You never know what will happen on a Saturday

Our Saturday started out with rather mild plans. The national zoo was having an early opening with some kid-friendly events like animal feeding and birdhouse construction. We got out the door early and to the zoo by 8:30. It was a fun day for animal watching. It hit me that most animals are more active in the dawn and dusk time frame rather than the middle of the day (when most humans can get 3 kids dressed, fed, loaded in the car, and drive downtown.) Our first stop was the farm animals (cows and goats). Next was the big cats, where a tiger was out and active. It was pretty fun to watch the tiger prowl. He was hungry. He would go up to the door where he is presumably fed, and growl loudly. We then moved on to watch a squirrel taunt the prairie dogs by jumping in and out of their exhibit.



After regrouping we decided to try and catch the stingray feeding. It was in a obscure part of the zoo in an exhibit dedicated to the Amazon. We missed the feeding, but there was a very nice zoo employee who chatted to our kids for a few minutes about rays. Then we walked around the corner and found a huge aquarium. I swear, our kids could have been there all day watching these fish, some were as big as our 4 year old. There were a couple more aquariums and exhibits which were just as captivating. It was all the better because the exhibits were not crowded, and we could linger as long as we wanted.



We decided to walk back up and see the construction area where they made birdhouses and plaster molds. After that our eyes caught a chimp 40 feet up in the air. I've never seen this in a zoo before, but the Chimp exhibit is housed in two locations perhaps 100-200 yards apart, linked by something resembling a ropes-course (except, of course, that ropes-courses are modeled off cool jungle stuff. so it's moderately circular. but I digress). There were two ropes suspended between towers maybe 30-40 feet up. A series 4-5 towers made the skyway for the chimps to cross over into their other area. We watched three chimp climb up the tower, swing arm over arm and tight-rope walk, and then descend into their other house. It was pretty cool, and I bet that the animals loved it even more.







As were stalled trying to figure out what to do next or whether to go home, I heard, "Sam, Mollie." At first I thought it was one of our kids trying to get our attention (like after repeated "Dad" attempts), but it was Jason and his three kids. They were up for the day from out of town. We rounded up the kids and went to a local park and played for a while. Our kids are pretty close in age, so everybody had a buddy. I think that these ages are the best for playground fun. they are pretty much self-motivated and self-guided. Add in the excitement of having some new friends, and it was a perfect play date. Afterwards we went out for lunch.






All in all, a great day.