Who knew that beautiful Sunday afternoons in the fall were good for something else other than sitting on the couch watching the Bengals invent more ways to lose?
The less-than-lovable-losers were not on local TV yesterday thanks to their inability to sell out of tickets for the titanic struggle on the banks of the Ohio River with the Bills.
Sounds like a recipe for a fun family outing to me.
We loaded the kids in the car, picked up Pop along the way, and we were off to the Cincinnati Zoo.
On the drive I over I polled the boys about what animals they were most looking forward to seeing. The results:
Lleyton - Alligator (although he was very fearful of Addy getting too close to the alligators because if one were to bite her hand off she would bleed and she wouldn't be able to play with him anymore)
Parker - Meerkat
We were able to see a few alligators, but the closest thing we got to a meerkat was a few squirrels that were lurking behind the counter of the food stand that we stopped to grab a quite bite and a drink from. Seeing squirrels frolic around near food prep areas can diminish even the hungriest patron's appetite.
Note to zoo management - Possibly consider the following revision to your website...
NEW Menu Items! Watering Hole - Located in Historic Vine Street Village. Choose from six different types of beer, soft drinks, snacks, freshly cut french fries, fresh chicken tenders, pub fried pretzels, and LIVE SQUIRRELS!
I digress.
Our time at the zoo was very well spent.
Lleyton loved running from animal to animal attempting to communicate with almost each one using the animal's language. I am pretty sure this white lion actually carried on some sort of conversation with our little man.
Although this polar bear was behind thick glass and under water, he had to hear Lleyton's very loud (ie. shrill) polar bear call. He responded by putting a nice show for us and those around us (the polar bear that is).
I brokered a deal between Pop and Parker that worked for both sides. Instead of Parker requesting that Pop read the description of every animal that we saw, it was agreed upon that Pop would read about any animal from Africa.
For the most part Addy enjoyed being ushered around the zoo in her chariot. It's tough to see many animals for her vantage point, but I think she was plenty entertained by Lleyton's tomfoolery.
No offense to the very active polar bear, but the most entertaining animal sighting of the day had to be Lleyton chasing a group of sparrows that had quickly seized their opportunity to pounce on the granola bar that he had dropped onto the ground. He was remarkably close to corralling a unsuspecting bird or two. Although he unsuccessful in his hunt, trust me, those tiny little birds got grown man sized tongue lashing from our little guy.
Polar bears remain my favorite animal at the zoo, but that's not to say the inhabitants of Monkey Island weren't quite entertaining to watch. I think they too may have been a bit spooked by Lleyton, as he was imploring them to jump into the water and swim over to him.
While Lleyton enjoys talking to (screaming at) the animals, Parker would rather have his picture taken with them.
I hope these boys never stop enjoying hanging out with each other as much as they do now.
