Goats and tractors

Monday and Thursdays it’s me and the kids, all day long. So today: the San Francisco Zoo. Good day to go, too: completely empty.

This morning, when I told Sophia we were going to the Zoo, she said, “I need a camera!” I said, “Wha’?” Darin filled me in: there’s an episode of Dora where Dora takes lots of pictures of animals. And he was right: as we walked around the Zoo Sophia kept singing, “Finding the animals,” which definitely had a Dora-esque ring to it.

When Darin and I were cleaning my office last weekend, I found an unused disposable camera and gave it to Sophia for today. She was thrilled. Want to make a tot happy? Disposable camera. That’s all I’m saying.

Today at the Zoo we discovered the Children’s Zoo area, which we hadn’t visited the last time. It’s pretty good. Well, the carousel made me dizzy, but Sophia loved it. And the petting zoo?

It was totally great. Sophia was right in there, brushing off all the goats, petting the sheep, asking me once again if she can go ride a horse. (Have to find horse rides around here. Shouldn’t be too hard, with the Santa Cruz mountains and all their attendant stables nearby.)

Simon was not too fond of the animals, given that they were for the most part much, much bigger than he was. In fact, a goat came near him and he started to cry, which was understandable because goats are scary. (Have you ever looked in their eyes? They’re slitted. Seriously. Creepiest eyes I’ve ever seen.) But he did find something he liked:

I could have left him there all day and he’d still be walking around with that thing. (He couldn’t quite ride it—every time I put him on the seat he slipped right off. But he liked walking it!)

We spent four hours at the Zoo today. Sophia made several new friends and was prepared to lay the smack down on me when I told her it was time to go.

I wish it weren’t so far away. We’d go a lot more often if it weren’t. They loved it.