The Zoo With Alex

We took full advantage of a non-rainy start to the day and temperatures in the 60's and headed to the zoo with Aunt Megan and Baby Alex. Koen is so sweet, he gets so excited to hang out with babies. The other day we were talking about how Tav will eventually sleep on the bottom bunk and Koen will move to the top bunk in his room. Koen loves talking about this exciting thing in the future, but this time he asks, "what will we do with Tavin's room?" I said that we would probably use it as a guest room, or if we decide to have another baby it would be the baby's room (note that this is all a maybe). Koen said, "Oh, that's a great idea. Let's do that!" So cute! Anyways, he was very excited to go to the zoo today with Baby Alex along for the adventure. Alex was so good the whole time just hanging out in the stroller checking out whatever it was he could see from his vantage point. Tavin was actually very curious about him. It'll be fun to see them become friends someday and play together! This was Tavin's first interactive zoo trip. He did well hanging in the stroller, but he did get down and crawl a little and several times I picked him up to show him certain animals. He was particularly interested in the elephants. We were making the elephant noise and he loved it. It's so fun seeing him growing up and understanding so much more now. Koen enjoyed the trip. He loves directing us through the zoo as he checks out the map. He's my little zoo navigator every time.

He always enjoys the elephants, giraffes, gorillas and polar bears. A lot of the animals were more active than usual today. I think they were happy for the break from the rain this AM and the warmer temps. The tiger cubs were out this morning. It's the first time that I've seen them (they were born this winter). So cute! They seem to have no clue they are in captivity. One of them was chasing a bird and even lunged towards it to catch it. The adult tiger just seemed to roll its eyes at the baby as if to say, "you'll learn that it doesn't matter eventually." Kind of sad, but really sweet to see the playful little ones!

Anyways back to the kids, Koen loved the slides at the end of our animal tour and this was the first time little brother got to participate. Tavin also loved the experience of course. The smile on his face tells it all! Koen's favorite was probably our picnic lunch (he was asking to sit and eat since we arrived at 10am, he had helped me pack a lunch box, so I think he was just dying to use it, plus he is a hungry bug!). He sat with Aunt Megan and was quite conversational. We got the boys fed just before a major downpour rolled in. We were debating on waiting it out in a pavilion or bolting to the car for fear it was going to be a long storm. We opted to do option B - book it! We ran through the zoo and out to the parking lot in pouring down rain. Tavin looked so confused, but enjoyed eating his grapes out of the stroller tray despite the jostling pace and rain in the face. Koen, of course, thought it was hilarious to go so fast (and was slightly troubled about getting his pants wet). About a minute after we got to the car the rain slowed and then stopped. Classic! Oh well, it was a fun adventure and since I had the boys and myself dressed warmer than necessary, we all just took off a layer and went about our few errands before going home.

Thanks for a fun morning out in the fresh air, Megan. We totally needed this. Your little man did such a great job! We look forward to many more outings with Alex.