I don't know why I don't take this boy to the zoo more. He was so much fun! When we first walked in I asked him which animals he wanted to see, the lions, giraffes, tigers, or elephants. Monkeys! He screamed. The only monkeys I knew of were right in the middle of the park, so he had to suffer through some other amazing animals to reach them. Animals like lions.
Giraffes.
And antelopes. He wasn't impressed by any of them, but he did make some interesting observations when watching the antelope. I recorded our conversation, but it went something like this. Me, "Look, that animal is trying to eat the leaves."
Kelton, "Like my leaf dinner?" (He had crumbled up leaves earlier in the week and tried to give them to me for my leaf dinner.)
Me, "Yes, like your leaf dinner."
Kelton, "He needs scissors."
Me, "Why does he need scissors?"
Kelton, "He needs scissors to cut the strings so he can go to my house. He's trapped. He wants my leaf dinner."
When we finally reached the monkey enclosure Kelton was so happy. There were two monkeys climbing around on the ropes above our heads, Kelton thought they were playing tag.
We pulled out our snacks and watched the monkeys play until they had hidden behind some trees but Kelton wasn't satisfied. He wanted to see more monkeys. Well, I knew the gorillas had to be there somewhere, however I had never seen them so we were on a mission.
On the ways we found a lorikeet exhibit. We bought a cup of nectar so Kelton could feed the birds. He loved it. He couldn't reach most of the birds because they were just too high, and I couldn't hold him high enough because I had Daxton in my arms too, so I fed most of them. One of them actually climbed onto my hand while he slurped his food. Kelton loved the birdies drinking their "birdie juice," and was a little disappointed when the juice was all gone.
After the birds we stumbled upon the entire primate exhibit. I didn't even know it existed before this day, what a loss! Kelton saw monkeys to his hearts content; black ones, white ones, little ones, hairy ones, brown ones, and gorillas.
But he found heaven in the orangutans. Orange monkeys?! Are you serious?! I couldn't get Kelton away from the glass as he watched them climb trees, slide down ropes, eat popcorn, and stare back at him.
I finally convinced him to help me find the bears but then we were sidetracked by the outdoor orangutan exhibit. We watched one who was lying in a canvas-like hammock. He had a blanket and just wanted to get comfortable. He kept adjusting it, throwing it, and wrapping it around himself. At one point it snagged on a tree branch and he had to really work to get it free. He basically had to jump up and down in his bed to get it loose. Kelton thought he was jumping in his bed just like in the song, so we had to sing "Five little monkeys jumping on the bed," over and over again.
I used it as a distraction to get him to willing leave the zoo. That kid was not done, but Dax was pretty wiped out after his first trip and it was time to go. What an awesome morning.
