Yesterday I was extremely industrious and organized stuff for doing taxes, did laundry, cleaned out a couple of drawers of stuff I must not ever wear again because eeew. My daughter proposed taking Miss D to the Central Florida Zoo today, and I was definitely in. The weather was perfect: 70 degrees and breezy. But this is Florida, and enough people considered this too "chilly" to take the kids out, so the crowd wasn't as bad as I'd feared.
We last visited a year ago.It's a very small zoo, and still retains the small town charm it had when I took my kids to visit 30 years ago. It's pretty cool that I get to do it with Miss D.
It was a lovely day. Miss D was only one last year, and while she enjoyed the train ride, the animals were pretty much a blur to her (except the big cats; they were definitely "kitties"). This year was a different story. She's a big two year old, and all grown up. She loved the animals this year! The river otters were a huge hit; the siamangs were hugely vocal, swinging around and making their territorial calls. The cooler temps really made a difference; the animals hate the oppressive FL heat and humidity as much as I do! Miss D enjoyed it all very much.
But the most memorable moment of the day was when the rhino pooped. She discussed it with her "mom" (mommy days are already over; she calls her mother "Mom" now) after they got home. Clearly, it made an impression. It horrified me - "rhino keeper" is officially off the potential career change list. Even for a very large animal, that was...impressive. Memorable. Nearly as memorable as hearing my two year old granddaughter correctly pronounce "rhinoceros." Mom, look, the rhinoceros is eating!" (This was followed by That Which Cannot Be Unseen.)
We rode the train again this year. Miss D loved it last year, but this year, as the conductor was taking tickets (and after he'd taken ours) she suddenly said, "No train. Don't want to ride train!" and started to cry, and try to climb over her Mommy (excuse me, her "Mom") to escape. Mom talked her into sitting down, held her close, and of course, once the train got moving, it was really kinda fun! It's a very tiny, kid-sized train - grownup knees are folded up at chest level - and it doesn't do anything very exciting, but it's cute, and she did enjoy it. She is not a child who rushes headlong into new things. She has to be persuaded.
The train is kind of scary. Mom is holding her in a tight grip to keep her from fleeing.
Okay, you were right, the train is fun!
As we were leaving we passed three zoo docents holding small critters for the kids to meet. The very nice lady tried to get Delaney to touch the pretty red snake. Miss D was willing to get close, but touch it?
Not going to happen. Thank you anyway.
I did not take a picture of the rhino pooping. Think...volcano. Volcano of poop. Whatever the zoo pays their keepers, it is NOT ENOUGH.