Trip to the BIG Zoo

It was a spur of the moment decision, which generally does not bode well when you're dealing with small children... but we nonetheless planned a trip to the Toledo Zoo. Elianna immediately dubbed it the BIIIIIIG zoo, since it is much bigger than the smaller one we went to a couple weeks ago. The highlight of the trip for Elianna was riding the carousels. I honestly think we could have just rode them all day and she would be happy. We got to see the new polar bear cubs, who were just too cute for words. The first time through the line, we saw a male cub. Then we decided to get in line again later at the end of the day, and this time rather than a timed (only 3 minutes!!!) viewing we got to stay as long as we wanted. To make it better, this time the cubs that were out were twin girls. You should have seen the way they played and carried on!! I held Elianna up to the glass, and one swam over and tried splashing her. We were excited about her nose-to-nose encounter, but she started screaming and ran away. (I don't think she fully understood the glass was between them.) She really loved the Children's Zoo, where she got to brush a guinea pig and chase goats around. Also, there was a HUGE Fisher-Price exhibit there that day. It was a giant tent with what looked like every Fisher Price toy available - including a racetrack with all the different powered toys. Elianna thought she was in heaven, and once there we had a heck of a time getting her out! (Selah slept through it all.) Elianna found a toy pop-up camper and that became her favorite. She really became engrossed with it and glared at anyone who came near her. We did manage to pry her out of there to look at more animals, but only after assuring her we would find some hippos. She also saw an elephant do some tricks, scoured the aquarium for "Nemo" (clownfish) which Daddy managed to find, and got to see a hippo playing with this huge ball. She was in a great mood all day, only really getting mad at me once for (I am not making this up) not letting her ride the rhinoceros. She even tried to climb through the barrier and get into the enclosure, and only when I told her the rhino would eat her would she let go of the idea. Selah just rode around in the stroller all day, singing and waving at everyone. At nap time, she zonked out right in the stroller, so miraculously our spontaneous trip turned out to be a really great day.