Sawyer and I went to the zoo last Sunday to give Abby a little bit of a break. There’s really only one way to wear him down and that’s to give him plenty of room to run. The zoo is the perfect place for him.
We were early so apparently most of the animals were still asleep. Fortunately, Sawyer found something else to play with:
Apparently he’s never seen one in the wild. He must have spent a good five minutes talking to, hugging, and even kissing that fire hydrant. I don’t know that he realized the connection to a fire engine, otherwise known as a “wee-ohh, wee-ohh, wee-ohh,” but he sure did enjoy it.
The only way I could break the fire hydrant’s trance was to tell him that he could see Horton next. I made it almost all of the way to the elephant exhibit when Little Puffer toot-tooted. Sawyer immediately stopped, turned, and took off running for the train. He knew exactly where to go.
He’s clearly annoyed that I’m preventing him from watching the engine huff and puff:
Once on the move, he can barely contain his excitement, especially in the tunnel:
Here’s the tail end of the ride. He’s getting much better at saying goodbye instead of screaming to go again:
He and I finally made it to the elephant house, but none were out. Lame. Sawyer couldn’t have cared less, he played with the baby elephant sculpture for just as long as the fire hydrant:
After that he chased a peacock, saw some monkeys, baboons, giraffes, zebras (he loves those), and an airplane. Once to the car I reviewed this list with him and he agreed that he saw all of those things. I was thrilled. I then asked him if he saw a cow today and he said yes. He did not and that made me sad.
Thanks for going to the zoo with me, Sawyer. I hope we have another nice weekend so you and I can go back to ride Little Puffer again. I love it almost as much as you.
Here’s a handful of somewhat random pictures from my phone from last weekend at the zoo. They pretty much encompass the entire time he was sick with a fever, or what we now know was Roseola.
On the merry-go-round (and generally feeling pretty good about it):
On Little Puffer (and not too happy about it):
And the morning after with the world’s best bedhead:
Thankfully he’s doing much better now, just in time for my parents to visit next week!
At the zoo we visited the merry-go-round, the visiting Fisher-Price toy tent, the Little Puffer train, and the penguins. Of all of these things, he found this to be the most entertaining.
Sawyer loves the merry-go-round. He is slightly impatient while waiting for the bell to ring, and the ride to start. This merry-go-round was build in 1921, and it still looks great.
This morning, Sawyer and I bundled up for a quick trip to the zoo. It was a cool 65° when we left our house, and only 58° at the zoo, which is typical due to its location right off of the ocean. Sawyer yawned the entire way over, and truthfully would have been happier taking a long nap in bed, but this was our best chance to do it. I’m glad we went.
He saw this sculpture on the way to the Family Farm. It was a struggle to reach the top of Mt. Turtle:
But he was bound and determined:
And oh so happy at the top:
There’s really only one attraction inside the Family Farm (and no, I don’t think he likes the goats at all):
We made our way back to the meerkats, who were finally out and about:
Sawyer was mesmerized. He stood there motionless for several minutes (they seemed to like him too):
I was able to grab some quick video of them while Sawyer ran around the tunnels with some other kids:
He was adamant that we take a ride on the merry-go-round, and even though his previous experience was thoroughly unpleasant, it was a long time ago so I relented. He loved it:
He insisted that we go around a second time, and even that wasn’t enough:
The pictures didn’t turn out as well as the video, just look at his smile:
That was the best four dollars I’ve ever spent!
We went to the zoo today and discovered that there was a playground. Scott taught Sawyer his favorite thing to do on the swings — pretend you’re Superman.
These days, Sawyer can’t decide if he needs just one nap or two. It is around this age that toddlers move to one nap a day. Somedays he can make it, others not so much. Today he just had a 20 minute nap in the car after the zoo. He had no interest in napping when we got home. He gets very loud and very crazy when he needs sleep. Get ready Ohio, he climbs non-stop!
Sawyer really likes the petting farm at the zoo. He smiles from ear to ear.
Learning to play duck, duck, goose.
Returning to his family roots from my side of the family, he loved the tractors — mostly because they have “Wheeeelsz.”
He spied a goat.
Sheep.
Tired lions from the big part of the zoo.
It was unexpectedly hot at the zoo, and the outfit I picked out for Sawyer was much too warm for him. Luckily Abby had a spare in the diaper bag, so after the petting zoo we gave him a quick change. Voila, brand new Sawyer.
Here he is taking in the sights and sounds of the playground (there were kids everywhere):
Then we came across one of the many peacocks that roam the grounds:
Sawyer loved it, peacock not so much:
He looks so much more comfortable:
We made our way over to the penguins to see their afternoon feeding. No pictures of that, but rest assured Sawyer was enthralled by the way they moved on land and swam in the water. He wiggled the entire time we were there.
After lunch by the “Little Puffer” train station, we went to see the monkeys. Sawyer felt right at home:
Abby’s turn:
Up top:
Then the giraffes:
I’m pretty sure he’s posing for these:
Looking at the ostrich:
And last but not least, he takes in the gorilla exhibit:
You can tell that we wore him out, but as I said yesterday he couldn’t have been happier. I can’t wait to take him back, and I can only hope we’ll soon have another beautiful afternoon for a trip to the zoo!
It was a beautiful day in San Francisco today, well over 80° and not a cloud in the sky. The zoo is located on the ocean-side of town, so it’s almost always much cooler over there, but when the air is still and the fog is gone it’s just perfect. After the game and a quick lunch for Sawyer, we hopped in the car and headed out for the afternoon.
We went straight to the meerkats:
I think he liked them:
Then we walked over to the children’s petting zoo (this was Sawyer’s preferred mode of transportation — he wore me out):
He loved the ducks:
And walked all around:
But really wanted to swim:
Tons of goats (Sawyer had no fear):
Luckily he wasn’t in the middle of this:
Standing with Abby at the edge of the pond:
The ducks were just inches away:
And the swan too:
He loved every second of it:
Sawyer stayed up well past his normal afternoon nap time, but never once grew tired of the zoo. He loved watching the other kids as much as the animals, the seagulls, and the many peacocks that roam the grounds. He finally feel asleep in the car on our way home, which was hardly enough, but he went to right to sleep after dinner without a fuss. I know he’ll have plenty of stories to tell us in the morning.
Should we ever leave San Francisco, today was one of those days I will always remember. I wish we could have stayed out another hour to watch the sunset — with the normal heavy fog there’s nothing to see, but today would have been perfect.