First Trip to the Zoo!

A couple of weeks ago we were on a walk and met our neighbors Carrie, Paul and their daughter Allison.  Allie is just a little over two.  Carrie invited me and Jackson to join her at the zoo one Friday, and although we had been putting it off so we could go with Dad, I said yes.  Greenville has a tiny little zoo that is handily located directly across from a very nice children's park and a main access point for the Swamp Rabbit trail which runs from there straight up to Main Street.  It only takes about an hour to walk through the whole zoo so most people hit both the zoo and park in one trip. 

 The giraffe at our zoo is supposed to have a baby any day now.  There's even a Giraffe Cam.  The zoo is pretty packed every day with people hoping to be the first to catch a glimpse.  While we were there the male giraffe came all the way over to the little fence and kneeled down, swaying his neck over the line and stretching out towards the little kids.  It was pretty cool. 

 He was NOT a fan of the cheetah.  As you can see, it was pacing right by the window.  At one point the cheetah whipped around and his face was right in Jackson's face.  It scared him to death and he shrieked so loud we had to leave the cheetah behind. 

 We practice animal sounds at home but all Jackson has ever really seen in person are cats and dogs.  He got a video of the San Diego zoo and actually sat through 30 minutes spellbound, but I didn't know if he would really know to look into cages for animals.  The first paddock we came to had the elephants.  I don't know how many pictures Carrie tried to take, but getting Jackson to look at the camera when there were huge zoo animals right there was impossible.  At least we got one of him making his "trunk". 

The next weekend we had enough time to take Dad on his first trip to the zoo.  That visit the zoo was all decorated for Boo at the Zoo, and the decorations were a bigger hit than most of the animals.  Matt had a ball telling Jackson about each animal and making the animal sounds for him.  Thanks to Gran we have an annual pass now so we can go all the time!