post anniversary wisdom

Everything was great.

Hands down, the highlight of the zoo for me – the biggest Golden Lion Tamarin exhibit I have ever seen. The habitat is open so you can actually be within 5 feet of these little guys without bars in between. (But you might get asked to step back as they can catch our illnesses) They have always been one of my favorite animals at the zoo, although normally they are in tiny little boxy habitats, so this was happy! I guess the zoos have released 1000 of them into the wild, and they are doing well, but now they have to stop because their natural habitat can’t support any more of them. sad.

Also red pandas are amazing. also, secretly, I don’t get the big deal about giant pandas. shhh. (I mean, I know they are endangered and it’s great what they are doing to preserve them, but the fanaticism about this animal in particular… I don’t join in)

Wisdom gleaned from the zoo:

#1. Gorillas don’t like little kids yelling at them. and do occasionally throw things out of the exhibit.

#2. If you take a kid to the zoo, they will inevitably discover the chipmunk in the bush and be more interested in it than in the sleeping tiger in front of them. Don’t yell at them, it’s inescapable.

#3. No, you don’t sound like whatever animal you are trying to imitate. No, they are not fooled and they are not going to do anything interesting in response to you. And no, if they didn’t show interest the first time you made the sound, repeating the same noise over and over will not eventually get their attention.

#4. I overheard a kid yelling at the Mona Monkeys “Hey! Did you know that I am from Earth, and YOU are from Africa!!!” and I thought, that summarizes so much that is wrong with the US.

*On a side note, Patrick and I are going to start doing movie reviews! We are excited because we love film and would love to share our opinions (which are bountiful) with everyone. So keep your eyes peeled, we will be doing our first movie review soon!*