Good times at the Portland Zoo

 It had been a REALLY long time since we'd been to the zoo (I realized the other day that our little dude has never been, despite his total love/obsession with animals. And he's 17 months). It was a little chilly with the wind, but there was a gorgeous clear blue sky, which is as much as you can ask!

 The little guy was just thrilled to be outside and was happy in the stroller for a bit, but he couldn't really see the animals. But life was so much easier with him in the stroller. But he loves animals. But I'm too pregnant to chase after him. But what's the point of being at the zoo if you can't see the animals? But we'll never get him back in that stroller. But ... ah, there are just too many difficult decisions to make as a parent. I let him out when we got to the penguins, which were basically the first animal that was doing anything. I won't mention that we lost him at one point during the trip later when he ran out of a tree-surrounded play area and across a whole field when I merely turned my back to grab something out of the diaper bag. Shudder.

 But he did LOVE the penguins. And he's REALLY cute.

 Thankfully, I wasn't alone to chase after him and keep track of the girls at the same time. Grammy and Papa brought us to the zoo as a little pre-birthday celebration for M. Little man appreciated this greatly, and showed it by allowing them the great privilege of holding him every now and then when he needed a lift.

M likes to take full advantage of her birthday. The actual date was February 13th, but starting shortly after New Years, she was claiming birthday privileges. You know, like I get to go first in this game because I'm the birthday girl. J wasn't always willing to go along, but did more often than you'd think ... for a whole month.

Oh, and here's little man in the petting zoo. Grammy had been helping protect him but turned her back, and despite being no taller than the pygmy goats, he took off to tap each one of them on the back - like he was responsible for counting them or something. She turned around and saw him walking amidst a very tightly clustered group of 3 of them, shoving them a bit so he could get through. No fear. Just a love tap to each, and he moved on.

 Big Red could take some cues from her little brother. This shot required minutes of pep talks before she had the courage to get that close. Oddly she won't get anywhere near the head and prefers petting the back end. I, personally, would think avoiding the rear would be advisable. I guess it's just me.

Good times! Oh, here the girls are showing off their zoo stamps on their hands, not doing some weird salute. Thanks Grammy and Papa!