Goats and Sea Lions

On Monday, Paprika and I spent the whole day at the zoo (she's waking up much earlier now...knock on wood...let's hope it lasts).



The LA Zoo is not my favorite place on Earth, I'll be honest. But Paprika really wanted to go, and so I had to do it. I think if Paprika wanted to fly to the moon, I would figure out a way, if that's what would make her happy. I really would.



Reminds me of a movie I used to watch:

What is it you want, Mary? What do you want? You want the moon? Just say the word and I'll throw a lasso around it and pull it down. Hey. That's a pretty good idea. I'll give you the moon, Mary.



Anyway, we spent a lot of time at the petting zoo, where kids can pet the goats. When I say a lot of time, I mean a lot of time. It was the first place we went when we got to the zoo. It took Paprika about half an hour to get up the courage to go inside. When we got inside, she tenatively petted the goats and then was so excited about it, that she didn't want to leave. We stayed for an hour until the goats had a one hour break.



Paprika cried and cried when we had to leave the goats. I told her we'd come back in an hour, so we went and visited the sea lions. Just the sea lions, for one whole hour. Once Paprika is at an exhibit, she wants to stay and study it and focus, focus, focus. She really doesn't want to leave anything half done.



At the end of the one hour goats' lunch (and our one hour visit with the sea lions), I asked her if she wanted to go back. She exclaimed, "Yes!" So we went back...

And spent from 1pm until 4pm inside the goat pen petting the goats. The goats were done for the day at 4 o'clock, so I told Paprika it was time to go. She cried the whole way home, exclaiming, "Go back and pet the goats!" It was pitiful, really.



But what could I do? So, we spent about 5 hours today at the zoo: 1 hour looking at sea lions and 4 hours petting goats. Can you believe that?



Good thing I love, love, love this little girl. Because 4 hours of sitting in the sun, six months pregnant, amidst goat droppings, dust, and hay is really not my idea of a great time! But, even a so-so day at the zoo is still a pretty great day, all things considered. You know?