Baby Giraffes

We went to the Denver Zoo today and discovered that there had baby giraffes! We also discovered that baby giraffes are fricking huge, man! They were taller than we were and only 2 weeks old.

Declan was our official map reader for the trip. At first we thought we were just humoring him – but it appears that Declan has been taking notes from my friend Sandra’s son Nicholas… because the kid was actually reading the map. As in, pointing to exactly where we were and then telling us which direction to go next. Bryan and I looked at each other in amazement about a zillion times. Also of note, when we were looking at goodies in the gift shop later, Declan picked up a little globe and said, “Mama, is this Australia?” I looked and damned if it wasn’t! May I remind you this kid is not yet four years old?!? I have a fricking cartographical genius on my hands here, folks.

This is Bob. He is a huge-ass snapping turtle that Bryan appears to be in love with. Seeing as Bryan has never once asked me to take a picture of him or his son in all our years together… but today he asked me to take a picture of Bob. I am not sure if Bob is Bryan’s pet name for this fugly creature, or if the zoo has a serious sense of humor.

Bryan and Declan like to try to sneak up on me when I am not looking. Of course, I always see them, and this time I shot off about 10 photos of their approach while casually holding the camera at my side and looking away. I won’t bore you with all 10 pics, but this last one of the big “surprise” moment was too adorable to pass up.

Every time we go to the zoo, we either ride the train or the carousel. Each has it’s pros and cons. I mean, the train has a whistle and that cool chugga chugga motion – not to mention the seats are made for people who are no taller than 5’2″ – so that is always fun trying to fold up my legs to get in the seat. But then the carousel has all these antique animals that are so beautifully painted… and who would want to pass up the opportunity to go round and round and round and watch Mommy get progressively more and more motion sick. So today was the carousel… and Declan obviously enjoyed hanging out with his cheetah. Oh, and me too.

All in all, a very fine way to spend a lovely Denver day. Good thing we are members and can go back again and again.