August 25

On Tuesday, we made our regular pilgrimage to the local library. While I was busy getting Daisy settled, Caleb found his own book and sat down to read it. He chose a book that I would definitely not have chosen for him, and he loves it. Jodie's Passover Adventure is about a girl who lives in Jerusalem. Her father is an archaeologist, and he allows her to explore an ancient tunnel/cave with her trusty flashlight.

Since his first reading of the book, Caleb has been begging me to take him to the zoo. It took me a while to connect the dots: in the book, Jodie explores a cold, dark, wet cave, and Caleb remembers his last visit to the zoo, where he also saw a cold, dark wet "cave".

Today, we took him to the zoo. Chris and I planned ahead, and we got there right as the zoo opened. This meant several wonderful things for us - we got a great free parking spot, the weather was cool, the kids were cheerful, the zoo was mostly empty, and the kids got to ride the carousel and pet the stingrays for free. It was an all-around win.

Daisy reached a new milestone today. It was the first time she's ever kept her sunglasses on for a prolonged period of time! Perhaps next she'll tolerate a hair bow? The sunglasses are a big deal because 1. they protect her eyes and 2. they elicit adoring gazes from every random passerby. And clearly my daughter deserves everyone's adoring gazes.

Caleb was a bit skeptical of the carousel. He chose to ride on a puffin. The only downside was that the puffin moved up and down, which added an unpredictable element to the whole spinny-ness of the carousel.

Eventually, he loved it.

Daisy loved the carousel, too.

Then, on to the stingrays. 

I have never before attempted stingrays for several reasons. Mostly, I was afraid that Caleb would be terrified. Also, most of our trips to the zoo are with friends, and not Chris. Attempting to pet stingrays with a cagey Caleb and a wiggly Daisy and no help would spell disaster.

But today, we had a 1:1 ratio, so we tried it.

Win! 

Caleb got to pet several stingrays. See the fin under his hand?

And see how delighted both he and Daisy are?

After the stingrays, we finally made our way to the place that initiated our visit - the tunnel. 

Caleb enjoyed the fish for a moment,

then pulled his little flashlight out of his pocket and set to exploring.

He discovered stalactites and stalagmites, but no mutant monsters or dragons.

Daisy liked standing and watching the fish.

Cool, huh?

And then a turtle swam down to say hello. Daisy was thrilled!

After our cave exploration, we had snacks in the sunshine.

Then, back to the cave one more time!

After a final visit to the elephant fountain (Caleb's favorite), we were done with our zoo adventure. We left at 10:30, right as it was starting to get crowded and hot.

What a great morning!