My monkeys at the zoo

We concluded summer vacation with a trip to the National Zoo yesterday. With Andrew out of town again, we were looking for an activity which would take a good part of the morning. We arrived at 9 a.m. (yes, I realize that is bloody early, but when kids wake at 6:30 it’s no issue to get them out of the house.) The zoo is actually open from sunrise to sunset so the morning joggers definitely beat us there. But we managed to get a good viewing of many of the animals who were out enjoying the cooler morning temps. Like the Giant Panda was who was doing a performance for onlookers and photographers.

Of course, the most interesting things to my monkeys were not necessarily the monkeys themselves or the pandas or the elephants or even the octopus. They enjoyed each and every water fountain, a few coke machines, the ice cream vendors, and the statues. I’m so glad we drove the 40 minutes into DC for these rare sightings. Kids.

They like to run to the areas where the animals couldn’t be seen and wait and call out for the missing animal. Alex was convinced if we stood long enough at the empty hippo pond sooner or later there might be a hippo. So we waited and waited and waited some more until I finally explained that the hippo was inside and that was the only way we were going to spot him. Anna spent a great deal of time yelling at the animals—at the panda bear sleeping in the rock she yelled, “wake up bear” about 20 times; at the octopus for being “eww gross;” at the monkeys for being “too loud.”

Overall, despite the fact that snack/lunch and every other item in the zoo other than the animals was the main attraction, the kids had a marvelous time. The crisp September morning was better than we could ask for, and it was a wonderful way to end the summer months.