Baby's First Zoo Trip

One of my Christmas gifts this year was a membership to the Detroit Zoo... We've lived one mile away from the zoo for more than a year, but I think my last visit was in high school. So, we decided to take a family trip and show Noah all the exciting animals.

In case you didn't read the opening paragraph...

We got Noah all bundled up in his brand new snow suit. He stayed nice and toasty, and was extremely excited the whole time.

Noah wanted to stop to see the camels first

He really seemed to interact well with the animals. He didn't taunt them or try to feed them as other, naughty children might try to. He respected them, and really seemed interested in learning more about them.

Rawr!!!

Of course, as the good Detroit baby that he is, Noah was most interested in the tigers. You know what I realized yesterday? The first full season for which I was alive, the Detroit Tigers won the World Series... maybe we'll start a family tradition, here. Noah's very optimistic.

Another dedicated baseball fan with her favorite mascot

We saw many exciting animals. Well, my use of the word "we" is a bit generous... but it was certainly a fun trip, nevertheless. We avoided getting spit on by the camels... we saw the tigers... we made stops at lots of the indoor animals...

Tired baby...

Tired ape...

Noah was quite intrigued by the primates. He asked lots of really good questions about them, like, "Mmmmm...?" and "Aaaaaahhhhh?" He was so focused that he kept his eyes closed most of the time as he thought about them. In fact, his pensiveness inspired the animals to also contemplate their existance, as pictured below.

Our trip lasted a fairly long time, considering how we schedule our days, now. I mean, anything that takes longer than an hour is liable to interrupt a meal time or a nap time or some other critically important time of the day, so we really pushed our limits. All told, we were probably gone a couple hours... maybe close to three? Who knows? But we were living on the edge.

Our audience as we snacked on our food

Noah wasn't hungry, so he watched as we ate our cheese and crackers. He didn't mind, though, as he hung out with his new friends, the peacocks. He got along really well with the peacocks. We explained to him that the males were the ones that were really pretty and all decked out with the fancy feathers and that's how they attract the ladies, and he just smiled at us... I think in his cuteness, he could really relate to that, so they got along wonderfully.

Chick magnets...

After our snack, we ventured outside one last time to visit the arctic exhibit. We figured if we're visiting the zoo in the middle of winter, we might as well see the animals that actually like the weather.

Noah asked if this could be our new pet dog

Noah wasn't exactly impressed by the polar bears, though... that's when the trip could've started turning ugly. He didn't like posing for a picture with the bear. He's a professional, so he tolerated the photo shoot, but as soon as it ended, he made it known that he could not tolerate modeling under such frigid circumstances.

The last polar picture

Look at how unwilling the bear was to pose with our superstar! No wonder Noah got upset! So, our son's people got a hold of our people, and we arranged for one last indoor photo shoot before putting an end to the trip.

Noah found the seals much more pleasant to work with

Who doesn't like penguins, really? Noah certainly does!

Family photo... complete with our new pet

So, all in all, Noah did like his first trip to the zoo. He got a little fussy at the end, but really, I think polar bear is to blame. I mean, look at him. He really wasn't the best to work with. But our cute baby was on his A-game. Hope you enjoyed the pics. And stay tuned... Noah said that once it gets warm, he might try a new zoo pose: wakefulness!