Day 147 - A Perfect Day...In Pictures

I really can't express how wonderful today was. We got up, got ready, ate breakfast and left for the Brantford Zoo. A lady who's blog I follow actually introduced me to the idea. I wasn't aware of the zoo in Brantford, only of the one in Toronto. It all started when Sienna was going through some albums and stumbled upon some pictures of herself at the Beacon Hill Park Petting Zoo (somewhere we frequented when when we lived in Victoria). She was pretty adamant we took an airplane to go to it. Ha. I thought a more economical choice would be to find something similar around here. Well, lucky for us, this zoo had goats to pet. Also, you could feed the animals (well some of the animals). Pretty great. The weather was perfect. It was actually supposed to rain and it didn't. Just hot and humid (but not too too hot). She loved it, we loved it, my parents joined us for some of it. It was just...bliss.

***DISCLAIMER....ridiculous amount of pictures to follow

Breakfast (and a nice shot of what her hair looks like first thing haha)

SOOOO excited. First thing this morning Kyle said (because she was busy playing) "OK Sienna we have to get dressed in 2 minutes." She said "What for?" (her usual response to EVERYTHING these days). He said "We're going to the zoo remember?!!" She said, "ON THE AIRPLANE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Then we told her no, it was the one close to us. She did her sigh/pouting thing to show us how disappointed she was. So I opened the website and there's a slide show of the animals there...well...that turned her disappointment into uncontrollable excitement. Was great.

She put her own hat and sunglasses on...

The "Creature Showcase." A little show they put on and bring out a few animals to look at up close and learn some interesting facts about. Some you could pet as well. HUGE hit.

Tortoise

Baby alligator

Baby wolf

Baby fox

Baby lion (yes it looks like a baby leopard/cheetah because of his spots...aHA one of the "interesting facts" we learned! Baby lions have spots :D)

The show was over at about 10:15ish and the pony rides weren't until 11am (they only had them every two hours 11, 1 and 3) so we didn't want to venture too far (rides were in the same place as the show). We decided to check out the goats first to kill some time. Not only could you pet them but they were one of the ones you could feed. You could buy huge bags of grain (for the goats and deer) or peanuts (for the monkeys and bears) for $1. Pretty amazing. We opted for the grain for obvious reasons ;)

The older goats were surprisingly aggressive haha. Kyle (or my dad) kept them occupied while Sienna fed the babies

And the biggest hit of the day...pony ride!

We actually had to lie to her and tell her the ponies had naps and were sleeping which is why we couldn't see them again before we left haha

And onto the animals.....

There was a "nature trail" around the back of the zoo. Less than a km long but a nice change of pace.

Now for my two favorite pictures of the day. At the beginning we were just letting Sienna walk or we would carry her. Well, my mom suggested, then insisted we grab her umbrella stroller out of the trunk. She said she would push it every time Sienna wasn't in it (so it wouldn't be a nuisance). So we agreed. Sienna did spend some time in it (so did our purses), but on the trail she really just wanted to walk. So mom took the stroller. Well, it had rained yesterday and there were quite a few slick patches (I slid twice actually). Mom struggled a little haha. Dad thought it was hilarious. I was trying to get a nice shot of Kyle and Sienna from the front but check out the back round of the next two pictures....

Especially my dad's pure joy in this one:

Hahaha...SO great

More animals to feed!

I'm not going to post a million animal pictures because one, they're not that great, and two, it gets pretty boring. But I wanted to post a little sample of what we got to see:

Haha, had to post this little guy though. I laugh every time I see this chubster.

The mama and baby bear were chasing each other around and she was growling/yelling

A little kids play area. Another nice break from walking and the animals. Plus we got to sit for a minute as well ;) My parents had actually left by this point. Dad said it he'd had enough ha, and it gave us some time just the three of us.

Then back down the other side of the deer cage to feed some more...

Proof I got in on the feeding action

The deer kept sneezing and Sienna would fall backwards down the little hill saying the sneeze blew her over. She of course thought it was hilarious.

Then on our way out we stopped in at the goats again to finish off the grain

I actually packed a decent lunch for Sienna and also some snacks for Kyle and I but Kyle was starving by the time we left (so was I actually) and suggested we just stop somewhere in Brantford to eat. We saw a Moose Winooski's on the way in so we decided to go there. Sienna is actually hooked on "The Moose." Thank you Mimi and Papa. They took her there when Kyle and I went to Mississauga for my birthday and that's all she ever talks about. Needless to say she was thrilled. The greatest thing though, was that this restaurant had a children's play area in it. Fabulous. She just played the whole time that she wasn't eating. Genius really. Kyle said all restaurants should have one.

And of course, on the drive home:

A 25 acre zoo to walk around all morning can tire a grown adult, let alone a little 2 1/2 year old. That combined with the sun, heat and excitement...always equals a long, coma like nap. Half hour in the car and 2 1/2 hours (we had to wake her at 5:15) at home. Yowza. Bedtime wasn't even an issue. I have a feeling we'll all sleep really well tonight!