In the past I have been morally opposed to zoos and carnivals.
I am still opposed to carnivals and will never take our children there but I caved on the zoo.
Part of me still felt bad while I looked at the animals. I know zoos aren’t completely bad and have great purposes, I just somehow can’t shake the feeling that if I was supposed to see a lion, then I should be where they live and not the other way around.
I will never take our children to the carnival because no matter how much the carnival claims they train their animals in respectful ways or keep them well fed and clean- something isn’t right or natural about an elephant standing on one leg, lions jumping through hoops, or any other tricks they may have. I’m pretty sure when they are older I’ll win Mean Mom of The Year, but I don’t really care.
So we went to the zoo and Bean really loved it.
We saw the pretty flamingos. She kept saying that they were birds and that they were pink.
Then we went inside a few of the zoo buildings to take a look at the monkeys. She loved them and kept yelling “Monkeys! Oh, monkeys!”
One thing I do not like about the zoo is when everyone crowds the glass. I think its annoying because it makes seeing the animals hard but also because I think it makes some animals uncomfortable so they hide or they are incredibly boring.
This was happening at one monkey exhibit but we hung around for a little until everyone left. When they did we saw in the corner this little monkey staring at us so Bean wanted to go over.
He put his little hand on the glass and I helped Bean put her hand up too. After that they were like peas and carrots and she was so amazed.
We also saw the penguins and they were a favorite. This year because the weather has been really warm for our area, the penguins hatched earlier. I’m not sure if that’s good or bad but it made for a pretty cute exhibit.
We also saw a tiger.
But the animal Bean loved THE most were the elephants. This is because she sees them on Barney.
We also took some great pictures of us walking around.
Then we were all really hot and tired so we packed it up and came home.
We really enjoyed our trip to the zoo. I don’t know how many more times we’ll be back but I imagine it will only get more exciting as they both grow older.
On the car ride home we asked Bean
“Did you have a good birthday?”
“Yesssss..."