A trip to the zoo!

B's first trip to the Como Zoo- 5 month old.

Last week, we took Brennan to the Minnesota Zoo!  This wasn't actually his first zoo trip.  That was last summer, but I doubt he remembers much.

This time, he was much more into it- no big surprise there!  Lately he's become obsessed with animals, especially the typical ones that we see all the time like dogs, cats, cows, chickens, and fish.  It was so much fun to see his reactions to so many different animals!

Brennan wasn't the only baby who got to enjoy the zoo with us that day.  Ryan, Brennan, and I went with Ryan's sister, Rachel, and her daughter, Claire.  B's cousin, Claire, is only 3 months younger than he is, so it is fun to watch them begin to play and interact with each other as they are growing up.  We also had the little girl that Rachel babysits for, Baby Vivi (5 months),  along with us.

When we got to the zoo, the bears were our first stop.  We got to see some bears playing/fighting on their hind legs, which was really neat to watch. They also gave us an up close look as they walked right along the glass in front of us. You know, when you are standing only a foot away from a bear, you realize how BIG it really is!

The kids all saw the bears, but no one really got too excited about them.  I think all of us adults were much more interested in them!  I noticed how similar a bear snout and Emmy's snout are!

Next we moved on to see some more interesting animals like the leopards.  Brennan loved meowing at the big 'kitties'!  You can see his 'meow' face in the picture.

By now, he was starting to have lots of fun!  Look at that big smile!

After we were done meowing at the leopards, we went to look at the camels.  I didn't know how uneven and crooked camel humps were!  They sure looked uncomfortable to me!  Also, I didn't realize what crazy sounds a camel makes!  Listening to the older two babies imitating the camels was hilarious!  Now if you ask Brennan what sound a camel makes he says, "WHAHAAWAAA"!

Now the next animal we saw is definitely more common than leopards, camels, and bears (oh my!), but I they were the biggest hit of the day... the goats!  The reactions from all of the kiddos were priceless!  The goats are extremely interactive.  They let you pet them and feed them while climbing all over the cage.  It didn't surprise me at all that Brennan was right in the action.  He wanted to help feed the goats and pet them like crazy.  He would laugh and laugh as they climbed all over and took the food from his hands.

 
Claire couldn't really decide whether she liked the goats or not.  For a while they were funny, then they were terrifying!  After that, they weren't so bad again.  Baby Vivi thought the goats were HILARIOUS!  They definitely elicited her the biggest reaction of the day!

I think the goats were my favorite of the day, too, purely because of how interactive they were.  Their personalities are so fun and match Brennan's so well.  I think we need a goat for our backyard!  Now I just need to convince Ryan (and probably city hall)!

It was starting to get kind of chilly and rainy outside, so we decided to head inside for a while and walk around the aquarium area.  I knew this would be fun.  Brennan has really been into fish since we got our mini aquarium so I was sure that seeing the big ones up close and personal would be really cool for him.  I was right...

I love this picture!  He thought the fish were really cool, but you should have seen his eyes when the shark swam by!  You can see him pointing up in awe!

Then this next picture cracks me up.  Brennan and his cousin were having a good discussion-

Brennan: "Did you see that shark?!?!!?"
Claire: "You're full of it.  There's no shark in there."
Brennan: "No!  There is!  It just swam by right in front of the glass!  I was pointing at it but you wouldn't look!"
Claire: "That was just a big fish... You boys and your fish tales."
Brennan: "I'M TELLING YOU!  THAT WAS A SHARK!!!  IT WAS THIS BIG!"
Claire: "You're exaggerating.  Whatever."

After they got over their little tiff, we went on a jungle walk.  They managed to find a big bronze tortoise that was willing to give them a ride.  That guy has a strong neck!  It's common knowledge that tortoises are slow, but I had no idea just how slow they really are!  We didn't even see this guy move an inch the whole time we were there!

 Then my little nerd wanted to take a solo ride.  Look at his goofy face!

With our zoo experience almost over, we had one last animal we really had to see.  After all, what is a trip to the zoo without monkeys!  This little guy was really enjoying his afternoon nap.  I don't remember the actual name for this monkey, but I wanted to call him a skunk monkey. 

And in this last picture, it's pretty hard to see, but there is a monkey on the tree structure.  He was walking and swinging all over and was really fun to watch.  

The zoo trip was a huge success!  We had so much fun and Brennan really enjoyed himself. I'm so glad we were able to make time to do it!  What a great end to the summer.  

Oh, and we've been working on animal sounds A LOT since the zoo trip.  Brennan is doing great!

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