"First days" at the zoo.

We have had zoo memberships off and on over the last nine years or so, ever since Nathan was a baby.  So, my older kids spent much of their preschool years walking the trails at the zoo and learning about all of the animals.  When I was expecting Seth, we took a break from the zoo for a while...as the thought of going with five kids seven and under seemed a bit overwhelming.  Wesley would have been just a toddler at this point.  About a year later when Wesley was two and a half, I decided to get another zoo membership.  Since he probably had little memory of the "stroller zoo walks" as a baby, I decided to try to make this "first zoo trip" really memorable for him.  He was really into these plastic safari animals at the time, so we took them with us.  We found each of those animals on the map and then went to see them.  We took a picture of Wesley in front of each animal holding up his little plastic animal.  It was so cute and he was really excited for all of the special attention:)  Here are a few pictures of that day two years ago.

 Yes, he still has the same "Alfalfa" stick up hair and the same little bald spot on the side of his head.  And, I still cut his hair too short therefore showing off the bald spot. *sigh*

 Oh my goodness...does it get any cuter than that?  Of course, I am totally biased:)

Well...today, we again renewed our zoo membership after a year or so off (this zoo cycle seems to go with the baby cycle...haha.  Not really a fan of zoo days with newborns.)  This time it was little Sethy who would be experiencing the zoo for the "first time".  I decided that he should have a really great experience and, while we didn't take the plastic animals, I focused much of my attention on him.  I put Ransom in the ergo backpack so that he would be happy and I could be available to hoist Seth up to see all of the animals.  It was overcast, afternoon, and the animals were really active.  Seth was amazed by all of them.  I let him walk for much of the trip (which doesn't happen often no matter where we are) and he was SO proud to be a "big boy".  Here are some pictures from Sethy's "first day" at the zoo.

 This fuzzy friend came right up to the window and had a staring contest with Seth...which Seth won by the way:)

 We "season" our homeschooling with a little Charlotte Mason, so we had our Science Notebooks with us to add a new drawing of something from God's creation.  Seth joined right in and drew on his own little paper and then just sat and watched the ducks while the older kids completed their drawings:)

 After sitting so patiently, I decided to let him loose...haha.  He went right down to the water's edge and watched the ducks...and threw a few rocks:)

Here is the "Mama just caught me throwing another rock" face...haha!  Seth had a marvelous time at the zoo today.  I will post later about the rest of the kids but thought that being #5 in a family calls for your own post now and again:)