My Girls at the Zoo.

My daughter and her Mini-Me.  I swear, Miss D looks so much like her mother at this age, it's uncanny! 

It's ridiculously hot this week.  The air conditioning is on, because I can't stand it.  We visited the Central Florida Zoo the other day and it was nearly summertime hot - mid-80s.  The humidity wasn't quite summer awful, so it was pleasant in the shade, but Good God, it's the end of JANUARY! 

I hadn't been to this zoo in probably 20 years.  They've done a lot with it, all things considered - it's small and not terribly well-funded, and located on swampy land very close to the river, so that has put restrictions on expansion plans, but it's a fun place to take kids for an afternoon.  They've added things like a zip line and carousel, and a tiny (and I mean TINY) train that takes a big loop around the front of the property.  

Miss D thought the train was AWESOME!

She's only 15 months, so she's not quite at the zoo-loving age yet, but she definitely had a good time and took it all in. The train was probably her favorite thing, but she stayed awake and interested throughout. It's a small zoo and it was not at all crowded, so a 15 month old could walk the boardwalk through the Florida nature walk like a big girl, and she really liked that.  

The nature trail was fun - it didn't have animals, but signs and informational displays about the prehistoric animals that lived in Florida. The tortoises the size of a small car are gone, but the landscape remains pretty much the same.

Miss D's a riot.  We brought her stroller, of course, but when we tried to load her up in the parking lot she started to throw a fit!  She wanted to walk!  So Mommy held her hand and Grandma pushed the empty stroller, and this lasted quite a while, and she walked quite briskly through the park, including a good long way through the nature trail, until suddenly when we stopped to look at an exhibit, she turned and climbed into the stroller on her own.  Okay, I'm done walking, you may push me now.

 Miss D's Mama fed the Llama.

The Amur Leopard.

Yes, I know, the chain link gives me a sad too, but the enclosure is actually pretty decent, with climbing places and shade and a waterfall.  The leopard was a hit with Miss D, and was the first time she'd said, "Kitty!" since Higgins died.  Higgins was Kitty, and the big kitties were Kitty too.

The cougar needs better housing, but the enclosure is more spacious than this picture appears.

The newest residents, the river otters, have a positively palatial estate.  I'm looking forward to the completion of the expansion plans, when everybody should get similar housing.  I'm also really proud of this photo. :-)

Temperatures are supposed to drop 20 degrees tonight, and not a moment too soon for me. It's JANUARY!