Field trip to the Zoo

PJ's preschool had a field trip to the zoo on May 31.  We took the bus there and got to wander around looking at everything for about 4 hours.  It was nice and sunny and thankfully only about 20C.  He didn't want to get on the bus, but we did manage to get him on without a meltdown.  He had fun on the bus since it was only a short ride to the zoo.

The school had little nylon vests (purple) for them to wear, as well as little beige hats.  PJ typically will NOT wear a hat...but surprisingly, he kept it on and when he did take it off, I would just ask him to put it on and he cooperated - who is this child?!  He was going to fuss about the vest, but thankfully, he didn't.

Yes, looks like he's choking his friend Zach - but he was just repeating back how Zach had greeted him - BOYS!

They are going to be doing alot of changes at the zoo so the normal entrance was closed and the make-shift one was pretty small - but the 2 large bus loads of us managed to get in fairly quickly.  We kept with our classroom for most of the trip.  We were walking toward the elephant area when someone noticed that they were taking Lucy (the elephant) on a walk so we got to see her en route.  PJ enjoyed looking at her as well as looking at a wolf and some owls.

We got all the way to the pony-ride area and all but maybe 2 or 3 of the kid wanted these rides.  Thankfully there was some picnic tables and shade because there were no trees in this area.  PJ didn't want a ride, but was happy to watch the other kids and to look at the tiny ponies.  It was taking so long (and we were really doing nothing) that I decided PJ and I would wander back and look at something else.

We went to the pavilion where they have a bunch of different monkeys.  Some were the size of my palm and they were so cute to watch.  PJ also liked to see the seal & sea lion in their pools.  There were snakes in this area, but I managed to look the other way and keep PJ moving.

We met up with our class again at this building and then followed them to a shady place for lunch.  I had been lugging around a backpack full of sunscreen, water bottles, tub of strawberries, tub of blueberries, sandwiches, cookies...maybe even the kitchen sink (that's what it felt like).  It seemed that we had a pretty short stop for lunch and off we went.  They all lined up for the train ride.  PJ liked to watch the train, but had no interest in getting on it for a ride - too bad, it was pretty tame.

We wandered around and found the little merry-go-round.  He liked to watch the other kids on it, but had no interest in getting on it.  It had a very small diameter and the adults were getting dizzy on it - the kids kept on going on several turns on it though.

A few of his classmates took a ride and then some of us went to the petting zoo area.  PJ wasn't too impressed except for looking at a rabbit.  We spent some time watching the lemurs - they were very active, so that was fun. 

Everyone was tired by the time we headed for the bus - even PJ!  Normally when we leave school, he wants to play in the park for about 1/2 hr - after this trip - he marched straight to the van!