The weekend weather finally cooperated and allowed us to introduce Minnow to the animals she had previously only seen in books. In the past few weeks, her vocabulary has improved immensely, especially in the department of animal sounds.

Her favorite animal to vocalize is the lion’s roar, so we headed to the lion habitat first thing.

The lions were just settling in for a mid-day siesta and we got to watch the “mommy lion” cuddle up with the “daddy lion.” Minnow was entranced.

Soon we ran into a carousel of carved animals. I was a bit unsure whether she would be into it, but she was immediately delighted. We rode it twice, and it’s interesting because the first time she looked all around and took in the whole experience (grinning broadly the entire time), but the second time she spent most of the ride studying the mechanics of the carousel, as if trying to figure out how it worked. Future engineer?

The only reason she doesn’t look happy here is that the ride has just come to an end.

The highlight of the day was, surprisingly, the rooster. Minnow spent 15 minutes watching it strut and cluck. I think she liked it because it was colorful and she could get up really close to it.