Tropical Celebration at the Bronx Zoo!!!

O-my-gosh-o-my-gosh. The temperature was a balmy 42 degrees this morning and so we could barely contain ourselves. We headed straight to the zoo! I have to admit that I haven't spent this much time outdoors in months and I feel like I just got a shot of B-12 from grandpa. I have a family rule: we can go to the zoo as long as the temp is above 40 degrees and it hasn't been in almost a month (even though we haven't been since fall, sadly). As soon as we told Meg we were going to the zoo she expressed her happiness then she went off quietly to her playroom for about a half an hour. We could hear her tinkering around in there and chit-chatting to herself and her imaginary companions, but we didn't interrupt as we busied ourselves with zoo preparations. Soon she yelped in victory and came forth from the (disheveled) playroom with this little green magnifying glass toy with which she had great plans to inspect butterflies at the Butterfly Pavilion at the zoo. I actually can't remember where she got this thing (maybe it was a potty prize?) and haven't seen it in ages, but she obviously has been planning this butterfly investigation for a while. Here she is in the car on the way there.

The tigers are always stunning, but they are especially active when it is cold and snow is on the ground. This one is Alexis I think (just so you can be impressed with how familiar I am with the tigers. I'm the cool one).

Sadly, Meg is having trouble with her tummy. We have to hold her just like this when she has her tummy-aches . . . this is a daily part of life for us and we have a special dr. who is helping us to work this out.

Tummy episode over, we strolled to the Butterfly Pavilion only to discover it closed for the season. But the disappointment was short-lived because the Bug Carousel was just across the path! Meg chose her ever-favorite ladybug to ride on. I would like to note that while riding on the carousel, Meg declared that it was "cool." Sigh. Her first "cool" ever.

The giraffes live in this indoor arena thing for the winter and it's actually so neat to come see them here instead of outdoor because you can really see them up close. It smells terrible though.

I thought this was funny. :)

And this just makes me glad to be, well--human.

The turtles are a highlight for Meg and her little magnifying glass was put to use inspecting them for a few minutes but this guy just swam laps back and forth so she ran with him a few times.


Finally, something decent to investigate with the magnifying glass.

Ahhhh, we all love the Bronx zoo!!! BTW, my yearly pass expired yesterday but we were happy that nobody who works at the zoo cares enough to notice--at least 6 people looked at it and we never had any questions!