I can't imagine anything better than a zoo for tapping into a child's curiosity and sense of wonder about the world. Have you ever stopped to think about what percentage of children's books are about animals? It's huge. And a zoo brings all the pictures from all the books to life. All those exotic animals, in the flesh. Sights and sounds (and yes, smells) galore.
So it was that we spent Easter Sunday at the Ft. Worth zoo. Yes, I confess we skipped out on church, but clearly we were in the presence of the master. Just ask Noah.
The zoo had the usual assortment of animals, and we lucked out, seeing most of them in action. The elephant spraying itself with water from its trunk ("Elephants don't take baths!"); the mountain lion tossing a gourd about ("It's playing with a pear!), the male lion complying with the audience's desire for theatrics and roaring loudly, multiple times (That one inspired a loud cackle from Lily). She decided the river otter's wet fur gleaming in the sunlight bore a striking resemblance to "a rainbow". At one point she yelled, "Look what I found," spying the rhinos out of a corner of her eye. The bug also took great delight in tracking the assorted paw and claw prints that the zoo cleverly embeds in their concrete walkways.
I would be remiss if I didn't mention that Lily took as much (if not more) delight in the zoo choo-choo as the animals, but I'll keep telling myself the animals will be the memory that sticks with her.
But my favorite Lily-ism from this weekend happened to take place not at the zoo, but at the hockey game we attended the day before. In celebration of the upcoming Easter holiday the Dallas Stars team trotted out another member of the wild kingdom - sort of - in the form of a rabbit mascot. To which Lily said, "Look - the bunny Easter!"
So it was that we spent Easter Sunday at the Ft. Worth zoo. Yes, I confess we skipped out on church, but clearly we were in the presence of the master. Just ask Noah.
The zoo had the usual assortment of animals, and we lucked out, seeing most of them in action. The elephant spraying itself with water from its trunk ("Elephants don't take baths!"); the mountain lion tossing a gourd about ("It's playing with a pear!), the male lion complying with the audience's desire for theatrics and roaring loudly, multiple times (That one inspired a loud cackle from Lily). She decided the river otter's wet fur gleaming in the sunlight bore a striking resemblance to "a rainbow". At one point she yelled, "Look what I found," spying the rhinos out of a corner of her eye. The bug also took great delight in tracking the assorted paw and claw prints that the zoo cleverly embeds in their concrete walkways.
I would be remiss if I didn't mention that Lily took as much (if not more) delight in the zoo choo-choo as the animals, but I'll keep telling myself the animals will be the memory that sticks with her.
But my favorite Lily-ism from this weekend happened to take place not at the zoo, but at the hockey game we attended the day before. In celebration of the upcoming Easter holiday the Dallas Stars team trotted out another member of the wild kingdom - sort of - in the form of a rabbit mascot. To which Lily said, "Look - the bunny Easter!"
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