Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Jackie Visits the Zoo

This past weekend (8/22; it took a while to finish writing this post) we decided it was finally time to check out the little zoo near our new home. The Capron Park Zoo (capronparkzoo.com) is about a 5 minute drive away from our house, and it would be shorter but the closest bridge is out. So off we went on Saturday afternoon to the zoo.
Now this was Jackie's very first visit to a zoo. Sadly we have not made it to the zoo in Fort Worth yet. (Partially because Daddy wanted to be with us on the first visit to a zoo.) So Jackie was not quite sure what to expect, even though we kept telling her she would see lots of animals. And she did not begin to understand until after we got to the zoo and saw the first couple of animals. That is when she started getting really excited about the zoo.
The first animals you see upon entering the little zoo are the kangaroos, emus, and tortoises. This left me wondering what happens to the kangaroos and other warm weather friends during a nice cold MA winter, but I guess we will find out soon enough. Jackie thought they were nice but a little boring as they were all just laying around in the grass. Jackie's excitement really peaked when we entered the Sadler building where quite a few of the smaller African animals live. She really liked standing and looking into their exhibits and watching the little energetic tamarins, meerkats, and lemurs playing. Jackie also enjoyed the rainforest building with its frogs and birds of bright colors.
Jackie's favorite animal we saw were the lions. She probably would have stayed there next to the lion exhibit all afternoon if we had let her. She kept talking to the lions and shouting exclamations of joy over the two lionesses and the male lion with his mane. When Daddy finally told her she had to leave the lions she waved and said, "Bye lion." She also bestowed many kisses and hugs on the lions. It makes a mother glad that she could not get really close the lions since there was only joy and no fear on Jackie's part. It was so cute watching her tell the lions goodbye. Luckily for us, Don was video-ing the whole proceeding. I'm sure someday soon he will get the clip on the web for y'all to watch.
Because of Jackie's joy and excitement, Don and I decided to become members of the zoo. Now Jackie can visit her lions often. In fact, I'm sure she would love to show them to you if you come for a visit. Granma GeeKee and Granpa enjoyed seeing the lions with her this Sunday (9/6). And Jackie again had to wave and tell the lions bye, giving them even more kisses and hugs. Jackie has also started roaring like a lion since we visited the zoo the first time. She hasn't heard our lions roar in person yet (it might scare her b/c it will be loud), but it doesn't stop her from roaring at us. She is also pretending to be a lion. And she says, "Ben lion. Ma lion. Daddy lion." Then she wants us to roar with her. So watch out if you come to visit, you might have to be a lion with Jackie. :-)

1 comment:

Crystal Waters said...

ROAR! :)