Perfect Zoo Day

In case you don't live in central Ohio, it was absolutely gorgeous this weekend. Beautiful fall days with 70 degrees and blue skies. We enjoyed it by going to early mass on Sunday and taking the kids to the zoo.

Xander seems to remember the zoo now and kept repeating 'Zoo!' on the way there. We brought the single stroller for Xander, in case he couldn't keep up, and Josie enjoyed a ride in the baby backpack with Chris. You can tell she was excited (and maybe a little hungry)(or possibly teething, I really couldn't tell).

We were lucky enough to experience opposite day at the zoo. The tiger (or 'Cat!' as Xander says) usually hangs out, sleeping in the shade. Instead he (she?) was pacing by the window, looking at all of the children and thinking how tasty they look.


The lions also usually sleep when we visit, but one lion we saw was pacing and roaring. We made Xander practice roaring like the lions, oh-ohing like the monkeys and howling like the coyotes.

The kangaroos (or 'roos!' as Xander calls them) usually bounce around. I love seeing the kangaroos because you get to go in the pen and there is a foot-tall stick fence separating them from you. On opposite day the mob (a group of kangaroos is a mob, did you know) basked in the sun.


The koalas like to just hang out in the trees, getting up to 22 hours of sleep according to the sign. We were witness to some of the two hours of actual ground action.


I'd never been in to see the lorikeets before. They are like parakeets in a little aviary area. As we walked in Chris suggested I buy a cup of nectar to bring in. I think he means that he'll take the nectar. Well, as I walk in a zoo member asks me to step further inside so the birds don't get out and to hold up the cup. That was when I was mobbed. Not by kangaroos, but by birds. I seriously had a moment of blind panic where I froze because of all of the birds swishing down to land on me. I don't know why there are only like 5 birds on me in this picture because I was sure that there had to be at least a dozen on me.


Once the nectar was gone and most of the birds left, I tried to get Xander to take a closer look. I think he was actually a little scared because I really had to coax him to get closer.

After lunch we stopped at the aquarium, usually Xander's favorite spot. But it was also naptime and he was just trying to take off so we called it a day and headed home.