Los Peterson

Last week, Chris, Gunnar and I all went to the Bronx Zoo. It was actually a first for all of us. I've taken Gunn to the Central Park Zoo a couple of times but this was his first real zoo. It was a lot of fun and a lot cheaper than we thought it was going to be (only $2.00).

They asked if we wanted to make a donation and I thought that was in addition to 2 full price tickets. I was like, "sure - we'll give a couple dollars," thinking I was being all generous and altruistic and such. Then I got the receipt and felt like a total schmuck. Chris thought it was hilarious and made a point to tell everyone how cheap I was that day.



We walked through the main part of the zoo for awhile but the children's zoo ended up being the most fun for all of us.



Gunnar was absolutely captivated by this little wallaby (a.k.a. baby kangaroo - the zoo rangers seemed to get really annoyed at having to correct all the children who thought they were kangaroos).



First Gunn tried to climb the fence. Then he tried feeding the wallaby some dead leaves he found on the ground. He ended up giving them to me for safe keeping when he realized the bait wasn't working.



Here's Gunnar's first tete-a-tete with a fish. He's still figuring out how glass works, I think.






After having him pose for this pic we decided not to get him wet or feed him after midnight anymore.



Gunnar was really hesitant about touching that snake and the glass was so clear it almost looked like it was going to strike out at us. So, I pushed his little hand toward it to show him it was safe. On second thought . . . maybe not the best 'mommy' thing to do.



He was even more freaked out over the alligators though. I guess it's one of those instinctual things.





It didn't take too much prodding from us to get him to warm up to the gators though. Our boy is definitely a lover, not a fighter. And he's not especially discriminate about who or what he shows love to these days. We were in a lobby and he kissed a strange man on the mouth a few weeks ago and yesterday I found him kissing the door. I don't know.



The petting zoo was really fun. Gunnar wasn't as aggressive with the goats this time though. He's starting to learn consequences and that if you stick your finger into something, something bad might happen to that finger.





One of his favorite parts of the whole trip was the miniature sink for him to wash his hands in. He stood there for about five minutes.



It was a great time and since the zoo is only about 30 minutes from our place via the #2 train - I'm sure we'll be back often.