Best Zoo Visit Ever!

Yesterday, we had an usually warm day. Mike came up with the great idea to go to the zoo. We hadn't been since August. Back then, Liam thought the zoo was a place to go to look at other kids. He would actually get a little bent out of shape that people wanted to look at animals instead of flirting with him. We were interested to see how he did now that he was a little older. The zoo hosted Cookies with Santa earlier in the day so we pretty much had the place to ourselves later in the afternoon.
We could tell things were different with the animals. When we went to the zebras, two came right up to us.

The camels were waiting for someone to come by and say hello. The one on the left even seemed to ham it up a bit when I took out my camera.

In the farm area, I struck up a conversation with one of the zookeepers. She explained that in the summer, the animals are stuck with people all the time. In the winter, they start to miss them. This seemed like an acceptable explanation. It was proven by the snow leopards. Usually, they stay way at the top of their rocks and try their best to ignore us. Today, they came right down and even put on a little pouncing show for our entertainment.

As tradition, we had to take Liam's picture on the big bronze dog.

This is a local tradition. In the list of birth rites in Rhode Island, having your picture taken on the dog at Roger William's Zoo is at the top of the list.

Kristy and I and probably seven and eight here.
The tradition continued. We were 23 and 24 here. We gave this one to our parents that year for Christmas. They loved it.

I have to give Mike credit for coming up with a great idea. Whenever we have a warm day, we will be at the zoo. Liam finally noticed that there are animals there. He was fascinated by the elephants. He watched on gather hey with his trunk and put it in him mouth for about ten minutes. He liked the zebras, camels, pink flamingos, and giraffes. Animals that blend into their habitat, such as bison, wolves, and the anteater, he couldn't pick out. I can't wait to see how much he enjoys the zoo as he grows older.