Opening day at the Zoo ...

Yesterday was opening day at the John Ball Zoo here in Grand Rapids. I should have remembered, however, from last year that opening day at the zoo means that in reality hardly ANY exhibits are "open." But not to worry. It takes a lot to dismay this little fellow. Here he is checking out the pelicans. He was so pleased they were "home" and "awake."

 Brendan was on an intense search for the flamingoes, though, because "They are HUGE and PINK, grandma!"

 We saw this very beautiful tom turkey strutting his stuff ....

 We went inside where the penguins were. I did not get any pictures of them, however, because Brendan was still looking for the flamingoes, rather earnestly ... he did condescend to slow down and watch these nice fish for a few minutes ...

 And this beautiful star fish--how amazing are they?!! There were anemones too, which I was pointing out to Brendan but for the life of me, I could not remember what they were called. No worry. Brendan knew they were anemones and told me so rather matter of factly. His pronunciation of them was rather like "A-MEM-INEYS" but I think it is a difficult word to pronounce!

 We stopped at the TIGER exhibit a few times before they finally came close enough to see. They are such beautiful creatures! Brendan was very impressed with their stripes and orange fur.

 The sting rays were not at their exhibit yet, nor were the budgie birds--two of Brendan's very favorites. But we walked and talked and had a good old time anyway. We had arrived rather late at the zoo anyway, and it was only open for 45 minutes more when we started out. Good thing I have a zoo membership for grandma's that doesn't expire until the end of May.

 We spent a long time with the Pelicans because the one guy was rather entertaining. He was scratching his stomach with his beak, and then his wing, and then his back, and then flapping his wings and talking. Brendan swore it said Hi to him.

 It is always fun to be with this little sweetheart no matter what happens! We drove to the Beach House and ate chicken rice-a-roni with broccoli, had lots of nice cheese and crackers, bananas and other good stuff. Brendan is so easy to feed.

We went back over to Dylan and Kellys (they were out on a special date) and played with Brendan's new train, Luke. It has a working headlight and makes very authentic train sounds. I neglected to take a picture of this cute little engine. I got to tuck this little love of a boy into bed for the night, give him cuddles and snuggles and kisses as he laughed and then drifted off to sleep. Nothing better in the whole world than being a grandma.

PS  Before bedtime, I was showing Brendan some Photo Booth videos of his cousins. He particularly liked the ones of Emma dancing to Fur Elise and immediately jumped off the couch where we were snuggling and began dancing and swaying to the music. It was amazing to watch the music get into his little heart--he simply HAD to dance, and asked that I replay the video 4x so that he could continue his joyful dancing. I did not take any pictures because I just wanted to enjoy the view ... it was a precious time that I will not forget.