You would think the prospect of going to get a doughnut and a trip to the zoo would be an exciting proposition for a youngster. Not so for my Ciárán.
There is no pre-school for Ciárán Thursday or Friday of this week. Pre-school conferences are taking place (essentially assessments for Kindergarten readyness). So my schedule is a bit more loose. Thursday I decided to take Ciárán and Xavier to the zoo. It would be a nice change of pace rather than sitting in front of the television all morning. Since I didn’t have the time constraints of worrying about when to get home for lunch before taking Ciárán to preschool, I figured it would be a great activity. Since we have an annual zoo pass, it was almost like a free activity for us.
Ciárán had other thoughts on the matter.
He was actually nearly in tears, not wanting to go. Seriously. He wanted to pass up a doughnut and the zoo. Tough shit, kid, you’re going.
On the way to the doughnut shop, Xavier asked what’s going on. I think he was confused about why somebody would be upset about the double-bliss hit of animals and sugary fried dough. I said “Ciárán is just being disagreeable,” to which Ciárán piped in saying “You’re right, I’m not very agreeable today.”
We get our sugary treats, even the grumpy one, and head out to the zoo. We didn’t stay all day, because I did want to get home for lunch and put Xavier down for nap, but I was glad to be able to go and not worry about time. My mood was good, Xavier’s mood was good, and Ciárán was… well, I think the doughnut had helped.
First up was the penguins (which are right next to the entrance). Kids love the penguins. And there was no crowd on a Thursday morning – not even the usual toddler parent crowd. This was nice, as my kids could actually get up and see the animals without having to fight for position.
Then it was decision time. Since we weren’t spending all day there, we needed to pick one or two animals we specifically wanted to check out, and then stop off and visit the other animals along those routes. The decision was elephants and orangutans. Easy enough since they are on the same loop.
Every time we see this exhibit, the Ramones song pops in my head
Maybe it was the penguins (see the actual smile on his face) or maybe it was the sugar from the doughnut kicking in, but Ciárán’s mood began to improve. There was the Jaguar, the gorillas, the warthogs and the empty lion exhibit. It was empty because a few cubs had recently been born and the parents are on display only intermittently.
We were disappointed the orangutans were not on display. Theirs is one of the better enclosures in the zoo with plenty of open space and stuff for them to interact with. Oh well. Next door (so to speak) was the siamang, and nobody was there other than a volunteer watching them and taking notes. We spent a while there almost interacting with the two primates. Xavier particularly was fascinated with them.
You may not be able to tell, but there are two elephants in the background
Finally we made it to the elephant area, and despite this being the animal Xavier wanted to see, he suddenly got scared. As we approached he started making elephant noises, then when we rounded the corner and he saw the elephant, he stopped and put his hands over his ears. He was probably afraid the elephants would answer him!
As we were leaving Ciárán asked if we could go through the tropical rain forest exhibit. Since he had been so well behaved, we had plenty of time, and the animal he wanted to see wasn’t on display, I agreed. Ciárán loves the tropical rain forest exhibit because it has poison tree frogs.
It was finally time to leave. Walking to the van Ciárán said “You know, that was kind of enjoyable.” Glad you came along.