First Trip to the Zoo

This week marked the first trip to the zoo for our favorite chubby, blue-eyed twins.  It was mostly an excuse to get outside, to walk around, to smell the sometimes fresh air (depending on the wind and proximity to the elephant enclosure). And we thought the boys may be old enough to enjoy the animals. And they almost did. Almost.

You can thank Brandon for the pictures. He always likes a walk better if he’s got something to keep him busy. And I’m happy to oblige.

Flamingos were first. But we didn’t really look at them much. Jenelle was already stopped by a woman doting on the boys and asking familiar questions. Yes, they’re twins. Fraternal. Yes, they do have beautiful eyes. Yes, they just turned 9 months.

Next were the elephants. My favorite. It was lunchtime, so they were moving around more than usual. Which seemed like a perfect timing for the boys.

But no matter how vigorously Jenelle and I pointed at the elephants, we could not draw the twin’s attention. They were much more interested in our snapping fingers than the over-sized animals 20 feet away. Our high pitched voices didn’t do much but get them to smile and giggle. Which we didn’t mind much because, come on, they were smiling and giggling. But Brandon got the shot, and that is what’s important. Aren’t they cute with their little safari hats?

Next we ventured over to the monkeys. The enclosures aren’t very big, and you can get pretty close to the animals. They were swinging around the branches, putting on a big, hairy show.

But the boys? Much, much more interested in the water. The turd-brown, murky water surrounding the enclosures. We could hardly get them to look up. There were some fish swimming around, so maybe they at least could look at something zoo related. And that’s the point, right?

We tried one more thing before giving up entirely on trying to get the boys to look where they were “supposed” to look: reptiles. Because they’re boys. And boys like lizards and frogs and things that are slimy and slithery.

We also thought they may like to see something a little closer up. Maybe they could focus better on the smaller windows. But then we realized that if we had to spend a good 30 seconds trying to locate the excellently camouflaged animal in question, there ain’t no way a baby is going to even bother. No, mama Jenelle was much more interesting with her fish faces.

At this point, the boys seemed a little hungry, so we took a break in the shade to feed them some cheerios. And wouldn’t you know it? An entire flock of random birds surrounded us. Which normally wouldn’t seem like a big deal. Except there were peacocks. And that’s a little strange.

I get the feeling these birds are fed a lot. I’d reach out to give a cheerio to Wesley, and a bird would dive bomb my hand, grab the cheerio, and flutter violently away. There may or may not have been squealing and flailing on my part. Because gross. Birds are dirty.

The afternoon went a little downhill from there. The little ones got pretty tired. And it was hot and a little noisy and a little smelly and birds kept taking their food. I’d cry, too.

So we ended up just walking around the zoo paths, trying to sooth the boys with motion and movement. It seemed to work pretty well. At least I was soothed.

Although they entirely missed the second half of the zoo. No giraffes. No orangutans. No tigers. But don’t worry, Brandon took pictures. They can catch up later.

And that was pretty much it. The first big trip to the zoo. And believe me, all that walking and looking around tuckered us out.

Maybe we’ll try again in a few months. You know, when they’re a bit older. But for now, snapping fingers, murky water, and fish faces made for quite an adventure for these little boys.