Ever since college basketball started, I've declared that one of these Saturdays, Biscuit and I are going on an adventure. I hadn't made a plan of what that adventure would be, but I just wanted to get us out of the house to do something fun.
The problem was that every Saturday, I would wake up early, ditch the boys to go to the grocery store, come back and get everybody fed, then maybe throw some clothes in the washer and start picking up around the house. Next thing I knew, it was time for Biscuit's nap. So I'd put him in his playpen or his swing and get back to the housework.
Then when he woke up, it was lunch time. I'd make lunch, swap the clothes from the washer to the dryer, find myself something to eat, clear up all the dishes, and next thing you know, it would be time for Biscuit's afternoon nap. Then after he woke up, I would usually say to myself, "Well, it's really too late to head out now," then I'd vow that next Saturday, we'd do something for sure.
Well, yesterday, we did it!
I was halfway through folding Biscuit's laundry when he woke up from his morning nap. So I put down the laundry and got him some lunch. I put the dishes in the dishwasher (and left them unwashed) and left Biscuit's laundry (half-folded on the couch), and he and I headed out the door.
I didn't know where we'd go, but I wanted us to do something outside. The temperature was hovering around 50 degrees, and this time of year, that's as warm as it's gonna get. The ground at the park was too soggy from rain we had earlier in the week, and since Biscuit still loses his balance and falls down every once in a while, I knew the muddy park was out.
So I drove around for a little bit, then it hit me. The Natural Science Center! (http://www.natsci.org/animaldiscovery.htm) They have a small zoo area that includes lemurs, howler monkeys, alligators, birds, maned wolves, an anteater, two tigers, a barnyard area and more. And it's only about 10 minutes from our house.
(And let me go ahead and say it right now ... not knowing where we were going, I didn't grab a camera before we left the house, so I have no pictures to share of our adventure. Bad mama! Bad!!!)
We got there and went straight for the zoo area. A few of the habitats we passed had nothing much going on. The animals were curled up napping or were in the inside parts of their habitats staying warm.
The first habitat with activity was the ring-tailed lemurs. The Biscuit went NUTS! He was squealing and pointing and almost jumping out of his stroller. He loved them. They have long tails with gray and black stripes, and their tails swing around as they jump sideways from limb to limb on the trees in their habitat.
And of course, he called them dogs. All animals are dogs right now. Oh, and yes, he did roar at them, too.
We moved around to the tiger habitat. At first, Biscuit wasn't too excited because one tiger was on one side and the other tiger was on the other side, and they were both just kinda hanging out. But then, the first tiger came over to the second tiger's side and the second tiger didn't appreciate that at all! They started swatting at each other with those giant paws and then the growling started. Biscuit jumped so hard that his jacket hood fell off his head. But then, he joined them and started growling back. Biscuit's growling was pretty impressive for a 16-month-old, but I tell ya what, those tiger roars were intense! I knew they were secured, but still, that sound made my heart race.
Biscuit wasn't as impressed with the barnyard area as I thought he would be. Of course, it would be hard to be impressed after the tiger action we saw.
He roared at a couple of otters. Then he waved to a big cage of rainbow Lorikeets. They were so pretty with their rainbow-colored feathers.
After the Animal Discovery area, we went inside the science center. They have play areas for all different ages. Biscuit's area had a couple of little houses, shopping carts with plastic groceries, and a bunch of other stuff that reminded me of a kindergarten room.
We left there and went to the aquarium, where his favorite thing was the a tank of spiny lobsters. I'm pretty sure he thought the aquariums were TV screens. He wasn't too impressed by them.
Then we went into the Herpeterium. SNAKES!!! He really enjoyed the Burmese python. It was moving around some, and it was big enough for him to really see it. I should clarify by saying that it was big enough that it could have swallowed Biscuit whole for a quick afternoon snack!
As much as I didn't really want to, I took Biscuit into the bug room. They had hissing cockroaches, some humongous centipedes that really creeped me out. But the boy was quite impressed with a red hairy tarantula. He pointed at it, then he reached for it, then he started making his question noise like he was asking to hold it. "Mmm? Mmmm?" he said while looking back and forth between me and Mr. Hairy Legs. Some of the people around us thought this was really funny. I thought it was more than a little creepy and told him he must've gotten the desire to hold that spider from The Daddy Man, because my side of the family doesn't do spiders!
We really enjoyed our day out. We'll have to do it more often, especially as the weather gets better. Plus, the day was so exciting that Biscuit wasn't in the car 5 minutes before he was out! I drove us home and he was still asleep, so Mama got a 30-minute nap, too.
Nice, nice day!
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