The zoo, and Orange Juice

     Yes, I know, that's an odd mix in the title there. But we had a fun and hilarious day yesterday. First of all, because I went running almost as soon as I woke up (5AM), when I got back I was able to make breakfast for all of us, and we ate breakfast together (doesn't happen often). Nathaniel and I had egg sandwiches, while Jessica just had her usual banana and eggs. Well, Nathaniel and I both also had orange juice, and Jessica would not be satisfied until I put some OJ in her cup as well. It was hilarious!!! She took a sip and then made the face where she doesn't like something, and wants us to take it out of her mouth, but she had already swallowed it. Then there was the delayed reaction sour face. I so wish I had my camera with me and ready at that point, it was one of the best and funniest faces I've ever seen. It was the "take it out" face, (mouth as wide open as it will go) but then her mouth narrowed, and her left eye shut, and her head shook a little. We were cracking up. So I gave her orange juice to Nathaniel, and then she started asking for more. So I let her have some apple juice.
     Then Jessica and I picked up Steph, and we headed up to the zoo for a girls' day out. That was so much fun! We had gone in September (over Labor Day weekend, but Jessica wasn't even quite 1 yet, so she didn't really quite understand what was going on. She could probably still benefit from a couple months (or years) before she gets way excited over going to the zoo, but she did love seeing the animals.

 

Here she is in her stroller, stylin' in her hat, dress (Thanks Aunt Carley!), sandals, and sunglasses. It would take her a while to see the animals in their enclosures, we would have to sit there and point to them for a while, but once she did, she would lean forward in the stroller, and give her little high-pitched giggle "ah-hah". So cute! (Don't worry, we have her slathered in sunscreen, maybe even a little too thick in some places)

 

This pictures was taken right outside the giraffe enclosure. I would say the giraffes were her favorite. The giraffe was eating as we pointed it out to Jessica, and so its tongue was going in and out, and doing circles around its mouth. Jessica started moving her tongue in and out, copying the giraffe. We were trying to get a picture with her tongue out, and if you enlarge the picture, and look carefully, you can see that she is doing something with the tongue, but it was hard to get her to cooperate. Also, near the giraffes were the ostriches, There was one right near the fence, which was fun, because Jessica was able to see it fairly easily. It started bending it's neck up and down, and Jessica decided that she would try to copy it. So cute! (sorry no picture).

     Apparently, yesterday was part of Hogle's "Zoorassic Park". They had dinosaur robots scattered around the park. The first one we came across was the T-Rex, and Jessica wasn't a fan. It roared in her face and scared her. But it was rather big, and, to her, rather loud. She was also scared of the rhino, but she loved the "big kitty" (that's what I called it for her, it was actually a tiger). We came in behind the big cats enclosure, so we saw some of the tigers, but we figured we'd end with the big cats, so we didn't go in yet. She didn't care either way for the elephants (mama or baby). We got to the elephant enclosure, and were able to find out what her priorities were. "BALL!!!" Yup, that's right, there was a big red ball in the enclosure. Never mind the 12 foot tall animals, she wanted the ball.

 

Jessica really didn't want to stand still for this picture, but I figured it would be fun to have one from this zoo trip as well. We had one last time. Unfortunately, she decided to run away, and toward the open door to the primate enclosure. 

 

This is her running away from me, after I went to get her from the aforementioned door. (My shoes are the pink/colorful ones in the background). I just thought it was an adorable picture.

     We didn't stay at the zoo for terribly long, maybe an hourish, but with Jessica being only 1 and a half, and Steph is 20 weeks pregnant, so after the monkeys, we decided to go see the big cats and then go. Jessica seemed to be getting tired, because she really wouldn't look and try to notice most of the cats I pointed out. The we reached the tiger enclosure. There was a pond right at the front (up next to a window) that one of the tigers was sitting in, so I took Jessica right up next to it. Her eyes did light up a bit, and then the tiger jumped at the ball right in front of it, splashing the glass. She was done. It startled her, and it startled me, so I jumped as well. She immediately started crying, and latched on to me. Oops. It was still fun to take her to the zoo and see her realize that there were actually animals in the enclosures. 

     After the zoo, we went out to Chili's for lunch. The server was really nice, and brought out an orange wedge and some maraschino cherries for Jessica (free of charge). The funny thing there was, Jessica ate about 1/2 of one of the cherries, before deciding she would rather have her peanut butter sandwich and applesauce. (Yay! for healthy food). The orange was basically a repeat of the orange juice. She took the wedge and decided to bite into it, (the correct way at least, no rind) and then she got the really sour face look, and put it down. She didn't touch it again. It was a very fun day. I wish I had more pictures of some of the funnier things, but I cared more about actually participating, and actually looking at her face, than capturing it on my camera. Oh well.