The Zoo Adventures

After working late three nights this week, Dad got to have a half day on Friday! What made this even better was that Dad had a great idea on how to spend the afternoon. Today, we took James to the Lincoln Park Zoo!

We had a fantastic time! It was in the low 40s but the sun was out and shining. While Dad put together James' stroller, Mom got James all bundled up inside the car.

Then, we were off to explore the zoo! The first house we went into was the Big Cat House. James and Tiny were all ready to go in and see Tiny's bigger cousins.

As soon as we walked in, we heard this very loud, very deep growling. It was a succession of short grunts and then one big rooooooaar! Mom looked to Dad and said, "What in God's name was that?" As it turns out, it was a really really big, and possibly very angry male lion.

As we made our way to the end of the house where this lion was pacing back and forth, he let out this thunderous roar and within seconds every child in the house was screaming crying. Every child except our little brave James. There were a few tears and perhaps a sniffle of a cry but our little champ braved the lion's roar. After all, Tiny was there to protect James. To put this into perspective, Mom was scared and a little black jaguar in the area across from the lion was hiding in a box. The roar was so loud that you could feel it in your chest. After a few minutes of watching the lion pace back and forth Mom called time and we went to leave. As soon as we got to the door, more booming roars echoed through the lion house. On our way out, we were able to look at this very beautiful and very quiet leopard.
After the lions, we went to the reptile and small mammal house. As we entered, we told James that these were all animals we will never have as pets. Ever. We saw all sorts of snakes and lizards and little creatures that zipped through their little areas so quickly. Tiny little mouse-like and monkey-like beings. Mom made a joke that one of the little guys looked like her after too much caffeine - they were hopping up and down right in front on James - "Look at me! Look at me!" Another little guy came right up to the glass to check us out. Let's just say that this one had a 'wild' look in his eyes that made us happy to have the glass there.

Then we walked around outside and saw camels, zebras, kangaroos, yaks and other deliciously smelling animals. Along the way we saw one of Mom's favorite animals - the not so rare but super cute, city squirrel. Hello!

Then, the ape house. Wow. There was a silver back in there that was HUGE. Mom said to Dad, I bet that ape's hands were bigger than your hands and Dad said, I'm pretty sure that they were bigger than my head. Yep, the silver back was gigantic. One of the workers said that the ape stands over 6 feet tall! After the ape house, James was getting tired so we quickly walked over to check out the seals and then the penguins. The seals swam right in front of our faces and James loved it. The penguins were a quick visit - the smell in there was quite powerful. However, the zookeepers have a great sense of humor - check out what one of the toys is for the penguins!

Overall, we had a great visit at the zoo and cannot wait to go back again as the weather warms and James can see more and more of these wondrous animals we have at our great city zoo!