Yesterday our family (daughter, fiance, son, husband and myself) took a little trip to the big city for her 28th birthday, which was the day before (May 3rd). She suggested she might like to go to the zoo, something we had not done all together since the kids were very young. The weather was perfect for this! Some sun, some breeze, the trees at the zoo were out in blossom, and the day was wonderful.
The zoo is a BIG place, with lots of walking (providing large areas for the different kinds of animals that require it). Husband has been a bit of a hurting unit since he's been working on doing trim work (crown molding, sanding, filling, sanding, filling, painting, ...) all while bracing himself awkwardly on a ladder for a few days. Although I try to get out and walk every day, it's never the extent that this would involve and my lower back arthritis is never completely a non-issue, but we sucked it up and had a great time seeing all the animals and remembering the experience from about twenty years ago.
At one point we tried to recreate a picture which I thought had husband and both kids in it. However, the only one I could find at home was this one:
So yesterday's photo has all three of them in it. Same bronze statue, aprx. twenty years later.
Another moment we tried to recreate was this one, where when we first went to the zoo, there was an extremely friendly large fish who enchanted our daughter. We called it the "greeter fish". In my memory (obviously defunct) there was a picture of daughter alone, with the fish. Alas, this is what I found in the photo album:
This is the recreation, even though is isn't quite correct. Daughter is blowing her face up, like the fish.
One photo that was new this year, because I honestly don't think they had this bronze statue back then, is daughter and I with the snow leopard and her cub (symbolic, I thought, for her birthday).
And here is the real snow leopard, looking like your typical house cat, totally relaxed and asleep, right at the glass where we could have a good look! Thank you, snow leopard!
Some of my other favourites yesterday were the sloths, the capybara, and the grizzly bear.
Capybaras look like kiwi fruit and that grizzly was HUGE. We were a little sad that there were certain animals that were not available to see yesterday, such as the full troop of orangutans, and we weren't sure if we saw the famous silver back gorilla, Charles. The gorillas were not yet in their outdoor area, which would have been fabulous to see them in. As well, the zoo no longer keeps elephants and hasn't for quite a few years. That's probably for the best.
There was a special focus at the zoo yesterday, that being all the frogs that are currently singing their little frog hearts out. Toads, too. I sincerely hope whoever was in this get up was getting paid well!!
Experiencing a day out at the zoo with your adult children is so much more fun (or a different kind of fun) than when they are wee little and your are always watching them, keeping them safe, carrying them on your shoulders, explaining everything to them... I'm so glad daughter suggested this to us. Making new memories!
Added later: daughter sent me this pic today:
And here was the original with just sister and brother.
