The Zoo

 One of the places Thalia and I always go is the zoo.  She's always been an animal lover, and the petting zoo portion of our local zoo has always been a favorite of hers.  The boys have been, too, but they don't love it like Thalia does.  On this day, I piled up my car with Thalia in the front and 3 little men in the back.  Off to the zoo we went!

The monkeys were first.  They were very entertaining!  We reminisced about Bill...the chimp who used to live there but has since passed away.  The resident zoo cat came to greet us.

 The boys were amazed at the flamingos...standing on one leg, trying to figure out where their head was when they had it all tucked in.

 Thalia loved this guy...

 even this one...

 The boys were checking out all spider information...

 Benjamin (top) and Emerson (bottom) both stuck their head in the hole so they could be a spider.  We tried to maneuver William, but it didn't work.  Seeing as I was holding the camera, it was the big boys' task to get William's head in the right spot... I finally said, "Just forget it," and they did!

 The big boys were hungry, so we left William with Thalia in the petting zoo and went out to the car to get our lunch.  Emerson didn't want the sandwiches we had made...he wanted a corny dog.  He'd seen the little cafe and menu as we walked into the zoo.  We took our lunch and ate in the cafe...Benjamin his sandwich and Emerson his corny dog.  Benjamin had no interest in anything other than his organic bread with his organic peanut butter!  Emerson totally loved his corny dog!  It was all perfect!  I was definitely happy about that! 

 Back to the petting zoo...

 You may notice you don't see photos of Emerson here...nope, he decided he would rather NOT be in the petting part.  He stepped out...and when I looked over at him, he was going through the motions of both pitching and batting.  It reminded me so much of my dad who would practice his golf swing or his putt anywhere...the front yard, the living room...didn't make any difference!  I told him I wanted to take his picture.  "No, I don't want my picture made," he answered. 

 William got hungry and since I had his sandwich with me, he just came out of the petting area, sat on the bench and started to eat.

 Well, well...there were some other critters who were also hungry!

 William wasn't too sure about that!  Actually, I had to shoo him away after he quickly came up and snapped at William's sandwich!

 Every once in a while, Emerson would venture in and pet some animals...

 Thalia was content to just sit and watch them...waiting to see if they would come to her  (They did)

 Once everyone was petted-out...we took off exploring a little more.  You may be able to tell that the rope they are standing in is shaped like a spider web...

 There was this little area with an old tractor...and a big plastic horse....

 Not everyone was agreeable to have his picture taken...at least at first.  That's OK...

 Eventually, they all sat on the tractor (except Thalia) and everyone sat on the horse (except Emerson)... so we figured it was time to head home...

 

Oops!  We couldn't leave yet!!!  Another tradition Thalia and I have is taking her picture by this cart.  I think this is the first time it hasn't had flowers in it... oh well, we took our picture anyway!

Ahhh, my 4 most precious grandchildren!