lions and tigers and bears... oh my

Today we took a family trip to the Brookfield Zoo... family day out for Sean's birthday. The big attraction was Dinosaurs Alive. They were huge and they growled and they moved... the kids loved it. Most of the other animals seemed to be either asleep or have some other prior engagement, but the boys got to see a lot.

Sean was most excited about the cop car that was stationed inside the zoo and the tram. He can't say it yet but he has this odd growl that means dinosaur, he was a bit apprehensive at first but very excited to see the pics when I pulled them up on the computer. In the Swamp House there was an otter that took a liking to him and kept swimming right up to where Sean was standing in front of the glass... the otter would pop up and pause for a second, nose to nose with Sean, and then dive again. He did this several times and it was quite cute.

Sam liked the dinos too but it was sprinkling when we were going through that exhibit and I think he was distracted by that. Unfortunately for him all the railings around the animal enclosures just happened to be exactly at his eye level when seated in his wheelchair. That combined with the fact that the animals you could see were sleeping and most blended in so well they were hard to spot... made them virtually invisible to Sam. Sam really liked the playground but for some reason he had more fun moving from picnic table to picnic table and kicking wood chips. I think the squishy rubber ground surrounding the jungle gyms felt funny to him. But he did an amazing job of stepping over raised roots coming up out of the ground and navigating other objects.

Andrew RAN through the dinosaur exhibit rattling off all the names and general facts about each one to anyone who would listen. He also learned some new things in the reptile house. And then we stopped at this little play ground in the Zoo. It was all fun and games until Andrew, while playing tag with a new friend, yells "OH SHIT" at the top of his lungs. Let me tell you that was one proud mama moment for me....NOT!