One Wild Child

The Denver Zoo has four free days a year. And back in February, we embarked into the madness for Ariel’s first outing to the zoo.

There was a big group of us that ventured out: my friend Mina with son Haylen and her family, our family, and both of our godchildren with their mommies. Now free days sound great in theory, but in all practicality, the zoo seems to have been placed on the outside of the gates. It took us at least twenty minutes to find parking (at least we didn’t have to pay).

And once we finally got inside the zoo, it was moving through a sea of humanity to view most of the exhibits. Since Ariel enjoys her “Mercedes” so much, we rented a wagon for her to ride it. I really didn’t want to be bothered with the running stroller. And as much as we took her in and out of it, I was glad for the wagon.

Yzzie rode in the wagon with Ariel and they made the cutest pair ever. Yzzie made sure to keep a good grip on the baby so she wouldn’t fall out. Phoenix was enthralled with the elephants. As we walked into the elephant pen, his eyes widened to the size of dinner plates and pointing his finger, he exclaimed, “Mama, Mama Mama.” I hope he wasn’t calling his mother an elephant, cause that’s just plain rude. :0)

It was hard to tell what Ariel really got out of the experience. Most of the time she spent staring at the people and not the animals. We pointed out a bunch of stuff, but perhaps it was all too overwhelming. But we’ll go back as it gets warmer. I won’t even mind paying to get in.