Visit Franklin Park Zoo

On Saturday morning, we decided - somewhat on a whim - to take the kids to Franklin Park Zoo in Boston. 

My first real zoo experience was as an adult (but not as a parent) at the National Zoo in D.C. with my half-sister, Jen, and her two small children.  It was the perfect zoo experience!  The animals were pretty easy to see - including the new baby panda.  My nephew was very small, maybe about the same age as Livi now, and my niece was so interested in all the exhibits, so well-behaved attentive to her mother's words.  It was a wonderful experience and I treasure that memory (and the photos) of that day. 

And so, as we started off, I had this illusion of taking amazing photos and crafting a great blogpost documenting our perfect little outing. But life, is not an illusion, and certainly is not perfect...

 

Little did we know that it was the Kite and Bike Festival at Franklin Park, right next to the zoo.  Traffic was horrific, parking was non-existent, and by the time we made it through the zoo gates, Matt and I were already feeling pretty irritable (okay, so it was mostly me, Matt has more patience).

 

What's more, Ethan was bossy, disrespectful, ungrateful, and more than a little grumpy by the time we got there.  He had no interest in the kangaroos or ostriches (in his defense, there were kind of far away).  Matt put him on his shoulders to see the zebras and giraffe and he was suddenly afraid. We began to wonder why were were there... I mean, Livi was happy enough, but did she really know what was happening?  And were we condoning Ethan's behavior by trying to push through his mood to explore the zoo?  Why couldn't we have a perfect day at the zoo?

 

And then I remembered poor Jen driving in circles as we attempted to find the zoo.  I remembered the scorching heat and our tired feet (no rhyme intended!)  That day, wonderful as it was, still wasn't perfect.

 

Gorillas eating their lunch:Daddy is in the forefront, and baby behind and to the right of him.

We watched the gorilla's eating their lunch and interacting... so human-like... the daddy looking around for danger, the baby scampering around... the whole family unit acting just like a human family.  We stood rather in awe of them for several minutes, Matt and I both snapping photos and Ethan sitting on Matt's shoulders pointing their different features and behaviors.  That was my one moment of perfect - a bright spot in the afternoon.

 

Soon after that, Matt and I looked at one another and said, let's go home!  We did manage to get a few neat photos and I hope you will enjoy these.