions on our outings day-to-day, so as not to wear the boys out. The most difficult thing will be having to leave many kid comforts behind (the big stroller, certain toys, etc.). Laura thinks we should maximize our luggage allowances bringing as much as we can. I reminded her that whatever we bring, we have to carry through airports with Nathan and baby 2 in tow, as well as try to cram all of our stuff and Wendy's stuff into the back of a mini-van. (plus all the car seats!) I think she's "surfing my wave", now. Anyway, I'm excited for Nathan to get to fly, since he loves airplanes! We'll have some raisinets to help him with cabin pressure changes, and I plan on finding some "shark away" for the beach! (;-)