Year 1, Day 38

I'm not quite sure if the Giraffe sighting was more fabulous for me or for Jackson. We went to the zoo in my hometown today, which is odd in itself, as it is a small town suburb and exotic animals sleep miles from my mother's doorstep. But, I am grateful it is there, because it made for a fun, Fall outing with the monkey.

His whole book of "Panda Bear, Panda Bear, What Do You See?" came alive as we walked through the zoo and feed a Spider Monkey swinging from the tree, Black Panther staring us down, Himilayan Black Bears gorging on a feast, and countless other very unexpected animals to see in an unheard of Western Massachusetts town. The zoo houses everything from Emus and Lemurs to a camel and giraffe. No words can describe how neat it was to see this long necked, enormous animal up close enough to feel his breath. We were able to climb stairs to a platform and feed him apples and bananas right from our bare hands. Jackson squealed and laughed when the giraffe's enormously long tongue came out to reach the fruit and it he gobbled it down in a tiny bite.

What I learned today: Having a little one is incredibly fun, because you have an excuse to get extremely excited about outings you wouldn't necessarily take. Not only was it great for him to see all the animals we read about in his books, but I got to re-live my childhood a bit as well. Do yourself a favor and spend an afternoon at a zoo - I promise you won't be disappointed!