Riley's First Trip to the Zoo

Today, two days before Riley's second birthday, I took her to the zoo for the first time ever. I should've known what I was in for since Riley is obsessed with anything animal related, but we went anyhow. The bummer of the day was the weather, the forecast said 66 and partly cloudy, not 40 and raining but after driving almost an hour to make it to the opening we stayed through the drizzle.....in our capris and short sleeved tops.

First we visited the aquarium like setting where Riley visited her well known friends, Nemo and Dory. She was thrilled to see them there, but she was kind of irritated that she was unable to break through the glass to swim with her fishy friends.

--That would be Dory. We considered getting Riley a Dory before we bought S*Head the Kitten, but when researching the species came to the conclusion that giving a headstrong child a fish with a razor blade fin was probably an irresponsible parenting choice.

Then we were off to the flamingo pond. But Riley would not call them flamingos, to her they are FLA-PINK-OOHS. Why? "Cooz I LOVE Pink, Mommy." Well, okay then. Riley has started the I LOVE everything stage though, so far this week she has loved everything from boogers to Gymboree.

From her new pink friends we traveled to the wallabys, whom she named Darby. No idea why, seriously. After she waved and said "Bye DARBY SEE YOU SOON!" at the top of her lungs we made our way to the African Boardwalk where she spotted ZEBRAS. She FREAKED. This is her in the midst of jumping for joy over seeing the feisty striped fellows.

Then there was the tiger. The tiger that Riley was so convinced was just a big kitty, and what do you do with kittens when you're Riley? Well you harrass them, of course! "COME HERE KITTY! TIGER. NOW!" was the start, then she decided the tiger was Sheer Khan and she would yell "Can you roar like a tiger? I SHEER KHAN!" and everytime it would step up to the glass she would run backwards and say NO SHEER KHAN! That's what, 2 Disney movie references now? I'm pretty sure the people that were behind us the whole time probably thought I lock her in her room and play movies all day. Which I don't, but the peace and quiet from that would be nice. Hmm.

Then she ate, feed emus and goats and played on the park swingset thing for an hour or so. We came home and she crashed, which was a nice break for once. And doesn't she look so cute in her new Naartjie sent from Sara? :)