This place is a zoo

(And it was actually pretty busy to boot, though part of that was due to it being a decently sunny winter day.)

Incidentally, this post's title reminds me that I should point out that a certain zoo advertisement which I grew up with is arguably Detroit's most important contribution to the ad industry, if not its greatest contribution to television and wildlife conservation as a whole. That's just sad.

In honor of Zachary turning 7 months old (already?!), we decided to renew our attempt to go to the zoo today. The trip actually started off like the one that didn't work out, with a trip to our favorite kaiten sushi with friends M & K. (Recall that last time, Zachary ended up sleeping in the restaurant's parking lot for like two and a half hours, so by the time we got to lunch it was already late afternoon, and too late for the zoo.) This time he was awake and alert throughout the drive and lunch; he really loves his new convertible car seat, which lets him look all around and see the world zooming (or, depending on traffic, often creeping) by. At lunch, he split his time between the high chair and Meh's lap. He demonstratred his new favorite drinking option - via an elevated straw half-filled with water, with our finger in the other end to help control the flow. He alternates between lapping, gulping, and sucking, all while smiling and raising his hands. He also found playing with a chopstick wrapper to be fascinating.

After saying our goodbyes (and taking a quick detour to pick up some tasty cupcakes) we were off to the zoo! Yup, we definitely must be in Seattle if the zoo had the foresight to snap up the coveted zoo.org address. I can't speak for zoos in other cities, but the Woodland Park Zoo seems to be the place to take your babies and young children. Well, at least a very popular one; the mall where we had lunch tends to be pretty stroller-rich as well. And despite it being fairly chilly still, the zoo was pretty packed with grown ups and kids alike. The zoo actually has a giant indoor kid play area (the Zoomazium) that might alone be worth the price of admission -- we didn't go in this time, but it looked like a blast. Meh was particularly thrilled by the tiny child-sized round doors a few feet over from the adult-accessible entrance.

Zachary still hadn't had a nap, so we knew there was an impending meltdown, but for the first bit he was very happy and kicky. He particularly loved the sounds of the animals - a squawking bird and bleating goats were his favorites. Most of the indoor facilities unfortunately ban strollers, so eventually he went mobile with daddy in the bjorn, and we checked out reptiles for a few minutes and then the nocturnal animal exhibit. He didn't really seem to get the animals scurrying around in the near darkness, but he loved looking at the blue-tinted barely-illuminating lights along the path through the exhibit.

Zachary eventually fell asleep in the stroller, and we kept puttering around for a bit. It was somewhat amusing (and yet worrying) to see all of the young toddlers and pre-schoolers wandering around the park. A few were calmly sitting in strollers, but a bunch were in those harness/leash contraptions, and others were running their parents a bit ragged. We kept seeing and hearing exasperated/annoyed parents scolding or warning their kids, though I still haven't heard someone yelling for their young Zachary yet... We also had a surprise encounter with somebody Meh knew in a totally different context; when we walked past the outdoor bird-flying/demonstration facility, Meh recognized the bird wrangler (who was holding an impressively large owl on her gloved hand) as one of her teachers from library school. Talk about a jack (jill?) of all trades!

Tonight I'm performing at an orchestra concert; hopefully in another year or two Zachary and mommy will be able to come and hear these kinds of evening concerts, but for now I think we'll be sticking with matinees.