Wednesday at the Zoo

This lovely day we headed to the zoo to meet Grandpa Larry, Grandma Anna, Aunt Em and her friend Karen for a day of excitement. Well, it didn't start out all THAT exciting, aside from the natural excitement that is the zoo. We headed first for the butterfly pavilion (sorry, no pics), then off to the aquarium, picnicking for lunch and then what?... it's nap time, but we've only accomplished two exhibits. so what to do? Well, how about we hit the Rain Forest on our way out. As it turns out, that was a good plan.

Libby poses in the aquarium. Well, not really IN the aquarium...

oooooh, Libby! Let's take another, there are fish swimming by.
*enter fake smile.*



Xander was freed from the confines of stroller for much of this zoo trip,
and he had a really great time with his "hands on" exploration.
Next time, I may have my hands full. :)

Excited by the sights, and one another, Xander and Grandma
Anna had a great time.




Aunt Em and Xander, who isn't quite sure about something.

Time for a picnic. Xander gives his best camera-ready smile.

Grandma Anna shows Libby the.....

peacock.



Okay, and then it happened. We went to the rain forest. Shed some layers,
acclimated to the balmy temps, and noticed some little orange monkeys
(a fantastic mom would have double checked to find out exactly what
they are, but we'll call them monkeys) drawing a bit of a crowd.
The monkeys were feeling friendly, and were almost allowing their visitors
to touch them. They were certainly entertained by all the attention. We
approached for a closer look. Wow! Monkeys! When suddenly,

this little fella decided that the apples Xander had rejected for lunch
looked quite delicious. He leaped right onto the stroller and snatched one for himself.
(About now, I'm pretty proud of myself for capturing that photo. And no, Xander is not in the stroller.) Oh, what a crowd pleaser that was!
Little did we know, that apple tasted pretty good to Mr. Monkey,
and he'd be back for more...

Well, by the third time we were ready, I posed Libby near the stroller
(not TOO near!) and we waited. Time after time, one at a time, monkey snatched up
our apple rejects, ran off and chewed it up in the privacy of his tree, then returned for another until they were gone.

Yes, with this visit the apples were gone. But we weren't really ready to be done playing
with the monkeys. After all, we've had some pretty incredible animal encounters
before, sometimes with monkeys, others with polar bears, tigers, seals...
but monkeys eating off the stroller is a first, and probably a last.

So, we noticed that some of Xander's lunch crumbs had fallen into the seat
of his stroller, a couple of strawberries and a piece of angel food cake.
I'm a regular at the zoo, and I'm confident that it's very good for little orange monkeys
to eat these things. So, with bait laid, we waited. And monkey did not disappoint.

In case you missed them, Libby's words are "ooooh.... cute... oooh.... oooh! Ooooh he found a good choice, he found the cake!" Yes, monkey seems to have Libby preferences.
See ya next time pal,we'll be the ones with apples and cake stuffed in our pockets.

...strolling along, noticing more of this and that. and beckoning other monkeys
to come. I think Xander thinks that's a typical part of the zoo experience. When we saw
other monkey creatures, he held out his hand and did his, "come here,
gimme, gimme, gimme" gesture. like, "come on over, monkeys. we're over here!"

and there's nothing like getting soaked as we head out
the door, which both kids thoroughly enjoyed.

What a fun day at z00bilee z00!